juice

i'm not best impressed. i've just discovered that the beloved punto needs a new exhaust, a full 6 months after buying the sucker. i've also discovered that the warranty doesn't cover such an eventuality. like i say, i'm not best impressed.

the car i had before this one was a rover metro. one look at it, you might think it represented the very reasons why rover are going down the pan right now. mainly due to the fact i couldn't be arsed to have it serviced, it was falling to bits. i did, despite appearances, love the little lemon.

amongst the many things it needed over the course of my ownership were:

• new petrol tank (it needed it about two weeks after i took the car off my grandmother's hands. she was probably rubbing said hands behind my back)
• new radiator
• a spare tyre (remarkably this didn't stop it passing it's mot two years in a row!!!)
• extensive welding
• a wing mirror (took me an hour to notice it was missing)

there was also mould on one of the back seats, and it would never start in the cold. Aside from that, i loved it to bits. even when i had to rock it back and forth to start it.

it was a wrench to get rid of it, but it was required. remarkably the garage took it as part exchange without even seeing it, and for a £1 i may add :-)). when i took it down to the garage to pick up the new motor, the salesman exclaimed "f*cking hell! congratulations, you've just given us the worst car we've ever bought!".

i still miss the bugger to this day. i'd like to think it's being used as a chicken coop right now. wherever it is may it rust in peace...

mansell

i'm hurtin'. not in a mywoman'sjustleftmeandmydog'sbeenshot way, but physically. it's my own fault really. i went go-karting last friday, and in a moment of panic during the practice lap i crashed into the barriers at 20mph. when i say it's my fault, i mean it was the fault of the person in front of me spinning off the track, forcing me to go straight into the barriers.

the upshot is that everytime i type something on the qwerty side of the keyboard, i get a lovely shot of pain where one of my muscles was hit by a tyre. this is kinda an excuse for not posting for a while. pathetic? yes, but i'm sticking to it.

speed not only kills, folks, it bloody stings as well.

dustbowl

as a hearts fan i was saddened to hear the booing during the minute silence for the pope during the semi final match against celtic on sunday. when sectarianism is talked about in scottish sports, it's always portrayed as a glasgow thing, a institutional thing between celtic and rangers. i guess we in edinburgh are a bit complacent about such things, but it obviously exists.

the club were quick to distance themselves from the actions of those fans who partook in the act, and six fans have been charged under new legislation concerning religious hate crimes in scotland. however the good name of hearts as been dragged through the mud for all the world to see, and it will unfortunately take more than six fans appearing in court to bring this sort of thing to an end.