Mɐʇʇ wrote: ↑Mon Aug 01, 2022 10:04 pm
Drove past your place the other day in my ‘6 and saw the wagon is still there. Any plans for a rebirth?
Hi Matt, I saw you potter past the house that day too! Selling I think, see the waffling guff below -
chunky79 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 02, 2022 8:34 pm
As far a so know, it still needs some work doing to it. Never rains but pours when it comes to Stretch's life.
I think Chunk is saying that sincerely and isn't feeling too butthurt over me being one of the worst whatsapp friends ever. Dude, I have Aunties that I love to bits that I ghost on Whatsapp, I am just increasingly crap at being sociable
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Yep, I still have the lovely old beast and wifey and I just haven't had the heart to part with her (until now), but we simply don't have the money to sort her. A few things have gone on over the last few years -
1. I was getting ill frequently and for prolonged periods since 2019 and didn't know why, I put it down to ongoing side effects from years of Chemo etc. and just one of those things. I was diagnosed with a failed immune system in 2020 and am on immuno injections for life now. I was working myself to death literally, as I was finally diagnosed with Severe Biventricular Dilated Cardiomyopathy (LV ejection fraction 12%, RV ejection fraction 25%) in late April this year. Currently fighting that more than anything and am doing far better than the Cardiologists were expecting, it was a scary time strrugling to breathe for weeks and coughing up blood all the time, I thought ting dun.
2. I played no small part in taking a startup one-man band Solicitor practice in 2008, to a UK top 100 Law Firm as of last year, suggesting, planning, implementing and managing a 100% Remote Desktop system and remote phone system since way back in 2009. They told me back then that if I made good on everything I promised them, we would all be rich. Well guess what? The two bosses are now multi, multi-millionaires, while I have a broken old Audi on the drive and am driving around in a totally knackered 21-year-old Mitsubishi Shogun that will break down at any moment. Meanwhile, they are driving around in their Ferraris and enjoying their multiple homes etc. without a care in the world. To say they did well from the Pandemic is beyond putting it mildly, my platform couldn't have been any more perfect...
We have no spare money as they have treated me like utter crap for dedicating everything about our lives to furthering their company and I hate them with every fibre of my being
There is so much that we have sacrificed for them over the years including a 365-day working year in 2019 that I received no thanks or payment-in-lieu of holiday for etc. I kept on giving and giving as I just hoped that they would one day finally make good on what they told me (knowing that they wouldn't of course, but....) I am not going to go on about it any further as it just sets the old ticker off on one and achieves nothing. Sufficed to say that I trust very few people these days and am fairly full of rage, lol.
3. My dad died this year, after dragging my mum/family through the mud for decades financially. I asked him multiple times over the years about his finances/vat/tax etc. and he just lied to me, but the man had been a financial black hole on the family for my entire life and there was nothing I could do regardless of how much I tried. About a week before he died, he told the family about all the hidden debts he had racked up once again (this was a frequent thing and we just bailed him out every time), confirming everything I believed and more. Once again, not an ounce of remorse of course.
That was all fun to deal with and not exactly cheap either. The main thing is mum isn't sitting there anymore worried about the phone calls or letters that turn up, but she is closing on 80 and still has a mortgage thanks to him!!!!
4. Too many other things to keep moaning about. Been a bad decade and nice guys finish last, but I am still alive and have a wonderful wife and young daughter that I love to the moon and back.
We simply don't have the money to fix the car we have loved more than any other (except for the Porker my wife binned, yes I still bitch at her about that almost every time I see one go past), which is why 11 years on she is still sitting on the driveway, but I need to cut the cord and wifey agrees, it is doing no good sitting on the driveway.
The same issues that are listed in the original post are there, but there are two more to add -
1- The right rear Dectane light cluster is letting water in from the top of the unit, the seal has separated slightly. I have put electrical tape over the joint between it and the bodywork. I have the original clusters still.
2- The original rear view mirror failed, with the liquid blob appearing in it from the dimming fluid. I bought a brand new replacement one and fitted it, all was good. In a GENIUS move by me, to maximise airflow I hung a not-light bag of desiccant from the mirror to help keep the inside dry just in case. Yeah, over a couple of months that pulled the mirror off at the actual mount, the epoxy they put the mirror stud on with came cleanly off the glass, I am so pissed at myself for that brainfart.....
I have a huge history file, I bought a brand new battery for her just before the gearbox finally told me to piss off and that is only connected for the occasional turning over of the engine (with fuse 29 removed, just cycling the oil through the pistons/chambers), I have a pair of brand new mirror assemblies that can be used to replace the fading/cracked assemblies (fairly common thing).
I have a number in my head for her.. We really don't want to sell her, but she needs to go to someone that can sort her out and enjoy her once again, we also need to pay the bills, life sucks.
Cheers
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