What made you UNHAPPY today!

[Alfa2Evora]

I'm carless, as of this coming weekend.

The ALFA has been off the road since the beginning of the month awaiting the arrival of some transmission parts from Italy, plus the garage that has it is closing as from tomorrow night, so I'm not expecting it back on my driveway anytime in the foreseeable. It's MOT runs out at the end of September - I wonder if I'll have it back in time for that?

The SAAB has its MOT due on the 29th of this month, but thanks to a pothole last week, it still needs a replacement rear spring and shocker - I've already successfully sourced the wheel and tyre it also needed. Unfortunately it's fitted with an uprated specialist suspension pack, neither of the 2 UK stockists of Hirsch Performance items has the parts in stock, and so we've now got to try and source it from the factory in Switzerland - not holding my breath there then either. Knowing my luck, the garage that has it will also now decide to close.

The Evora has its MOT due on the 28th of this month, and was booked in weeks ago to have it done today. Since it was only an MOT and nothing else (the annual service, along with a pre-MOT once-over, was done last month) I simply booked it in directly with the same MOT station that our local (and only) Lotus indy takes them to rather than bother the indy with something that he then has to take to the third party anyway. The garage concerned phoned last night to tell me that they would have to cancel the test in the interests of staff safety, and because so many other MOT stations are also closing, I can't find anywhere that can take it for the next 5 weeks. So for the sake of 2 days, I can't take advantage of the 6 month automatic MOT extension that's in place from the 30th, and so keep my only serviceable car on the road and able to take me to my key worker role as a food delivery HGV driver - I work nights, starting at 9pm, and the depot is about 20 miles away in the middle of nowhere.

Brilliant!!!!!

[jep]

@Alfa2Evora I would chat to your insurance company, explain you are a key worker, car was fully serviced and checked 1 month ago. As long as you are insured, I would not worry about it. If plod stop you, I cannot see any prosecution (a) ever getting to court as the courts will be jammed for years to come (b) if it does go to court, any judge fining or convicting you in such unique circumstances.

And as a safety net, book it in with a garage now for as soon as they can do it, even if it is 5 weeks away. I am also sure a garage may push you up the queue if you explain your need and work.

Don't give up! And best of luck.

Justin

PS. I would drive you to work in my Evora but even with those wonderful rear seats that @C8RKH loves so much, we would not be 2 meters apart. And you live about 400 miles away from me; other than that a great plan.

[Alfa2Evora]

Not long off the phone having been 'on hold' with the DVSA since early doors.

The Evora will be SORN'd as of Saturday night as they can't offer me any leeway. If the MOT had been due on or after the 30th then it would have been extended by 6 months automatically and the tax renewal would have gone through as normal. However since it expires on the 28th, I have only 2 choices - either get it MOT'd before the tax runs out so that it can then be renewed on April 1st, or the car MUST be taken off the road until such times as it can be MOT'd. No ifs, no buts, no maybes.

I explained all that I described in my previous post above but their reply was that whilst they can sympathise with my predicament, the rules are hard and fast and there can be no exceptions - the have no 'magic' button that will allow them to override the system and allow me to keep the car on the road. They warned me that I would start pinging ANPR cameras and it would only be a matter of time before I attracted a Fixed Penalty Notice for having no tax.

Oh well, looks like there's going to be one less truck restocking the local supermarket warehouses in the coming weeks. 

Think I'll declare myself as self-isolating and tap into whatever offer Mr Sunak comes up with shortly for us self-employed chaps and chapesses whilst I binge-out on daytime TV,        . 

[jep]

Very sorry to hear this @Alfa2Evora.  Not even Katrina from Germany could help.....bitch.

Good luck and make sure you book the Evora in for the MOT now.

Justin 

 

[Alfa2Evora]

First available slot I can find for the MOT within a reasonable distance of home - 5th May!!!  Booked, and so the long wait to regained mobility begins,  .

[Mark Blanchard]

My Mum died yesterday

 

[Barrykearley]

Sorry to hear that @Mark Blanchard - my thoughts are with your family at this terrible time.

[Bibs]

Mark, so sorry to hear about your Mum mate. Thoughts and condolences to you and your family. 

[andydclements]

I hope you & the rest of the family are OK. It does ease, as time goes on.

[Mark Blanchard]

Cheers chaps, much appreciated.  This is a really crap year all round.

[Bazza 907]

Sorry to hear Mark.

[calvan]

Sorry to see that news, Mark - condolences to you and your family. It's a tough thing to deal with.

[ramjet]

Condolences Mark. Mine and Liz's best to you all.

[Alfa2Evora]

My condolences to you and your family, Mark.

[Alfa2Evora]

With the Evora now off the road for the foreseeable, the one highpoint I could still look forward to in an otherwise dreary housebound day was getting out with the dogs for our 60 minutes or so of permitted freedom.

It's great, because just across the road from my house is a huge expanse of abandoned peat moss surrounded by unmanaged woodland. Great for the hounds to have a mad time running around off-lead with minimal chance of meeting anybody else, and even if you do, there's ample opportunity to get yourself well out of their way.

This was taken on yesterday's outing......

....and this was taken on today's..................................

Clearly, setting fire to our wheelie bins has lost its initial excitement for our local scrotes.

[pete]

Sorbed the exige today until this is all over

[scotty435]

So sorry for you and your family Mark my thoughts go out to you all.

[ChrisJ]

On 29/03/2020 at 22:39, pete said:

Sorbed the exige today until this is all over

I've sorned my Esprit as I've been Furloughed. Will keep the Excel taxed for April - as it is meant to be going to Gerald at the end of the month - but I guess this won;t be happening.

[C8RKH]

Just Sorn'd the Evora. My god, this is shit, but in the hierarchy of shit, it's teeny weeny tiny shit, much more important stuff to worry about and look after.

[Bibs]

People posting in the wrong topic then people immediately quoting the post when entirely not required.

 

[andydclements]

I decided that the garden shed was going to get some of the attention it's been screaming out for.

 

I hadn't thought ahead, I know it has a rodent problem (hence the need for attention). I opened the door mid morning, by which time it was nice and warm. Even the local feral cat that I give food to had no interest in going n to hunt (I think he felt too outnumbered). So it's been a day with buckets of water & black fluid (like Jeyes fluid) and scrubbing everything that's being retained, binning the rest.

[ChrisJ]

Just heard that my Mum has died in her Care Home - apparently from a stroke and not from the Chinese Virus (although I guess it may go down as the CV as there are cases in the home).

Not really surprised as she has been suffering from dementia and had been going down hill every time we visited. After my father died in 2013, she bought the house next to us and moved in. She was there until the start if 2018 and the plan was that she move in with us if/when she wasn't capable of looking after herself.

However, the best laid plans ....... The scale of her dementia became very difficult for us to handle and we realised, that as much as we would like to look after her, it would, in reality, have meant that my wife would have taken on the brunt of the care, which full time was going to be too much to ask, so unfortunately, a care home it had to be. The change that came over her after admittance was very drastic and very fast - and very upsetting.

 

 

[pete]

Sorry to hear that Chris.

[andydclements]

Sorry to hear that Chris. I can relate to how fast a deterioration can manifest, along with just how easy it is to unknowingly become overwhelmed by the care needed.

[Painterdave]

Sorry to hear about your loss Chris🙁