After seven years, I bid farewell to my Defender today. As some of you may recall, we've been forced to move house and two Defenders and a 240 weren't going to fit. I also haven't really driven the Defender much in the last 18 months and it wasn't really a good car for the city. Anyway, there were reasons. She's off to a new life in Queensland and will hopefully bring her new owners a lot of joy. 
I was out walking doggo last night and three kids stopped me to tell me that they'd found a kookaburra in a box. Weird, but okay. Turns out there was indeed a kookaburra in a box. It was a fledgling bird, hunkered down in the back of a cardboard box, on top of a folded towel. Ordinarily, I'd leave a young bird be, but someone had obviously intervened already, so I called a wildlife rescue helpline for advice. They couldn't reach anyone in Perth (typical), but suggested I take the bird home and seek help the next day (today).
I took muttley home and got my gardening gloves and went back and scooped the box with the bird inside. It had a bit of a nibble at my fingers, but was otherwise chill. I put it in the courtyard at the back of the house and put out a little dish of water. This morning, it was out of the box and exploring the courtyard, which I took to be a good sign. It could flutter around, despite not really having much of a tail yet and managed to get up onto the outdoor table (also a good sign). I called the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions for some advice and they told me that I should contact another wildlife carer organisation. I did and was advised that if the bird seemed healthy enough, the best thing was to just let it go in a safe location.
We tried to feed it some little pieces of meat, which it took, but tried to thrash around, so it didn't actually eat. It would seem that's a behaviour for dealing with prey like insects, small lizards etc., which probably bodes well. So, this evening it was back in the box, so I scooped it up again, took it to a little patch of bushland away from the dog park where I found it and let it go. It fluttered back and forth a bit and it settled on the edge of a basketball half court, which looked like it sees very little use. I left it at that point and just hope that it can feed itself. Fair thee well little bird.
Okay, so @CarsOfFortLangley wasn't exactly cursing something bad, other than a mighty need and a lack of an MC licence, but still.
Hello Oppo, from sunny Perth, Western Australia. First let me say that I feel a little bit like a gatecrasher, as I am more or less completely new to Oppo. I did make an account a few months ago on the old site, made one comment, then discovered I'd been Kinja'd from the start and didn't get my burner code. I didn't make a new account because I'd lost my username, then things went south and Oppo migrated here to the hyphen. With this new start, I decided I would try again.
I read Jalopnik back in the early days of Spinelli, Leiberman, Wert and Davey G, so I remember all the classics like DAF vs. FAF, Cotomer Sevis, Bruce, Ekranoplans, Dragons etc. I took a hiatus for a few years due to life getting in the way, but eventually I found my way back, as I'd never really found a group of people who enjoy cars the way I do outside of Jalopnik, that is until I discovered Oppo. I've been lurking for quite a while now, as I really enjoy the content and although I'm not sure how much I'll be able to contribute, I do hope I'm welcome and can be a part of the community.
I heard 'You're The One That I Want' from Grease earlier on and it got me thinking. If that film were made today, it would be set in 2002 and Danny and his mates would be hotrodding a 1991 (edited, because I'm bad at maths) fox body Mustang. It made me feel old.
Seriously though, that sucks. I hope there are no problems with insurance and you get it fixed, rather than it being totalled. At least the driver was apologetic, that's something nowadays.
Completely blocking the pavement. I could walk around, but what if I'd been elderly and had a mobility issue or been in a wheelchair? To borrow from George Costanza: we're living in a society here!
@pip-bip I found three of the left-hand deadly bastards in the garage, under the Volvo on the weekend. Needless to say, they were sprayed with extreme prejudice.
@streetsofperth Bump for the sake of interest.
@turbineguy-nom-de-zoom It'd be a shame if they came back to four flat tyres.
@essextee If we're lucky, they'll have stuck to the light and simple mantra, insofar as you can with electric propulsion. It'll be an eyewateringly expensive plaything for the rich anyway.
@just-a-scratch Nothing yet, but we're going up to a local brewery for lunch just shortly.
