So I guess I better introduce the new girl.
Meet Orla. She's a brand new Skoda Octavia SE L liftback, 148bhp manual 1.5 petrol.
I miss the Superbs but the prices are creeping up.

I pretty much went all in with this one except a couple of things.

We left to right.
Mashed potato, carrot & swede mash, pigs in blankets, cranberry sauce, turkey, creamed cabbage, Canadian maple syrup roasted chantanay carrots, sage and onion stuff topped with streaky bacon to stop them drying out, honey ham (I find serving ham and turkey together really compliment each other) and Canadian maple syrup roasted parsnips.

Behind the ham and turkey is streaky bacon lattice, roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings topped with gravy with a spoon of cranberry sauce in for good measure.

The carrots, parsnips, pigs in blankets and stuffing roasting away earlier (just over half way done).
I hope everyone is having a good day.

Other than full inspection wipe down in the dealership when she was picked up on the 22nd of September, this is her first proper clean.







Interior has quite thin chromed plastic strips, textured plastics, pressed plastics and alcantara seat base and backs as well as dashboard trim.




Rear seat protectors to prevent damage from sister's and step-brother's dogs. Grrr.

The weather gods finally smiled down upon me today so I could wash and seal this car.
Some befores.




Did the engine bay first, unfortunately the pic I took of the engine was too blurry, but the shits of under the bonnet were okay.

Interior

Afters

Interior

Engine bay

I bought some rubber mats for the car as a car warming present.


and a seat protector for when the child seat goes in when the baby is born.

Just a leisurely four hour clean. Just enjoying being out and cleaning a car.
This will be the sixth Audi A3 that I can recall.

When a quick errand turns into a longer errand.
The other day I got a call from an elderly neighbour asking if I could bring her bedroom TV down as the living room TV packed in.
So I do.
I say I'll keep an eye out for something suitable at work to replace the broken one. Turns out there isn't something for her at my place.
So I take my Chromebook round using my BlackBerry as a hotspot as she's no internet.
Find the perfect TV and they can deliver it in an hour for £5. Go to order it and here's the thing, her card isn't set up for internet password and two part authentication.
So it says wait for her bank to phone her and confirm, we do, they we call them, they say that they don't phone, the seller does. Totally wrong but hey.
I give up and tell her we're going round to the store tomorrow lunchtime to pay in person.
Next day, very quick, jump in car, buy a TV, stick it in the car, sort out her coaxial cable that's needing tidied up, set up the living TV, return the bedroom TV back to where I got it from.
So that's all thrown my sleep to kilter as I usually have a 'nana nap' around the times I was sorting the TVs.
Doh.
One of my managers I don't always get on with has had a stressful time of it of late and I keep joking that I'll bring her a pre-mixed alcoholic drink for her to down (if her daughter is driving) when things require it.
So the other day I got a small bag, a Kool-pak (sports injury disposable instant cold pack) a can of Archers peach shnapps and lemonade and a large elastic band.
Gave it to her and told her to hide it and when the time comes. Open the bag, take the Kool-pak burst the sack inside, shake it up, wrap it around the can and use the elastic band around the bag wrapped can and leave for a couple of minutes, then enjoy.
It made her smile and laugh, so job done.
It doesn't matter whether it's a pro-longed errand or a couple of items in a bag, if you can make someone smile, it's worth it.

Roast lamb, honey roast parsnips, new potatoes, Yorkshire puddings and thick minted lamb gravy for your time.

Goodnight

I was undecided earlier whether to order a Papa Johns pizza (double pepperoni with pepperoni stuffed crust with added green peppers, mushrooms and cheese),
or get a doner kebab wrap and chips.
I put it off, then a few minutes ago thought, 'DONER',
So ordered two doner kebab wraps and a small portion of chips.
online order at 23:28,
delivered to my door 23:38

Finished work yesterday at 9am and did the sum total of f--k all all day.
Well, not quite.
I made beef stroganoff for dinner.

At 8pm, I thought I'd just get my head down for a couple of hours.
Only to wake at 3:30am
It's now 4am and need to be up at 6:40am to shower, shit and shave to go shopping at 7am.
Oh the exciting life I live.

