Got My WheelTrim

Got my wheeltrim today. Four five pounds less I could have got a whole set from Halfords. But now the car has matching corners. And I am at peace with the world.

 

Bye bye doggie

Posted off the last of my ebay packages today. I got a postal order from Charlotte to pay for my previous electronic dog and so he disappeared into the mystery that is the parcel post at lunchtime. I hope he will emerge in the right place and that dog and new owner will be suitably happy. I'm starting to fret about my ebay feedback. Apparently bad reviews can leave you an electronic pariah with nobody buying your cast offs. OK so far, we'll just have to see I suppose.

 

In Search of Wheeltrims

Went out to buy a replacement wheeltrim for the big car today. You can find out how I lost the original (isn't this gripping?) here. Anyhoo, having established that no scrapyards can provide the bit that we need we find ourselves in the dealers, looking through the parts lists on the computer screen. I'd taken the precaution of snapping a photograph of the thing I needed on my mobile phone (good idea that) to make sure that the right item was selected. The parts ordering thingy was very impressive. The engineer just clicked on the diagram on the screen to be given the reference number and the price. This was spoiled a bit by him then having to go round the back to see if they had any in stock (which of course they didn't) but it did seem to work well apart from that. I get the new trim on Saturday.

Number one daughter came with us and had a nice time sitting in shiny new cars that there is no way we can ever afford. Then the salesman kind of spoiled things by suggesting that a Ford Ka would be a good buy. Not the kind of thing to say in a Renault showroom...

 

The Price of Good Ideas

We are teaching C# as a first programming language next semester, instead of Java. I'm in charge of this (and also the instigator of the change). The two languages are very similar and so the change is not actually that large. But it does mean that all the practical work will have to be re-written, the lab machines set up and the demonstrators given additional training. Which is a fair bit of work. Hmmm. Such is the price of good ideas...

 

Ebay Action

Somebody has bid on my ebay items. Thanks vinyl-junke. I think if all goes well I might just recover the listing fees...

 

Return of the Wasps

The pesky wasps are back again in position over the front door. I went to get some of the white powder stuff that I've used in the past to get rid of them and non of the huge DIY warehouses have any in stock. Why is it that they always have huge stocks of things that I don't want (gas heaters for the outdoors anyone?) but never the particular item that I need. In the Good Old Days (tm) you were usually in walking distance of a little shop which held all these essentials. Nowadays you have to drive ten miles to get to a huge place full of things you don't want/need. But is usually out of stock of the things that you do. Ho hum. At least the wasps appreciate it.

 

Sunday Downpour and Space Invaders

We are sure having a wet summer. And mainly on weekends. I quite like it, in that I don't feel bad about not doing the garden.

This evening Geoff and the mob descended for fun and games. Geoff game me a video game thingy which lets me play Space Invaders (proper, original version) on the telly. Geoff reckons that the implementation is not exactly as in the arcades but it seems just the same to me. I'm not very good at the game, but I enjoy playing it. Great fun was had by all, rounding off by a quick look at the Shopping Channel on satellite TV where they were selling christmas decorations. All their items were sold with "certificates of authenticity". Me, I want a certificate saying that I've never, ever, bought anything like that......