 The car that was never meant to be- [Thursday 29th April 2010]
After two years of my car being stolen I have finally got my act together to look for a new vehicle. After all I am monopolising Chiara's car and that is not fair, despite my monthly payments to her as a sort of a "rental fee".
So I started looking around and I thought I had found a car, the cousin of one of my friends was selling a 2005 Opel Corsa 1.3 Diesel. Not a new car by all means but it seemed fit to the job and the price tag was apparently "negotiable".
So I set up an appointment, tried the car, and found out that there was a strange noise, the owner said that was the alternator's belt that needed to be changed. After the trial I was quite happy with the car itself, so I started the negotiations, but my spirits were suddenly cooled by the fact that the lady did not want to drop the price by a penny, and the sum that was asking was more or less 1000 euro higher than what I started with.
I was expecting a little more flexibility, also considering that the car needed some repair (albeit minor, listening to her), so I did something that I would have never done, and that I have to do again in the future for sure. I did not trust the potential buy and asked her to take the car together to the mechanic to have it checked.
Well it turns out yesterday that the problem is not the belt but a pulley inside the alternator, there is a faint thudding sound on the right hand side of the car (shock absorbers maybe?) and the mechanic told me that the car is worth AT BEST 4000 euro (what I was prepared to pay), and not 5000 as she was asking.
Of course the situation was pretty "awkward" at times, especially when the mechanic told her about these points in front of me, which resulted in a bare faced lie ("the dealer gives me 4500 euro") and a quick retreat with the promise of "calling each other in the future days".
In the end, not trusting 100% someone resulted in me not being forced to buy something overpriced and faulty. I have to say that the lady is a very nice person and she did not seem like the one that was trying to dump some junk onto me, but her way of dealing was a bit too strange for me, and that rung a bell in my head.
Now I have to look again, maybe I will spend more and get a used car from a dealer, at lest I can get 1 year warranty that is not too bad in these cases.
[6 comments]
- Moving on?
- [Sunday 25th April 2010]
The occasion of me posting is related mostly to the LONG DUE publishing of my latest set of picture here on The Maison, pictures that you can find HERE.
Almost twenty days have passed since I come back to Italy, and fortunately I managed to re-adapt pretty quickly from the long business trip that I made. The funny side was that as soon as I hit the office I had to start planning another business trip at the end of May, but that's another story.
Coming back to Italy was no easy task, I was greeted by a series of bills and a quite boring rent increase, and getting back into the routine took longer than expected.
I am planning to buy a used car, well actually I have almost did, let's hope it's going to be luckier than the previous one, although I do not think that someone will want to steal an old Opel Corsa from 2005.
A sign of "movement"? Some indications that I want to start to change how things are in my life? I hope so, I hope that I can muster the strengths to do what is right.
Anyways, the post was meant for pictures so do take a look at them, comments can be done here as usual...
[6 comments]
- The long way home
- [Saturday 3rd April 2010]
The celebrations for my birthday yesterday were quite in a low key, mostly because the work day was rather heavy so the real "day off" was this Saturday that I had been planning since February.
Why the planning? Well, the answer is in one word "hanami", which means basically "watching the flowers" referred to the cherry blossoms that are a prominent feature here in Japan.
Since February I started studying all the average dates when the blossoms reached 100% bloom (in Japan is a rather big thing and there are a lot of sites with historical data that can be checked), and my calculations told me that this was meant to be the best weekend to get the best view of the cherry blossoms.
Well... I was BLOODY RIGHT!! :D I am actually quite impressed that I managed to get it spot on, and if we skip on the weather that has been quite cold the rest was almost perfect.
I say almost because my session of "Yozakura" (hanami done by night) was ruined by rain...
Today, de facto, was the very last day of this business trip, far too long as 25days are really too many, although as usual the prospect of going back home is quite scary on one side (bills, office work, coming to terms that I cannot play football anymore, etc etc) and something I looked forward to as I will be able finally to sleep in my bed.
But the trip is not that quick as I wish it to be, a good day separate me from leaving here and finally close the bag after having unpacked it (that's when I REALLY feel at home)...
Then it will be time to think about the next trip already, again Japan in June and then maybe some other places such as Bangladesh and Singapore... I have to see at the moment the prospect of another business trip is like having a nightmare when awake!
[No comments]
- 35
- [Friday 2nd of April 2010]
Thirty-five, that's more or less how old I am today. It's really true, you arrive at certain points in life turn back and think "how the hell did I turn thirty-five I didn't even realize it!". So true.
Anyways that's it, another birthday away from home (but where is home really?), devoted to work, but in a way it's a good thing that it's the very last on this never-ending trip around Asia. I am tired as a mule that drag a cart for 3 weeks in a row, today I will drink some of these Japanese inventions, the "power drink", a sort of extra powerful redbull but with many more things inside, that should grant me a safe heaven of strength at least until noon...
I am quite indecisive regarding the presents, people have been asking me but I really cannot think of anything that I'd REALLY like to have. There are a lot of "I'd like to have" items, but nothing that strikes my fantasy in a special way, we'll see...
As to the rest I'll try to make some changes in life, they are badly needed.
Ok then, happy birthday to me! This is the fourth birthday that I have spent in Tokyo, though I lived here only one year, they should give me honorary citizenship!
[9 comments]
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- Lox, Lorenzo... ME!!
- A little introduction about the author and the blog itself. Plus contacts and CVs... You never know!
- Pictures
- A Selection of the best pictures that I have taken all over the world during the years, all nicely indexed by year and geographical area. Jolly good!
- History of this Blog
- A collection of all the articles that I have wrote so far, divided by month/year.
I have had the bad idea of writing my e-mail address on the board before, so this time I'll try to prevent some spam to get to me by putting this little image.. Let's hope it does the trick!
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A reminder to Myself
Left and right
Like day and night
That's what makes the world go round
In and out
Thin and stout
That's what makes the world go round
For every up there is a down
For every square there is a round
For every high there is a low
For every to there is a fro
To and fro
Stop and go
That's what makes the world go round
You must set your sights upon the heights
Don't be a mediocrity
Don't just wait and trust to fate
And say, that's how it's meant to be
It's up to you how far you go
If you don't try you'll never know
And so my lad as I've explained
Nothing ventured, nothing gained
You see my boy it's nature's way
Upon the weak the strong ones prey
The human life it's also true
The strong will try to conquer you
That is what you must expect
Unless you use your intellect
Brains and brawn, weak and strong
That's what makes the world go round
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