Poppy isn't noisy, honest...

Just a quick one for today but I had to document today's entertainment.

I was in town this morning for an interview (of sorts) and, on returning to the car in a rather large, busy car park, I started my engine. Suddenly, I heard one hell of a wailing and just could not work out what was going on. Then it clicked. The car parked next to me had its alarm going off. Why? Because the physical *noise* of Poppy's engine starting was enough to make it think someone was breaking in. Oh good god! I giggled and drove off before anyone could accuse me of trying to break into it or anything.

I guess I can't deny that my car is a LITTLE bit loud, now... :-)

Continental adventures

Last weekend, the lovely Tom and I took his little '5, Scarlett, to Europe. We were considering taking Poppy but I'm such an utter wimp when it comes to driving abroad (well, never done it...) so, er, yes. Probably should have done, in hindsight, as Tom had to do all the driving. We could have shared it in Poppy at least! Oh well, next time for sure.

Anyway, we got the ferry to Calais, stayed there on the Friday night, drove to Breendonk (concentration camp) and then, via the Netherlands for a quick geocache, on to Bruges for Saturday/Sunday. It was utterly wonderful - we got to see some beautiful parts of the world, picked up some cool bits and bobs, got caches in three countries and just generally had lots of fun. Tom had a great time too :-)

As it transpires, MX-5 boots make brilliant tables for on-the-go French bread & cheese lunches. Yum!

A very productive Sunday

Yesterday, the 1st of April, we woke up not quite as early as planned (I think I only got up just after 10 - oops!) to a sunny, chilly day. Perfect for some lid-down working on Bluey, the new race car ( ), which we did. And very successfully too! Now, on stripping Bluey's doors down - taking the handles and door cards off, in order to put some silicone grease down into the runners to get the electric windows to stop squeaking, I suddenly realised that Poppy had a similar issue. So, once the doors were duly rebuilt as was, albeit with the addition of lots of grease, I went over to poppy to do exactly the same thing. If you need to do the same, due to squeaky or slow windows, you'll need: a flat headed screwdriver, a Phillips screwdriver and some silicone grease. Firstly, remove the little cap at the end of the armrest handle and unscrew the screw inside. Unscrew the two below the handle and remove the whole armrest and handle. Don't lose the screws! Remove the screw that's just by the latch, pull up the handle as if to open the door and slip the back part of it off. Prise off the speaker cover and set aside. You'll then need the flat headed screwdriver in order to slip round the edge of the door card and pop out the little poppers that attach it to the door. Be careful not to break them. Once these are off, the door card can be removed by lifting it off the top lip of the door and setting it aside. Wind the window down. Spray silicone grease down the inside of the runners (use lots) and down the edge of the window seal. Wind the window up and then down again and repeat. Now wind it up and down a couple more times to make sure it's running smoothly. If not, add more grease to the runners and the wheel in between them. Once complete, replace the door card and handles etc. Easy peasy :-) and good fun too. Car maintenance has been more than I'd hoped for so far!