Impulse buying

Today I had a problem at lunchtime when Blondie (Porsche) gave me uphill. The clutch gave up the ghost, just as I was on my way into town to:-
Get my tyre puncture - in my brand new tyre on my 4x4 - fixed AND
Pay for Ladybug - my new Landrover Freelander. This is a 2 litre Turbo Diesel, full time 4x4 AND automatic! I am stoked as I now have 2 offroad vehicles, and have really enjoyed my Discovery 2. On Wednesday, fuel climbs here by 29 cents a litre. 95 Octane fuel will cost pretty well R 9 per litre (4.5 litres to a gallon) and Diesel will cost pretty well R 8 per litre!

I had to drive through to Empangeni this afternoon (hence I was out in Blondie) to get my 2 week old tyre repaired. It has gone flat twice since I bought them, and at R 1 400 - per tyre - you would expect that 2 week old tyres should not go flat! Turned out that when the tyre was fitted 2 weeks ago, dirt was included - free of cost - between the tyre rim and the 4x4 rim! Air leaked out and the tyre went flat - slow leak. I was not a happy chappy when I had to try to get the wheel off, as the tyre crowd had tightened the nuts up with a pneumatic wrench. Average humans are incapable of undoing the nuts after they have been done up!

Anyway I was loaned a car for the afternoon - a Nissan Almera - thank heavens it was airconditioned! We have to remember that February is our most humid month, and yesterday, boy was summer back with avengance. That enabled me to get to the tyre monkeys and to the bank, to pay for Ladybug! The guy who loaned me the Almera, asked me what I thought of it - and I agreed that it is a "gutsless little crap box" - his words not mine! Boy have I been spoilt by a V8 auto or a 2.5 litre sports car! When you put your foot down, the cars actually do something - unlike the Nissan that rolls over on it's back and wants its tummy tickled!

I am looking forward to driving my V8 again, as I understand that under inflated tyres (the "new"one) makes strange rumblings! I actually had the impression that the wheel bearings had packed in! Thank Heavens, if they have, they are not too much to get replaced! Maybe now the wheels are correctly inflated, the car will again run like a dream!

A day later, "Big Sister) (my Discovery 2) is back on the road, and wonders never cease - the wheel bearing noise has gone!

I only got home after nightfall, so could not photograph Ladybug! The name kind of fits the character!

Is it impulse buying when 3 vehicles are not enough, so you buy another one! I have decided though that I need to sell Blondie. Shame, she is getting long in the tooth, and I wondered if the clutch packing up was not a fit of jealosy! I swear that cars develop characters!

I shocked the teller working on the Toll Gate. En route to Empangeni you have 2 alternatives:-
The N2 freeway - with the toll of R 5 one way OR
Further down the R 102, known locally as "the old road" because before when the N2 was completed, it was the main route between Pongola (on the Swaziland border in the North of Zululand Province!) and the South coast. This was updated by the construction of the N2 freeway.

Generally when I pay my tolls, I hand over a R 10 note, and because the tellers dont want to hand over heaps of small change, I usually get my change in loads of small change! I counted out R 5 in 10 and 20 cent pieces, stored it in a bag, and handed it in as my toll fees. I said to the lady, "you people keep giving me small change! Here it is back!" She looked at the bag and just let me through. She was completely crestfallen! So much for offloading small change on unsuspecting motorists! I was convinced that she was not expecting to have a heap of small change! She did not even bother to count it - too much hassle.

Usually, 10 and 20 cent coins, are just kept by me ad infinitum, the cash is there, but you dont bother with small change! Anything smaller than R 1 (usually the bronze coins) is treated as toy money - it has minimal value but really takes up HUGE space in your wallet!

The toll people cannot object - for a start, it is the change that they offloaded onto me, and it is still legal tender, although it generally will not buy much - if anything! It gives me the absolute zigs when I get my R 5 change in small denomination bronze coins!

In SA the freeways are generally denominated by N numbers:-
N1 from Beit Bridge (Zimbabwe border in the north) and Cape Town in the south through the centre of the counry
N2 down the East Coast from Pongola to Cape Town
N3 from Durban to Johannesburg
I am not sure where the higer N numbers run.

Otherwise you get Regional route numbers (R 102 or R 103 next to the N 2 and N3 routes. I know that there are plenty of R numbers, but am not sure where they run!

Then out in the long grass and sticks, you get D route numbers. Running off the R 103 beteen Durban and Johannesburg, you get D routes to godforsaken little Dorpies (settlements with no distinguishing features, other than a police station. Often they dont even have fuel stations!) Then you get routes that often do not even have numbers because they run between Dorpies (tiny towns). Often these are not even tarred, or have very narrow tar surfaces! Sometimes, they dont even have more than a string of potholes tied together by a laxcework of tarmac. I am convinced that when these holes fill with water, hippos and crocodiles take up residence!

The icon to access "Stats" interests me! I would expect readers of my blog to come from SA, North America and England. What really amazes me is that there are readers from Alaska, Russia and China. I do not think that I have any friends in these countries, but there are regular hits from these countries. Maybe the title - or the content - shows up on a Google Search, and that regularly there are repeated hits! Does this mean that someone out there is searching for detail on Africa out here in the back of beyond! It appears that there are repeated hits, so what I blog has impact on someone!