about half an hour after I got up this morning, the phone rang. it was a woman who explained that her daughter had let the door go when she was getting in the car and the wind caught it and it slammed onto our rear door! the wind was really howling here yesterday, so it's not as unbelievable as it might sound. anyway, she's given us her insurance information and all the stuff we need to make a claim! incredible! I can hardly believe it. Despite the fact that they obviously dented our car two days after we got another dent fixed - she made my day by calling.

You've got to love honest people. :)

right, so I've got new icons!

I can't remember where I got them all, but a few are credited. :)







don't, you know... use them - go browse through the bazillions of icon communities on LJ to find your own favourites. I'm not claiming these as my own, btw - just showing my new set off.

Also, if you're viewing this through rss or through your own friends page, do stop by - I've got a new layout. I tried getting the hang of the custom stuff, but couldn't quite grasp it. I might try again later, but the whole S2 thing and tutorials and whatnot confuse the hell out of me for some reason. You see, I've got a paid account now - $20 was no fortune, really. Only for a year, and I'm not quite sure what to do with it unless I make a custom layout (haven't done one in quite a while). Suggestions are welcomed. :)

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In other news, some FUCKING FUCKER has dented our car. Yes. Again. We got it back from the garage on thursday (that's just two days ago!) and after spending two hours at the shopping centre today we find the car has a nice door-made dent and scratch on the right rear door. Fan-fucking-tastic, right? It really is unbelievable. Nobody is this unlucky with their car. I haven't even had time to make our insurance claim from the last incident, and now I have to make a new one!? ARGHARGaaaaaargh.

Aside from the annoyance of the car, today has been much better than yesterday (which was crap). P took me out to dinner at a spanish place, and it was great. There was even a pianist there playing lovely music - it really was the icing on the cake that was a good evening.

There is much to blog about, I think. There is lots going on in my head that I need to sort out, and a proper write-up would help me do that. But not today. :)

the roof is dented. we couldn't see it because it was wet before - but with a good wipe the dents are really obvious. they've dented the roof and the side panel over the left rear door. insurance will cover it and we get ~£8 a day for every day the car is in the shop, so it won't hit us badly financially - but it's a real pain.

some kids were just in our parking lot, sitting on our car and kicking our rearview mirror. the roof was buckled but bent back and so did the rearview mirror, but there might be hairline cracks in the roof that we can't see so we'll still need to take it in to the shop to have it checked. the police were here and everything.
so basically we woke up at five in the morning and can't go back to sleep. also, there is little or no chance of getting a garage in this area, there's a queue for them. bleh.

I called the dealership. the car is DONE!

:D

we can pick it up tomorrow at 12, which means we need to bounce to the bank in the morning to get everything sorted. w00t!

OMG I'm so excited :D


also, totally unrelated:

this and this. :)

I realise I'm talking about nothing other than the car at the moment - sorry for the repetition. :D I'm just very excited and I want to share it! bear with me, I'm sure I'll find something to whinge about soon. ;)

okay, so the car we've bought is a 2003 Mazda 6, 2.3 sport. as far as we complete car-noobs can tell, it's a pretty awesome car. all the reviews we've read online give high marks and seem to have only minor squeaks and luxury stuff to complain about. also, we seem to have gotten a pretty good deal, considering the price of similar cars with similar milage that are available. we've tried to do our research. :)

so, here are the pics off the dealership's website:
( snip snip snip )

the interior is very well taken care of (plus, like I said, it's being detailed. ;)), as is the exterior. we can't really find any faults with it at the moment. :D maybe it'll fall to pieces when the warranty expires, eh? hehe.

the only thing I miss in it is iPod integration. I've been looking at a solution, but it's a bit pricy. I'm going to go into an auto-audio place next week and let them have a look. In a REAL pinch, I reckon I could do it myself. it seriously doesn't look that complicated - but I would much rather have someone who knows their stuff (and who'll give a warranty) do it.

but that's about it, really. we're very happy with our choice so far, and we're looking forward to a really mobile weekend. :D

I've signed the car contract! woop woop! :D it's being detailed at the moment, so we won't be able to pick it up until friday morning - but we're really excited! I've written a shopping list for the car. :D

- wet wipes for the interior (I bought wet wipes, but they were all in the same place and I was stupid enough to buy wet wipes for your HANDS rather than for the car. duh. the only difference was a slightly differently coloured lid.)
- a bottle for water
- a bottle of windscreen washer fluid
- a bottle of oil
- a wiping cloth for the exterior
- maybe some wax or something?
- maybe a 5-litre tank for extra emergency petrol?
- an ice scraper (it's Sweden, remember?)
- a plastic container to put in the boot to keep it all in (I bought one, but its IKEA and it's canvas. and it might be purple)
- a big rubber band to secure the container with
- a torch
- a learner-driver sign
- WD40
- a jack (turns out I don't need one - it comes with the car! :)
- jumper cables

omg I'm so excited!

have I forgotten anything? :D I doubt we'll have any sort of cuddly toys or anything on the dash, or anything hanging from the rearview mirror (I find it distracting when I drive)... *bounces*

my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard

I am exhausted!

We spent over four hours today looking at cars. :) We went through the better part of eight dealerships and took down details of ten of them that were in our price range. Since I got home (P is out with work friends), I've spent almost four hours on various online calculators for insurance, tax and loan payments (ten cars x five insurance companies). But as a result, we've got a snazzy spreadsheet with all the info we could possibly need - from fuel efficiency and number of previous owners to an extensive insurance comparison - which we can then use to help us decide which cars we're going to test drive on friday or saturday. :) I'm quite excited about that part. :D

is it weird that I really want to have controls (like audio and cruise control) on the steering wheel? :D I don't know, I always thought it was rather snazzy - plus it has to be more road safe than having to find your way through a myriad of buttons to find the one you need while you're going a bazillion miles an hour. like you do. :D

anyway, behind the cut are some pics of a few of our prospectives - feel free to have your say. :)

( vroom vroom! )