Little things

Sometimes it's the little things that matter. Or, in this instance, the little things that add up to make a bloody big difference to a small car. Poppy, bless her "heart", had quite a few issues. For instance, she had up until not so very long ago only half a roof. The reason why is a story for another time (see here) but essentially she was damp (read: sodden), with only one working headlight, one working sidelight, a windscreen so dirty you couldn't really see out of it (which is a bit of a stumbling block) and her paint is flaking off.

Knowing the damp was a) my own fault and b) soon to become a major issue, I stripped out both seats (which, due to the wiring, meant cutting a wire for the headrest speakers for the passenger side - nice job on fitting a connector there so the seat could be fully removed, previous owner), removed all the crap, of which there was admittedly lots, and the foot well mats. Knowing how much damage fully removing the carpet does, I elected not to do so. The car was left open all day and then with a bowl of cat litter in to soak up the moisture for a couple of nights after. It seemed a lot better but more needed to be done. So I fenced off a day and used it to properly sort the car out: first off, hoovering out scrubbing the floors with carpet shampoo to really get the carpet clean and not mouldy. Then leaving it to dry, before re-scrubbing. The surfaces were all cockpit shine-d and the interior of the windscreen and windows were cleaned with Mr Muscle glass cleaner (by the way, this is not made for inhaling - I was coughing and struggling to breathe for a full three days after). The outside of the car was washed, meaning quite a lot of the crappy paintjob came off again. Seriously, who pays to get their car resprayed but doesn't bother stripping it first? As a result, it's flaking and about three different colours. NOT impressed. New respray when I can afford it, and a proper one this time too! Finally, the exterior windows were Rainex-d and the whole thing was left to dry.

Poppy looked, felt and smelled 100 times better after the day's work although not perfect. Mum lent me her dehumidifier and I left that running for a day or so, which made very little difference - clearly she's not so damp any more! Then I remembered I had to change a headlamp. The sidelight was driven into by someone, so it's cracked and I'm waiting on a replacement, but the headlight was just a bust bulb. Turns out, though, that Mk1 main beam bulbs are a  pain in the neck to change - SO much fiddling, so many screws. I'm sure it'll be quicker next time but it took me a good 15 minutes of prodding to get it sorted. The headlamps themselves got a good clean while I was doing it, too, which has been for the best.

To top it all off, the handbrake light came on while hoofing it round a roundabout at, ahem, a halfway legal speed. I panicked then, realising that the car was in fact still driving in a straight line and thus the handbrake *wasn't* on, calmed down. Turns out that's a sign the brake fluid is getting low. An easy fix :-)

Poppy is both happier and cleaner now, which is fantastic, and I also got to play with power tools yesterday (not on her, thankfully) so, all told, I'm a happy girl!