The Breakfast Radio Diaries 137 - Not the news I needed at all :/

'It's the head gasket.' 

And suddenly my six month Subaru ownership came to a sudden expensive halt with just four little words today. Because it already had the head gasket replaced nine years ago by the previous owner and here we go again. And after spending enough money already on it, I'm not willing to sink even more thousands I don't have in it for the sake of something else suddenly falling over :/

Damn cars. 

Anyway, how's your Thursday?

THE LEAK WAS BIGGER (AND DEEPER) THAN FIRST THOUGHT

After taking ownership of Bax the Boxer back in March, I've been updating things as they needed to as they appeared. The basic diagnostic system revealed it needed a new knock sensor so that was the first stop. Then I ran into some weird heat garage spikes which lead me down the path of burping the system and looking into thermostats, wondering who had put the wrong one in there along the way. Eventually as the spikes came and went, I took it in for a proper radiator check and that's when I found out how old the old one was (the original radiator) and why it might be causing my problems. So a new radiator and air con service was called for. 

But since the radiators been in there keeping the spikes in check, the overflow bottle contents have been building and about to overflow when it really shouldn't be, it should be sucking things back into the system as the car cools down. So back to the shop it went today where they checked the hoses, checked the cap, started the warm car up with no cap on and remarked as a geyser of coolant threw up violently:

'It's the head gasket.'

So no hopes of tightening things up and everything would be right again. Sigh.

So after six months with me, it'll be back on the market for someone shortly with time and mechanical aptitude to appreciate it. Because as much as I love the thing, there's just too much going on in my life to warrant spending thousands to fix this when I have far more important priorities, especially family stuff.  

Anyone in Albury looking for a Subaru project?

MY HUSBAND STILL USES ONE OF THOSE..

After suffering through endless TV testimonials about how 'the new Ab Sexer 2000 will trim and tone and grant you six packs with just 17.2 seconds of work per day' (not the actual words of the pitch obviously but you get the gist) we talked about the exercise equipment people bought, tried, gave up on and ended up selling shortly after.

Our ongoing list included: 

-Lu brought a treadmill, used it for a bit and then relegated it to the corner of a room where it gathered dust and worked as a towel rack. Then it ended up outside for a bit on the porch before finding a new owner who picked it up for free. 

-I had a Swiss ball so I could get abs of steel in no time flat. Well that was the theory provided I stuck to the Russian twists and didn't fall off the thing constantly, which happened more often than not. It ended up in the garden of all places and eventually deflated enough to fit into the bin. 

-The Wii Fit. Great idea at the time, everyone had one. Now every pawn store/cash converters/second hand emporium has a pile of the things that will never shift.

-The AB Circle pro. 'Isn't that the one that looks like someone's mounting a turtle?' I asked this morning. And well..you be the judge. 

-The AB roller or any AB related machine that stops you from trying abs and crunches in the gym.

-Tai Bo VHS tapes. My mate Doc had the set, I lasted fifteen minutes through the beginner class before deciding 'Yeah, not for me this..'

I put up this pic to get the conversation started: 

And someone came along to explain that what I was looking at was 'A bullworker' and that her husband had been using them for 50 years! That's a lot of bull working to look as happy as Mr Mo there. 

(They still make them today if you're wondering and Amazon has plenty of options if you're in the market for something like this - AFFILIATE LINK ABOVE)

TOMORROW WE OPEN UP THE LIQUOR CABINET 

With flocks of 80's Friday back tomorrow after a month, we're going to delve into 80's cocktails and people's favourites. And while I got into the cocktail scene well after that decade (I was 9 when the 80's ended) I still love the classics like Tequila Sunrises and Margaritas. But how about a Blue Lagoon, Fluffy Duck or Dirty Banana?

Actually after working out what I'm going to do next in terms of the car issue, I might need an 80's cocktail or two..

Wish me luck!

-Almigo