[Dazzler]

+

Looking very nice Misha

You're obviously being paid too much

 Yes, well done mate. Looks good. 

[meehalych]

Looking very nice Misha

You're obviously being paid too much

Thanks!
I still keep the Hyundai in mind (Hyundai Sonata was in my list along with Mazda)

[meehalych]

Very nice!! I was looking at one in the dealer here in Australia this past week, but did not get to test drive.
I also like the colour!!

I would prefer the colour "Soul Red", but there wasn't one available in Saint-Petersburg (so we would have to order and wait for weeks/month)

[PhireSideZA]

Hey guys,

Lots happening this side of the ocean!

+We moved house in February to a freestanding house. Made a tidy profit on the sale of the townhouse, too! About a 30% ROI in the +-3 years we stayed there.

-Registration for the new house is still not done. Endless issues with getting the new plans approved by the council (attorneys lost the original plans, the f**ks)

+We got engaged last year October, and we are currently planning our wedding. ETA March 2022!

-The steering knock on the i30 is so bad, I decided to tackle it this weekend since I felt brave, but I am regretting it as my good tools all went missing after our move.

-Our town water levels (dam levels) are below 11% combined. Our main reservoir is just above 4%. The blasted municipality refuses to declare it an emergency, so we cannot get state funding. But when Cape Town's dam levels dipped below 30% last year, all hell broke loose and the local authority actually sprang into action and put measures in place to make sure there were backup plans in place.

[Snookes]

Thanks Phil and congratulations on your engagement.

[i30Feargal]

 

[Dazzler]

Hi mate you have been busy. Congrats. I'll have to pm you soon with all my news. Too busy to even get on here much now. 

[tohis]

Yesterday I got the long-awaited Covid shot, and will receive second one at the end of August. Like elsewhere, we have lots of elderly people and other high risk groups who are in priority to get vaccinated so it took time before my age group was entitled.

From now on I have to wear a foil hat when being near 5G towers, to avoid being controlled!   

I also booked a vacation in Tenerife at March 2022, and hopefully it won't end up being canceled. You never know about those new variants, which in worst case could be highly resistent to current vaccines and kick us back to the beginning. 

[PhireSideZA]

Time to bump this thread!

+ Went for my first Pfizer shot last week. Had a sore arm for a few days, but running on all cylinders again
+ Lost a bit of weight since joining the gym two months ago. My endurance is also massively improved, where I used to gasp for breath after jogging 5 minutes on the treadmill, I can now do 45 minutes with ease.
+ Wedding date is inching closer, and I am so damned excited
- My i30 seems to have an issue with the OBC where it flickers every now and again. Seems the LEDs might be faulty, if I look at similar threads
- The house transfer is still not done, nearly a year later. Patience is running out at a rate of knots.

[neptune]

It seems Phil that you just might need that extra cardio training for your wedding night.....

[PhireSideZA]

It seems Phil that you just might need that extra cardio training for your wedding night.....

Stamina is stamina, as they say

[PhireSideZA]

+ New job!
- I have NFI what I am doing
- Our rolling blackouts have returned
+ We are getting some much-needed rain, as we have been declared a disaster area and we have to curtail usage to 50 litres of water per person, per day.
+ I might be picking up an Audi A4 B7 Avant soon, but I am still working out the formalities as the car is all the way in Johannesburg, a 10-hour drive from me.

[Dazzler]

+ New job!
- I have NFI what I am doing
- Our rolling blackouts have returned
+ We are getting some much-needed rain, as we have been declared a disaster area and we have to curtail usage to 50 litres of water per person, per day.
+ I might be picking up an Audi A4 B7 Avant soon, but I am still working out the formalities as the car is all the way in Johannesburg, a 10-hour drive from me.

Wow! It is all happening Phil.. apart from crashing my new MG plug in hybrid and having bad gastro on and off for around 4 days I'm just doing my usual LOL

[PhireSideZA]

+ I might be picking up an Audi A4 B7 Avant soon, but I am still working out the formalities as the car is all the way in Johannesburg, a 10-hour drive from me.

