What made you happy today?

[Dan E]

@pete sit rep required 

[top-plumber]

On 15/10/2022 at 19:24, pete said:

Was lovely to have some visitors today,special thanks to @top-plumberand Michelle 

We were glad to see you on the mend Pete. See you and Sue at the next meeting I hope. X

[Escape]

It was actually yesterday, but I'm on holiday so give me break. 😉

And it could have very well ended up in the 'unhappy' thread, with I fear follow on in the Elite/Eclat/Excel technical section...

Yesterday we set out bright and early for the ferry to Dover for a long weekend hiking and sight seeing on the Isle of Wight. Easy drive up to Calais, the old girl doing very well and clearly happy to stretch her feet again. Making our way from Dover we got some traffic on the M20 but nothing too bad.

Afterwards I noticed the engine temperature was creeping up a bit, despite a rather sedate pace of 70ish. I manually switched on the fan and that brought it down a bit, not as much as expected. Turning on the heater again helped, but it was still creeping up ever so slowly. So something was definitely not as it should be. The temperature did remain well within safe limits, just higher then I'm used to. I lowered the pace a bit just to be safe and decided to keep going 'till our scheduled stop at Cobham Services. Filled up, about 26mpg so pretty happy about that, went to pay (why don't you guys have more pay at the pump terminals?) and walked back with the intention of popping the hood and having a look around for any leaks or other mishaps. I didn't need to, looking at the Excel from the front I noticed the radiator grill was covered with leaves! There was a lot of wind coming up the M20 so a lot of leaves blowing. I had even joked about driving through a shower of leaves. Combined with a bit of rain that was enough to block most of the radiator intake. Once cleared, temperature returned to normal and stayed there for the rest of our trip. What a relief!
We also got some friendly comments on the Excel and thumbs up, as is often the case. One chap on the ferry to Isle of Wight thought it was an Elite, so he did know a bit about the old wedges. 🙂

Something for my other favorite forum: in the hedge next to our B&B (a converted old farm house) sits an old Land Rover Series (I think a Series III but will have a closer look today). That could make a nice project and would be a good excuse to return here. 😎 Just need to fit a winch to my Range Rover to be able to drag it out of the shrubs.

Filip

[C8RKH]

The behaviour of VW!

Rebellion protestors (scientists apparently, aye, f@@king right) glued themselves to the showroom floor at the HQ. So at the end of the day they just switched off the lights and heating. Locked the doors and left them there 

Apparently the scientists complained that VW didn't even leave them bowls so they could "urinate and defecate with dignity".

Could you imagine the same over here? The outcry that they didn't get tea, sympathy, pizzas etc... 

 

Dartford bridge protestors. I'd have just ignored them and hoped the silly buggers fell off 

 

[PaulCP]

Exactly Andy, they are no longer protesters they are vandals, criminals and masters of anti- social behaviour which, if I’m not mistaken are all criminal offences punishable by law in this country.
They talk about their human rights but they don’t have a human right that states that they can disrupt and take away the human rights of others by preventing the general public going about their daily business.

Once the “just stop oil protesters” group is formed let’s just see which group our spineless police pick upon to arrest and our useless courts and judges decide to throw the book at.

[exeterjeep]

On 05/10/2022 at 19:47, march said:

My favourite subject!

Another one today, there is still 1 left near the road at the front. And all the others that I have not noticed .  Pet anyone?????

[march]

Well Done - I don't think I ever caught one with those scissor traps

[pete]

[jep]

I drove 3 Lotus today. Excel SE, Evora NA, Evora Sport 410.

All brilliant. All chronically under-rated by most.

Justin

 

[Rambo]

You forgot to drive the Elan M100. One of the "best bang for $buck" Lotus cars ever 😉

 

I'm heading out for a thrash tomorrow in my Evora LE. It's my birthday.

Quick thrash over to Berwick then down on some of the lovely twisty Northumberland roads.

 

Maybe this should be in the "What will make you happy tomorrow post"?

Edited October 28, 2022 by Rambo

[DDubya]

Iceland, friggin awesome!

