A few weeks back, the wipers on my car, a 94 Lexus LS 400 (dere's posh fer ye, boy) broke down. They'd always been noisy, but over a period of a few days they got really noisy. Then something went snap and that was it - they were stuck in the middle of the windscreen.

I took the car to my local Toyota dealer ('cos we all know a Lexus is really a Toyota on steroids) and I asked them to have a look at the wiper system. Initially, they thought that the linkage had broken and that they could fix it, but this turned out not to be the case. That being so, it was necessary to check with the nearest Lexus dealer to see if a new linkage could be order.

Unfortunately (or perhaps, typically) it is not possible just to buy the linkage - one needs to buy an entire wiper system - motor and all. At a cost of around €700 plus VAT. It was looking like an overall bill of well over €1k to sort out my problem.

Luckily, I'd come across a guy in the UK who was breaking a Lexus of similar vintage to my own. On the off-chance, I contacted him to see if he still had the wiper system and was it working. Yes to both questions. We agreed a price and I got it delivered to the door for the princely sum of €75. Quelle difference, n'est pas? Allowing for labour, the cost of fitting the new wiper system will hopefully top out at no more than €200.

So the moral of the story is (insert suitable moral here).

Regards,


djp

I'm listening to a nice piece of Schubert as I type - Rondo in A Major, D. 951.

The phrase "a nice piece of Schubert" sounds as cosy and middle-class as "I'm eating a nice piece of sea-bass". Nice music, nice restaurant, nice sunny lunchtime. Nice G&T to start off proceedings and a nice Chardonnay for the follow-through.

And didn't Schubert compose a piece called "The Trout"?

Seems fishy to me...

Fin,


djp

A few months ago I bought a rather nice lefty s/h Rickenbacker 360/6 guitar in Jetglo finish (my favourite). I paid around €1.5k for it from the UK, which I thought was a good price (and still do).

Unfortunately, I made the mistake of setting up a search on Ebay for Rickenbacker guitars (just to keep an eye on values and such, don't you know - I had no interest in buying another Ric). Today, I have just come across a rather nice lefty s/h Rickenbacker 360/6 in Fireglo finish and with various upgrades. It's based in the US and there's a BIN price of around €1.1k. Now, I'm not a great fan of the Fireglo finish (it depends on whether they're photographed indoors or outdoors - outdoors they can look a bit insipid), but I don't dislike it by €400!

No, I'm not going to buy it (I've a 4003 bass on order and that's more than enough Ric for me, thank you) but it does show that I shouldn't have set up that search on Ebay. It's a bit like a newly-wed gentleman going out clubbing with his mates and eyeing up the talent. It's just not done...


Regards,


djp

I was up in Dublin last Monday for a meeting. Dunno how familiar you are with the geography of Dublin, but around lunchtime I was crossing from St. Andrew's Street to William Street (or whatever street is at the back of the Powerscourt). Anyway, it was at that junction between the afore-mentioned streets and Wicklow/Exchequer Street.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a guy in a nice 02 C-Class Merc driving through the junction parallel to me. I took little notice until I heard him beep his horn - some pedestrian had wandered across Merc Man's path, and Merc Man gave hm a little auditory reminder to wake the hell up.

Next thing I knew, the pedestrian made a run for the Merc as it was driving away from him and drew a kick at the driver's door. Merc Man obviously stopped the car, opened the door and caught sight of the pedestrian.

"Bloody jaywalker!" he shouted at the pedestrian.

"FUCK YOU!" was the civilised reply.

I'm just surprised that Merc Man didn't get out of the car and lay about the pedestrian's head with a Krook-lok. He closed the door and drove on. I didn't have the heart to point out to him that although his door wasn't dented (for it received a fairly fearsome dunt), there was a rather nasty scuff mark from the sole of the pedestrian's shoe that won't rub out in a hurry.

Dublin, eh? Tcheh...


djp

My Top 10 iPod tracks - 01/05/2007

1. Albatross - Public Image Ltd.
2. E-Musik - NEU!
3. Vidrar Vel Til Loftarasa - Sigúr Ros
4. Discs, Winds & Veiling Curtains - Jah Wobble
5. Elements - Lemon Jelly
6. Feel Too Good - The Move
7. Sheep - Pink Floyd
8. Fun House - Red House Painters
9. Fools Gold - The Stone Roses
10. Alone On Piano - Colin Newman

Regards,

djp