Wow! It is all happening Phil.. apart from crashing my new MG plug in hybrid and having bad gastro on and off for around 4 days I'm just doing my usual LOL

Hey Dazz, merry Christmas and a happy new year and to all on here! Hope you are doing better, Darryl.

So an update on the above...this should be coming in sometime this week:



It's not the one I mentioned prior, but one from a town closer to us. I couldn't find one I liked in white, so I reluctantly went for a black one. But who knows, it might grow on me. If not, I might look into wrapping it.

[Snookes]

Hey Phil, and a happy new year to you too. A big one for you !
Your new Audi looks to be in good condition and I hope it serves you well. I’ve always liked Audi A4s. There doesn’t seem to be many A4 Avants (‘wagon” to us in Aus) in Australia, apart from the performance ones, the RS4, and my favourite, the RS6.
I this doesn’t mean Hippo is on the way out though !
Peter

[PhireSideZA]

Hey Phil, and a happy new year to you too. A big one for you !
Your new Audi looks to be in good condition and I hope it serves you well. I’ve always liked Audi A4s. There doesn’t seem to be many A4 Avants (‘wagon” to us in Aus) in Australia, apart from the performance ones, the RS4, and my favourite, the RS6.
I this doesn’t mean Hippo is on the way out though !
Peter

Happy new year!

Thank you - it needs some paint correction done and a few things that need to be fixed here and there, but I think it should be a keeper.

Unfortunately, we don't get the i30 CW here in SA, otherwise I would have traded my i30 in for one instead. We only have Volvo's and Audi's and some older VW wagons here, and the BMW Touring models although they are scarce. Hatchbacks are very popular here (The VW Polo is the best selling car in SA) and station wagons seem to be dying a quick death.

Hippo is getting on with age and I think it might, unfortunately, be time to retire it. I did offer passing it on to my folks to use, but they stay on a gravel road outside town so it wouldn't be the ideal vehicle for them - when the roads are muddy they would need something with a bit more ground clearance and 4x4 or diff lock at the very least to navigate the roads.

[Dazzler]

+ I might be picking up an Audi A4 B7 Avant soon, but I am still working out the formalities as the car is all the way in Johannesburg, a 10-hour drive from me.

Wow! It is all happening Phil.. apart from crashing my new MG plug in hybrid and having bad gastro on and off for around 4 days I'm just doing my usual LOL

Hey Dazz, merry Christmas and a happy new year and to all on here! Hope you are doing better, Darryl.

So an update on the above...this should be coming in sometime this week:



It's not the one I mentioned prior, but one from a town closer to us. I couldn't find one I liked in white, so I reluctantly went for a black one. But who knows, it might grow on me. If not, I might look into wrapping it.

Thanks Phil tummy is better but MG still being repaired!

That looks the goods. Despite the colour I'm sure you will be wrapped with your new vehicle!

See what I did there! 😁

[josh1990]

Some recent stuff for us;

Bad - 3 year old and I spent 10.5 hours at the hospital getting his 3 lips turned back into 2 after running and slipping on the tiles and collecting the skirting board

Good - saw the surgeon yesterday and it's healing magnificently and the stitches are dissolving without intervention

Bad - 3 yo still running on the freaking tiles

Good/Bad - sold my xr6, wasn't intending to made a half arse comment on FB and it was gone 2 days later for the figure I threw out

Good/Bad - had to spend $$ on towbar for Bertie, has a higher tow rating than the xr6 but I won't be able to abuse it like I did the ute 

Good/Bad - decided since we'd have a tow bar we could buy a camper trailer that was nice and light, went from a soft floor camper to ordering a Jayco Lark yesterday. Great for is but Bad for savings haha. It escalated very quickly

[tohis]

Only two weeks to the trip to Tenerife - unless I get a last minute Covid infection or even a casual flu. Respiratory symptoms, no matter the cause of it, would get me banned from the flight or entering the destination. Not mentioning the same infection risk at there as well... 

Wearing a face mask during the flight is mandatory, except when eating and drinking. I wonder how the virus knows that so it won't spread during eating? 