[pete]

Had lunch today at the Henry Moore museum

[Greyvora]

Getting new regulators fitted on my Evora's windows. Both failed within a couple of months of each other. Now I can get the full aural stimulation from my exhaust again.......one of life's simple pleasures!

[Alfa2Evora]

EVORA UPDATE:

There have been a number of twists and turns in this saga since my last post about a month back, some of which might have qualified for a post in the 'Unhappy' thread and some in the 'Neither Happy nor Unhappy' thread, but overall this update should firmly reside here.

Having convinced my insurer that my car didn't deserve to be a 'total loss' and succeeding in persuading them to back off from sending in the local scrappie to collect it, I got on with my pursuit of the miscreant. It was obvious by then that local plod was too busy eating doughnuts to be bothered (I know, I know - some of you warned me of this) so I went back to the hospital security team, this time sending a lengthy letter, including photographs of the damage to both cars, to the Head of Security with a copy to the Chairman of the NHS Trust for the hospital. I gave them an outline of my reasons for being a daily visitor to the hospital and of how the repairs to my car could leave me financially stretched at a time when I'm needing to be getting specially-adapted equipment ordered for Jennifer in an unashamed attempt to garner their sympathy, and asked that the CCTV footage be viewed again, this time looking at all the other cameras in the vicinity and not just the one directly adjacent to the incident location.

I scored on all counts. The main man in security got back to me the very next day to say that he was effectively 'on my side' in getting this resolved. He had reviewed the CCTV and had established a timeline of fairly compelling (to him) circumstantial (to plod) evidence. They had my car passing the entry barrier at 1719 with no apparent damage to it. Another camera further round the building catches me reversing in alongside the BMW, again with no visible damage, at 1721. That camera pans away but on its return at 1726, the BMW has gone and my car can be seen sitting there with now obvious damage. Meanwhile, the exit barrier camera shows the BMW leaving at 1724 with a clear scrape and smears of blue along its rear quarter.

He was able to identify the owner of the BMW and had already contacted her (OK, so it was a female after all) detailing the "overwhelming evidence" (his words to her) that he had in his possession and advising her that as a member of the public complaining about a staff member, I was fully entitled to escalate it to involve the senior nursing management and personnel department if I felt so inclined. At this, she put her hands up straight away (although she did say that she thought she had only caught a kerb - curb to those of you over The Pond, ), and asked that he obtain my contact details so she could speak to me about what I wanted to do next.

She sent me a text asking what she should do, I replied with what details she needed to report the incident to her insurance and after a delay of about a further 7 days, during which time I was beginning to think that she's had a change of mind and was giving me the proverbial raised middle digit, I got another text confirming her policy details and giving me the claim reference number.

Meantime, without me having spoken to them again since the 'total loss' conversation, my insurance decided that it was time to send a recovery wagon to uplift the Evora and take it to a repair shop of their choosing. The one that they had selected has a certain reputation in the local car club circles and let's just say, I wouldn't send a wheelbarrow to them. I contacted them direct to cancel the collection, citing the car still being part of an ongoing police investigation as the reason for it not being available for repair rather than getting into a slanging match about their abilities or lack thereof, and the guy on the other end of the phone said that they'd been looking forward to getting it into their workshop as they'd never worked on an Evora before. Well guess what, you'll still never have worked on an Evora, at least not my one that is!

It would seem that somewhere along the line, my insurer had somebody come out and look at my car without my knowledge (I'm sleeping for a fair proportion of the day as I'm on permanent nightshift) as the very next day after the 'uplift for repair' attempt, they contacted me to advise that they would now not be covering any of the repair costs to my car. When asked for a reason, apparently their assessor reckoned that the damage was down to the design of my after-market bumper. The pronounced bottom lip allowed the BMW's wheel to drive up onto it causing the mountings to be ripped from the clam, and the bumper and undertray to drop taking the headlight with them.  Had it been the standard bumper, there would only have been scraping along the surface, therefore they would not cover this 'consequential damage' So essentially, everything is now the fault of my bumper's design and nothing to do with the other driver not being able to exit a parking space without hitting something? 