Someone had drawn and written on the back of one of the delivery vans.

You can clearly make out the 'merry' and 'xmas' at the top and bottom of the image drawn, what you may not quite be able to read to the lower left is, 'Billy Bawbag', a 'bawbag' is a Scottish colloquial term for a gentleman's scrotum. Lol.
To the bottom right they have also wrote, 'Bankzy'.
Such artists.
.
.
Also on a different note, should I get a parmessan parmesan (namely a Teeside Parmesan aka Parmo) and a doner wrap?
As the takeaway phoned to scythe can't make any parmos as they are waiting on a delivery of chicken cutlets coming in tomorrow.
I asked for a doner pizza instead.
So one doner pizza and one doner wrap.

Picked the new car up on Thursday 22nd September, only one set of keys.
Apparently Skoda are firing the cars out the factory now and so only have one set of keys.
Whether it's a real reason or not I don't know but we had to book the car back for a second key to be done.
The other day, went in to get the second key done, arrived early and waited, handed key over, they took the car out back, we waited some more, only to be told the computer was having issues and re'd have to come back.
While there booked the car to have the dashcam fitted (£210 fully fitted) and spare wheel put in (another £210) at some point.
Here's where it gets strange. The accessories tech comes out and asks if we want the car wired or hard wired (wires tucked away and hidden, etc...).
I looked at him confused and asked him to come with me to another Octavia and showed him the micro USB port on the rear view mirror and pointed to it.

The tech said, 'oh, that's nice'.
I explained it's there for a dashcam and he again said, 'oh, that's a really good idea'.
He told me he was only new to Skoda having come from BMW.
So I explained a few things about Skoda and after all of 20 minutes back and forward, I thought we were there.
But as I was leaving he said, 'if it needs hard wired, would that be okay as it'll cost more'.
The guy was so green behind the new job that even after explaining stuff too him, he still thought it may need to be hard wired and cost more when the whole thing of this dashcam was, '£210 fully fitted' on adverting literature and the sales man confirmed when we ordered the item.
Should be interesting when it goes in on Wednesday.
Doh.

Got peckish earlier.
Doner kebab meat, chips and pepperoni pizza for the win.

Have a Virgin Media advert for shits and giggles.

@ClassicDatsunDebate
Really sorry to hear this.
Losing a family member is hard.
RIP Stella

@Future-Next-Gen-S2000-Owner

@іди-на-хуй-Влад-formerly-known-as-Distraxi
Local authorities provide a taxi for them.
Most areas in England, etc... are close enough in that there's only a small number of miles.
In certain parts of Scotland and isolated areas, schooling is done over the internet at home.

@Just-Jeepin
Ouch.
If someone lives a distance from a bus route and there aren't sufficient kids to warrant a small private bus company to go pick them up, the local authorities contract it out to a taxi firm to take the kid to and from home.
U.S. school buses and traffic laws are so alien to U.K. and most the rest of the world.

@Just-Jeepin
In the U.K., our school bus, is whatever regular bus passes your house going near to your school.

@ash78
From what I can make out of the licence plate '--20AET', makes it a three year old post facelift Mk3 Octavia.
Solid and well built (just not a fan of the facelift quad headlights, prefer the earlier headlights, really suited the car).
From Octavia to Superb, there is a 21cm difference, 11-12cm in rear legroom (very noticeable) and 9cm on the boot.
What does the dashboard look like?
Does it still have it's umbrellas in the doors?
I'd take the Skoda over the VW any day.

@pyroholtz
SaG is good, easy listening, etc... but the Disturbed version had power, you didn't just hear the words, you listened and you felt them.

@Mazda616
Lol. Okay, dad car jokes,
I ordered a 25 year old escort online, imagine my surprise when this turned up at my door.

.
I put diesel in an escort once...... She died!.
.

@way2blu
It's a bit late for me to say good night (seven and a half hours later), but I'll do it all the same.
Good night mate, take care.

@AdverseMartyr said in WTF am I looking at?:

It's clearly a Porsche Cayenne. It says it in big letters across the back.

Turns out, de-Nile isn't just a river in Egypt but is also the state of mind of this owner.