August 27, 2008 @ 7:23 PM 1 Comment

Filed under: Personal

After my Hyundai Atos fiasco a few weeks ago, I knew I had a decision to make. Will I keep my current car and risk that it won’t go through the annual check-up or buy a new (and probably safer) car before winter.

Even though it hurts to part with my first car; a 1995 red Fiat Panda I have decided to go for a new(er) car. Since the internet is a great place to find occasion cars I started my search there. But of course, what car did I want? Is it a Hyundai Atos, or something the same size but completely different? Needles to say that the budget I had in mind played  part in the decision too, and not long after my search started my eye fell on the cute appearance of the Daewoo / Chevrolet Matiz.

There are enough of those for sale, so sifting through them all there were some more decisions; will I buy it at a registered dealer, or one that’s not registered, or from a private seller. Weighing off the options, advantages and disadvantages of them all I opted for buying it at a registered dealer. Which will give me confirmation on the actual amount of KM that has driven ( so it hasn’t been tampered with) as well as a 6 month guarantee.

On Monday I went to check a car in a nearby town; a blue Daewoo Matiz from 1999. It is not much younger than my current one but has done only 66.000 KM. There are a few scratches here and there (and it looks like someone slightly hit a pole but it’s not dented nor has major damages). And today I took it for a test drive. Some might think I’m crazy for even testing a car that has scratches but let’s face it; it’s nearly 10 years old so you can only expect scratches of use etc.

I have to admit it steered a lot easier than my Panda (which isn’t difficult to steer at all) due to power steering. It has electric windows in the front, as well as air bags (safety..) and power door locks (aka central locking). And even though it’s not scratch-less I decided to go for it; I BOUGHT THE CAR!

It will (or should) be ready for pick up on Saturday and while I write this I have mixed feelings. I’m really really happy and excited about the new car, but I also feel sad to part with the Panda as it’s still drivable (although unsellable), but it’s starting to rust. Safety on the road means a lot to me as I have to drive quite a bit every day and with winter coming I just have to have a safe and good car. So even though it hurts a little, it’s time to part ways with “Panda”. It has given me 4 great years (more than expected) and as it was my first car; it will always be special for me. But (as much as I hate to say it) it will have to move over for the (still nameless) Daewoo Matiz..

August 25, 2008 @ 11:35 AM 1 Comment

Filed under: Personal

Finally! I’m on my holiday. Today is the first day of my two weeks off work and I have to say it really is a good feeling to know that I don’t have to keep up with my (rather busy) schedule trying to get everything done in time before I go to work.

Although I still seem to be very busy (busier than I though actually), as tomorrow I’m going to Amsterdam with my best friend, I’m going to the zoo sometime this week too, I have to plan in a day to go to Eindhoven this week as my best friend has to come with me to hold my hand for the tattoo and this is her last week off, as well as trying to squeeze in a car viewing. So yeah, this week won’t be one with a lot of rest, but hey you know what they say; no rest for the wicked…

I’m really looking forward to going to Amsterdam tomorrow. It will be fun strolling around the city, doing some people watching and maybe even visit a few tourist things. I would love to take a boat to go over the canals. It’s a great way to view the city and you get to a lot of places faster than walking to it!
Maybe I’ll even visit the red light district. That’s an area of Amsterdam I’ve never been to before although it’s one of the biggest tourist attractions around. You will be amazed to find out how many people just wander around there to see what it looks like. Apparently it really is a ‘must-see’ when you’re there and even though I’ve been to Amsterdam many times, I never visited there. I guess I was just too busy exploring the Sex Museum.

That probably means that saying is true; Good girls to go heaven, bad girls go to Amsterdam…

And now for the big news; I got a new haircut today, which you can see on my facebook profile

August 16, 2008 @ 3:08 PM Comment?

Filed under: Personal

The past week just hasn’t been my week. I have had a headache (non stop!) for four days now, I have been taking some aspirins for it but it doesn’t seem to help. Or at least not much. But I managed to drag myself through the week going to work and doing the things that need doing around the house.

Luckily I had something to look forward to. Today I was going to check out a new car, a Hyundai Atos from 2001 in perfect condition. So I got up early this morning as the appointment was at 10.30 AM and I wanted to get my groceries done before then.  Only to find the man from the garage across the street dropping by to deliver a message; the people selling the car (he’s just a ‘middle person’ ) called him last night around 11 PM to cancel the appointment as they don’t want to sell it after all for emotional reasons…

Needles to say I was (and still am) furious with these people. The appointment was made during the past week so they had plenty of time to cancel before that. And besides that, I also know that these people have visited at least one car dealer that made them an offer they found to low (so that was refused). If they had accepted that offer they would have had to sell it too and there was no way they could get out of that. So all in all it wasn’t an ‘in the moment’ decision of them to sell the car, it was a well considered decision and now they are pulling out of the sale.

Of course I hadn’t seen the car yet, but I’m 100% sure I would have bought it if it looked as immaculate as the garage man said and after I had taken it for a ride to find out if it is OK motor wise. The car had already been completely checked in the garage this past week and everything was just perfect. But now, the car is going to stay in a garage somewhere to be looked at.

The reason for cancelling the sale was emotional value of the car. It belonged to their daughter, who passed away 6 months ago. Of course I can understand that things can have emotional value, but the reasons for sale where also clear to me; it’s a stick driven car, not automatic and they can’t drive it so it was sitting in the garage and it had to go.

I’m someone who believes that a word is a word and when you make a deal or an appointment you have to keep it. Cancelling like this, last minute, is to say the least; very rude.

There is no other option for me than to check for another car, but it still sucks and I feel screwed.