My copy of Count Zero has just been shipped, along with The Guide to Computer Games which is an old 80s computer book aimed at kids, but being the 80s the kids are treated like intelligent people who might understand what RAM is. It can sit on my shelf next to my ZX Spectrum +3 manual and early BASIC programming books.

Also in the post to me is a Proclip car mount for my Nokia N810 Internet Tablet since the current suction-cup mount I have is incredibly wobbly and a great advert to car thieves. The new Proclip mount will fit near the radio and be easily removed. Also, since Nokia provide a proper N810 car mount that fits the Proclip system, I’ll know that my N810 isn’t about to come unstuck and try to escape while driving. I’ve had the suction cup on the current mount fail several times before; either the window is curved too much, or the suction cup is made from plastic that isn’t bendy enough to maintain a suction.

Here it is. A blue Fiat Panda 2005 edition. Like I mentioned in the previous post, I got it from my parents after my mum crashed it.

It’s been repaired since, and is now almost as shiny as when it came out the factory. I had a good look around it, and apart from some very new looking bits inside the engine bay you’d never know it’d been this badly mangled. If your car ever looks this bad, you’re looking at £2000 worth of repair btw.

It’s quite a difference to my old car. Power steering is possibly one of the best things invented. The ability to park with ease can’t be underestimated. The car has an even more powered “city” mode that means I can turn the wheel with a fingertip for even tighter parking spots. I had the radio out yesterday to try and fit my old one since it has an AUX input for my N800. Unfortunately the Fiat radio is non-standard, and contains a non-standard cage. The facia is a giant square thing so while I could connect my old radio up electronically and have it work, there would be no way to secure it into the car. It’s frustrating being defeated by a few bits of metal and plastic. Looks like I’m back on the RF transmitter again and the associated wiring mess.

I had a slightly surreal and amusing time at Carcraft though. We were all sat around a table after looking at my car and going “that’s an interesting noise it makes”, when they produced a piece of paper and gave it to me. Thinking it was some valuation I gave it a glance.

… then looked again slightly confused …

It wasn’t a valuation, it was a printout of my Livejournal entry for the other day. Somehow, presumably through my email address or a lucky Google search, they’d managed to find my LJ and printed it out for a good laugh. It did explain the odd comments they made while looking at my car

They made selling my car nice and easy. They looked at it, then I  just had to show various bits of paperwork to prove it was mine, and that I was who I claimed to be. That was all I had to do. They even allow dogs in the showroom which prevented Amy and Twinkle from having to wait outside in the cold and strong winds.

So, to the Carcraft / webuyanycar.com (go on, admit it, your name is a little daft) people - hello!

I phoned my current insurers to find out how much it would cost to transfer my current car’s insurance onto the car I am getting on Saturday. The helpful man on the phone informed me it would be £76 extra and that I have three months of insurance left. After that I will have acquired 3 years no-claims and that’ll make my next renewal cheaper.

So instead of my insurance being a whole £300 a year, it’ll be the not too bad £375. That’s for fully comprehensive with the usual stuff and the ability to drive other people’s cars - a feature that is useful at times.

It’s still not stopped raining yet so I can’t T-Cut the scratches out of the paintwork.

The roads around here are awful. On my way home tonight there was a lot of water on the road, and somehow a large amount of oil or diesel had spread itself across the surface too. Every time I set off my wheels span, and stopping was a bit like driving on ice. When I got home I ran my fingers over the tyres and they smelled of diesel. Hopefully it’ll get washed away in the rain overnight.

During Easter my mum managed to crash her car. Somehow they got a replacement, then this week the garage holding the crashed car phoned to say it’d been repaired and was ready for collection. As a result they now have a “spare” car and need to do something with it. Which is where I come in…

I have a 1999 Peugeot 106 that is mechanically sound, but has some entertaining clanks, bangs and shuddering noises. Problem is, I can’t quite afford to get a new car.

… or so I thought.

My parents will sell me their car, using the flexible Parental Loan System and its fantastic introductory 0% rate. All I need to do is get rid of my old car, which thanks to the bonkers named webuyanycar.com was a straight-forward affair to book.

On Saturday I’ll take my car to Carcraft in Rochdale, sell it then be collected by my parents and go to their house. I just need to find a large wad of documents to prove I own my car and hopefully it should be about as difficult as getting a Macbook repaired was.

According to the website, my car is worth £525 (subject to inspection). If so that’s great, but even if they give me £300 I’ll be happy.

I’d best wash it and T-Cut out the scratches

You know, it’ll feel good driving a car that doesn’t double in value when I put my laptop into it

My Macbook is back from being repaired in the Apple Store. The LVDS cable has been replaced and the screen doesn’t do any random pixel errors any more. When I booted it in the Apple Store the screen had a large sticky line across it which looked like they’d stuck a label or something to it. The man behind the counter gave it a clean, but I hope he doesn’t use glasses from the amount of smear left on it.

Me and Amy then wandered around the Meadowhall Centre for a while looking at random stuff. I needed to get my hair cut so went into one place, and promptly walked out when they said “Our haircuts start at £29…”. £29 to get my hair cut? What planet do you think I come from? I went for a £16 SuperCuts job instead, it took 45 minutes of waiting before I could be processed, and I am unsure about just how much hair they have chopped off. Still, it was cheap.

The parking in Meadowhall was awful. Only livened up by two people trying to reverse into the same space at the same time, and by one moron blinding us with the lights on his giant 4×4… who as we passed a few minutes later had forgotten to turn his twin portable sun-lights off. Hopefully he’s stuck in the carpark with a car that won’t start.

Oh, and there was a trip into the Disney Store where I bought Amy an Eeyore plushie. She also bought some fairy stickers and has now stuck them all over her iBook.

I did it again… left my sodding interior light on and drained the car battery. I’m going to buy a battery charger I think. One of those portable things might be worth it.

Fortunately I have jumpleads, and with the help of a neighbour had my car running within minutes. Of course first I rang work to tell them I would be late and to expect me in a few hours (going on worse case scenario here of having to catch the bus). I arrived a mere 15 minutes later than normal, but still in plenty of time to be ready.