Category: Journal

Today I took a half day from work so I could go test drive a couple of new cars for comparison – something I didn’t actually do when we bought the current car. The scene went along the lines of “This drives quite nicely. And I see you have it in blue. Cool – we’ll take it.”

Not the best way to have an informed opinion about what you’re getting for your money, although we’ve been pretty happy with the Chrysler regardless. It has never once refused to start and other than one dodgy fog lamp, nothing has gone wrong with it in a year and a half of ownership. So although financially it was a bit of a crazy move, we have had reasonably good value for that in return.

Anyhow, first up today was a Honda Jazz, which drove like a cross between a mini-mpv and a go-kart. It’s the kind of car where practicality and fun collide, leaving me very impressed with the build quality and attention to detail in the design. Sadly it was only a very basic route I drove it on, although on the way back I absolutely chucked it into a round-about to see what would happen. It gripped the road with a similar ferocity to that of the sales-girl gripping the seat and I couldn’t help but smile. The Chrysler would have handled the corner fine at the same speed, but with an amount of body roll usually only found on a bobsleigh.

By the time we got back to the showroom, I was pretty keen on the Jazz. I’ve read reviews galore on it, and watched road-tests on motoring shows, but even so it was still pleasing to find it lived up to the promise. I made up my mind that I was going to be cold and analytical about it and not get carried away, as I still had a Seat Ibiza to test drive later in the afternoon and was mindful that the Jazz is a pricey car.

With Liverpool being a bit of a maze, I made the choice to go find the Seat garage as soon as I was finished at Honda. Unfortunately I found it really easily and was almost an hour early. I killed as much time as possible by browsing on the forecourts, but it was freezing cold and I ended up just sitting inside twiddling my thumbs until I was called for my test drive.

The year that brought us and end to the Terminator, The Matrix, and The Lord of the Rings, finally comes to a close itself.

As the hours ebbed away on the 31^st, we attended Kieran and Elle’s New Year Silly Hat Party, which turned out to be quite a success. Fliss really went town on our hats, making mine from Budweiser cans and her own from a straw cowboy hat, tinsel and baubles from the xmas tree. We got joint second place for her efforts, although I wish I’d dug out the flashing LED’s I have stashed somewhere, that might just have swung the vote our way.

It ended up being a very fun, but very late night, and I got very, very drunk into the bargain. Not as drunk as Kieran, though, and I suspect his silence today may indicate that he’s curled up feeling awful to a greater degree than I have been. I left the car at his place, so I guess I’ll see how he is when I brave the elements to fetch it tomorrow.

Today has been a bit of slob–fest, to be honest. I’ve played about four games of Madden and watched a Naked Gun movie – not entirely constructive behavior at all. But hey, that’s much the same as any other new years day!

2003 was fun in places, and very trying in others. It was a year we positively filled to the brim with stuff to do, and I’m glad at the end of it all Fliss and I made a firm commitment to our future. Seems the perfect way to round things off and head into 2004.

Happy new year – all the best for the coming year. :o)

Having a good xmas break so far, enjoying a life of over-indulgence and lots of tv. Cant remember a time when I done this little and ate this much, but hey – in two weeks time I’ll be back at the day job with a long road ahead of me to the next holiday, so I may as well enjoy it while it lasts.

Christmas day went really well – we got up pretty late, got washed and dressed, and I even phoned my mum before we got around to opening presents. This was a bit of a mistake, actually, as I had to call her back later on to thank her for the varioous gifts she got me. I find it amazing each year how generous my mum can be – she seems to be able to eek out a variety of presents that are pretty cool, but consist of stuff I would never think of getting for other people. We’re talking a kettle and toaster with happy faces here, with fridge magnet games along for the ride. Knowing how her mind works I think it’s hilarious how she’ll be in some shop, in August, spot something weird and think “that’ll make a trendy christmas present for Robert and Fliss!”

I got some cool stuff from Fliss too, including the 411 Video Magazine tenth anniversary dvd which comes on four disks and has a decent booklet. Add to that a hot chicks of Hollyoaks calendar and I was pretty pleased with my haul.

Even more impressive was that the small, mysterious box turned out to contain a shiny silver ring – making an honest man out of me after all this time. Sadly the ring is a little on the small side, so we’re going to get it changed today, hopefully – I’ll stick up a picture as soon as I can.

In the mean time, I have more eating to do… ;o)