Petrol prices are record high, about 2 EUR per liter, thanks to the crude oil prices and ever increasing tax burden. Those recent geopolitical events will not help that matter either.

[PhireSideZA]

Aye @tohis, the tension from the resulting conflict up there has a knock-on effect everywhere. I hope the situation is resolved quick. War is such an unnecessary evil. I do hope everything works out for your trip, though.

-+ Said goodbye to the i30 this week. It felt a bit surreal turning up to the buyer's house and seeing it parked there. I thought to myself "Hey, that was my car for the past eight years. And it treated me so well during that time".
+ It will make a great car for the guy's daughter, who has just finished varsity and needed a car to move about town.
+ Our wedding date is inching ever closer. 8 more days to go!
- Our house transfer is still ongoing, nearly a year and a half later. If I knew how frustrating buying a house during covid was I would never have sold

[The Gonz]

Hang in there, Phil. I'm not sure how I'll deal with saying goodbye to Firty in the distant future, not just for the great experience but for what is probably the last Diesel or even ICE car I'll own.

In life's episodes such as buying or building a house, I like to remember the old adage:
- when is the best time to buy a house? 20 years ago.
- when is the next best? Now.
When you look back you'll likely see that there is never a particularly bad time to do so.

Enjoy Tenerife!

[Dazzler]

Aye @tohis, the tension from the resulting conflict up there has a knock-on effect everywhere. I hope the situation is resolved quick. War is such an unnecessary evil. I do hope everything works out for your trip, though.

-+ Said goodbye to the i30 this week. It felt a bit surreal turning up to the buyer's house and seeing it parked there. I thought to myself "Hey, that was my car for the past eight years. And it treated me so well during that time".
+ It will make a great car for the guy's daughter, who has just finished varsity and needed a car to move about town.
+ Our wedding date is inching ever closer. 8 more days to go!
- Our house transfer is still ongoing, nearly a year and a half later. If I knew how frustrating buying a house during covid was I would never have sold

Hi Phil congrats on the impending wedding! Always sad to say goodbye to a much loved car after a long period of ownership. Longest I had a car was 4 years!.take care! Hope the house transfer is processed soon!.

[PhireSideZA]

Thanks Gonz & Dazz! The wedding ended up being absolutely stunning despite the awful temperatures (39 degrees C and 80% humidity) so I was sweating like a pig in my penguin suit...but it was magical and we had a blast! We're off to Knysna for our honeymoon in three weeks. Only a short weekend away but a well-needed one, as work has been murder lately and some time off will do the both of us good.

+We've been told the house transfer is due to be completed by this coming Friday.
+I already have a list of things I want to change
-I need a budget for said list of things I want to change
+Winter is coming so mosquito season is nearly over
-The Avant is getting an oil change later today. I'm a bit worried about the oil filter housing as I can already see the previous owner has somehow chewed the filter housing up something awful.
-My mobile phone is on its last legs, but I am hoping it can survive until bonus month (August)

[tohis]

Only two weeks to the trip to Tenerife - unless I get a last minute Covid infection or even a casual flu.

It was challenging to stay healthy, but I just made it! 

Only 5 days before the trip I got hit by fever and fatigue! The Covid home test I made was negative however, and I had to pay and go to the official PCR test to be certain about it (no more free tests for vaccinated with mild symptoms). That also turned out negative, however the symptoms continued and I still had some fever when I drove to Helsinki for the flight at next day, but after sleeping in the hotel I got cured by miracle and felt healthy when walking into the plane. Phew!  I think it may have been rhinovirus or something similar. At least I would have got refund in case of Covid, but with a mild flu of unknown cause there would have been no refund.

The trip itself went well, I got back home last Sunday and still feeling healthy. However at Wednesday the Covid tracing app in my phone gave an alert of possible exposure.  The exact time or location is not available due to privacy, but obviously someone at the return flight, sitting near me, was diagnosed positive shortly after returning home. I made an another home test which was negative again, so I think I survived one more time.

I will post some more story and pics to the Members trips section when I have time for that...

[PhireSideZA]

Glad you're okay, tohis. I think you spoke that illness into existence