Fortunately, the BMW's insurer then contacted me accepting complete liability for everything that's needed to restore my P&J to its former glory, was perfectly happy to allow me to choose where the car goes for repair (they fully understood my "specialist car with specialist materials and specialist repair techniques needs a specialist repairer" stance), and even offering me a 'premium' replacement car (whatever that means? Hyundai i20 rather than an i10 maybe? ) for the duration of the repair. They've since confirmed all this in writing, so all I'm waiting on now is for them to authorise the estimate my bodyshop guy has sent them so he can get the parts on order and I can get onto their nominated rental agency to arrange the Huracan or SF90 Stradale or whatever else is on offer,  .

Oh, and I've told my insurer to close the file on my case and stick it in whatever part of their anatomy they feel might accommodate it, . Guess where my business won't be going come renewal time?

[pete]

Is your insurer saying you hadn't told them the car was modified 

[Alfa2Evora]

@peteNo, they have all the mods detailed in the vehicle description in my policy schedule. They're just claiming that the modified front bumper caused the resulting damage to be greater than it otherwise would have been.
Doesn't matter now anyway, as the other driver's insurance is picking up the tab. Won't cost me a penny for now, although I'm sure that my premiums will go up for the next few years since having had a bump makes me a greater risk of having another apparently, .

[NAC63]

So glad you have now got this sorted, your insurance company is typical of most, want your money but don't want to pay out when anything happens 🤬. You should name them on here so none of us use them 😉. 

[bogle]

David,

Fantastic news and gripping read.  You have a talent for writing beyond most of us on this forum.

I sincerely hope your SF90 Stradale will be an excellent rental choice while your Evora is in the "proper" repair shop.  

Your car insurance is rubbish and agree that you shall be not entertaining them when the new premium arrives.

Thank the Lotus Gods for your success with the Evora and hopefully the real God will kindly intervene with Jennifer.

Angie and I are rooting for you and Jennifer from the nosebleed seats in America.

[Alfa2Evora]

On 02/11/2022 at 11:16, NAC63 said:

So glad you have now got this sorted, your insurance company is typical of most, want your money but don't want to pay out when anything happens 🤬. You should name them on here so none of us use them 😉. 

High-ranking naval officer, .

[NAC63]

Say no more 🙄

[NAC63]

A few years ago they lost 5 cars off my multi car policy because of their customer service.

[johnpwalsh]

Ecstatically happy today. A 1st for LotusRescue. It's not unusual for us to find, or move on 2 car's in one day. But I think it would be extremely rare for anyone to ship off 2 cars in one day to the other side of the world and to sepparate customers. Our little Elan M100 NA was delivered by yours truly to the transport hub 1st thing this morning followed by the type 75Lotus Elite 3 hours later. Both cars now handed over and will be heading for Southampton docks with a departure date of the 18th and due in Ozz on the 6th of January. There they will be transhipped to their final destination with he Elan going to Brisbane and the Elite off to Sydney.

So no we have mastered the logistics of getting it done. Anybody looking for a car from the UK to land in Ozz. :).

 

[Alfa2Evora]

JENNIFER UPDATE:

My 'Certificate of Appointment' as Jennifer's guardian arrived in the post today from the Office of the Public Guardian. 

I knew that I'd been granted full guardianship for the next 5 years at the court hearing last week but it's not official until you get this piece of paper. Whilst I'm not happy that this process was necessary, at least now I've got the final say on any decisions anybody wants to take concerning either Jennifer's welfare or her finances.

Also today I received confirmation from one of the nursing homes on the shortlist I had to draw up for the hospital discharge team, that they would be able to accept Jennifer from Tuesday of next week. Again, not something I'm overjoyed about - I'd far rather she was coming home with me of course - but in the scheme of things it's the best solution for now. The hospital ward environment is really starting to get to her so having her own quiet space when she needs it, but with access to all sorts of positive stimulation from a variety of available activities and interaction with a whole load of fellow residents when she wants either or both of those, will hopefully kickstart a new phase of her currently stalled progress towards recovery.

[pete]

Good luck

[exeterjeep]

Hope that Jennifer progresses better at the care home than in the hospital. I have had experience of care homes after my mother had a stroke back in 2015, and they can be quite variable and very dependant on the actual staff available.