Sweden

When Gothilda is no more, because lets face facts, she wont live forever, I was thinking of trying Saab next. The 9-5 Aero offers something like 250 horses yet still manages to get far better fuel economy than a comparable Volvo in the same price range.

In the meantime, I was thinking of buying Gotty a pressie. Maybe a manual boost controller to turn the turbo pressure up a bit, but it depends on what it does to my insurance premiums. Most don't declare it but I'd be paranoid because if I had a significant accident, as you will no doubt know, engineers would go through the car with a fine toothed comb to work out what happened.

 

Some insurers are good with modified cars. I know for a fact that Direct Line won't insure mods. Can you get it chipped/blue-finned?

 

Rednex were great fun - are they still going?

Sweden also gave us Wallander. Best crime drama since NYPD Blue.

And The Cardigans (another band from the nineties), whereas the best that Norway could do was Aha!

As a wee lad, my favourite racing driver was Ronnie Peterson (Swedish).

Representing Sweden in the world of cinema are;
Ingrid Bergman (Casablanca)
Max von Sydow (Ming the Merciless in Flash Gordon)
Ingmar Bergman (One of the most influential directors ever)


Mr Nobel invented dynamite and the Nobel prizes.

Degrees Celsius (°c) comes from Sweden too.

 

Also from Sweden......

 

I like a-ha! We went to see their final ever concert in Oslo a couple of years ago. Oslo in December was beautiful
Joking aside, my oldest friend is Norwegian, and I've always been enamoured with the country, since I was a little kid, with all the Nordic mythology etc. Oh, and the ski team have some favourites in it

 

Anders Bardal is a class Ski jumper.

 

Clearly Autoglass are not Swedish. If they were, they might actually try to be more competent.

They turned up today with the wrong glass, and without several other things they needed, which I didn't know they needed, because its their job to know what they need to do a job.

One of the fitters took the chassis number, texted it to his colleague, and then off they went. Half an hour later I got a call from Autoglass. The chassis number 'wont go in the computer', so I had to come out and quote it to them again. That was about 11:15 this morning. I was promised they'd call me back today to let me know what was going on. As yet they haven't bothered.

To say I'm annoyed would be a massive understatement. They've already taken money from me, and have so far not done anything at all to deserve it, or given me any idea when they will.

If I don't hear from them by lunch tomorrow, I'm going to demand my money back and cancel the whole thing. They'll say they've already spent money on coming out to see me. I'll say 'tough breasties'.

 

Oh my! That's really bad :( I hope they pull their finger out and she gets her new window!

 

It gives me great pleasure to report that Gotty has been mended. She has a brand new window in, and its the right one

 

Hope you've bought her a box of SORRY chocolates as well.
And, secure your load next time .

 

I've noticed a new noise. Nowt to do with the window, but I'm going to get her in for a pre-MOT asap to see how healthy she is. She may need more work than I thought.

 

Wonder what she's got up her sleeve now clue...

 

Well, I know about:

* The defective handbrake
* The loose alarm that rattles under the bonnet (need to just rip that out I think)
* The split anti-roll bar bush that will no doubt be causing a lot of 'chatter' at low speed.
* Possible semi-seized rear shock
* Possible nearside front wheel bearing

None of that is either expensive of difficult on a 940, with the exception of the wheel bearing, which is a garage job and would cost about £80.

She is 16, which is getting on for a car (positively ancient for most makes, middle aged for Volvo), and she has done nearly quarter a million miles, so even for a Swedish battle maiden, I'd expect some wear by now.