I've got a confession to make... I suppose now is as good a time as any to admit it.
I've been in a committed 15 year relationship. It's not that I've hid it or anything, just that people don't really notice, I guess they don't really care.
You see, 15 years ago this coming month, I fell in love. I suppose it was fated and even though things were difficult for us to be together and it took months before we were physically together, we waited for each other. It was just meant to be.
We will be celebrating our 15 year Anniversary and I've got some gifts lined up that I'm planning on picking up this coming week.
Sure, time hasn't been so favourable to us, we've both aged. We've got scars and bruises, bumps and dents, but when we are together, we share the most epic journeys and road trips, listen to our favourite songs and visit our favourite people and places together.
My Opel Corsa is now 15 years old. Sure, she's starting to fall apart, she has some rust spots that need urgent attention (which will turn her into a swimming pool in winter) and I've got to get some spares and fit them soon, but she's still an amazing little spunky car.
Considering her age, she's not even got 161 000kms on the clock. When I bought her, I had to wait 6 months before she was delivered because of a factory backlog and they weren't producing black Opels in that particular production run.
I swear Henry Ford turned in his grave when he heard them tell me this and I myself, recoiled in horror!
I almost bought this Ford truck in the photo above as a back up vehicle, but the fuel consumption would have been ridiculous. I still sometimes look at the photos of it though. I do it secretly so that my Opel doesn't get too jealous lol.
Today I got to prepping for our road trip coming up. We are essentially travelling for half a day. While I was only driving around the city, I didn't do prep checks as regularly because we were never really far from a service area if a mechanic was required. Now that we are travelling further distances between towns, often with practically nothing in between them, I make sure to do all the checks and top ups to at least pick up anything that might cause an issue before it does.
We washed her today and then I checked oil, water and tyres. For all my parents and I didn't really get along at times, my father did at least teach me some pretty useful basic things about cars: ie:
Don't check your oil at the petrol station after running your car as your oil is then already circulating in the engine and you won't get an accurate reading. It's great for the guys at the petrol station because they will then get to sell you a can of oil that you probably don't even need. Always check your oil when your engine has been standing still and is cool, not directly after driving.
Make sure your car is on level ground or your reading will be totally incorrect.
Don't overfill your oil - having too little oil is death to an engine and can cause it to seize up, but having too much oil can be just as damaging.
After I checked that, I checked the water level of the cooling system which was fine, then I topped up the windscreen washer water. I also checked the overall condition of my seats and steering wheel. I've been putting car seat covers, additional foot well mats and steering wheel covers in my car since I bought her and it's made a massive difference to the wear and tear on the fabric and leather in the car. The seats still look almost new and there's no perishing on the steering wheel which is surprising for a decade and a half of use. The little things can make a huge difference.
I need to replace the covers again now though, so Anniversary gifts are going on the shopping list. I also need to buy new pneumatic lifts for the boot. I got a quote for having them fitted and almost fell over so I'll be doing that myself!
My engine really could do with a steam clean so I'm going to try get that done while we're in Cape Town too.
Yes, I know, you don't have to gasp so loudly.
Then I moved on to making sure we had all the right safety stuff. I always have a set of jumper cables, the standard safety triangles, car jack, wheel spanner, manual tyre pump etc.,
That was all sorted, so I then moved on to personal safety items.
My entire knife collection was living in my car for a while because my sister is petrified of knives. Even my favourite kitchen knife she finds scary, so out of respect, I decided that they would remain out of the house until she went back to Cape Town. I also included my two favourite self defence knives, my pepper spray and Walther CP99 air pistol.
Even though it's not a fire arm, it's probably close enough to be intimidating at a distance - it might be better than nothing in a tricky situation.
One of the goals I have this year is to apply for a handgun license. I was actually looking into it yesterday and the process is even more intricate and long winded now than it was when I did my firearm competency for environmental law enforcement. I'm willing to jump through the hoops though if it means being better equipped to defend Lory and myself. A post of it's own for another time perhaps.
So we seem to be pretty organized in these basic ways. Now comes the real challenge - convincing Lory that she doesn't need her entire contingency of clothing...I'm not sure how I'm going to tackle that yet lol.