Eventually, you have a win. I wrote about being unable to find a driver’s side door switch and opener mechanism for Honda-san. Well, persistence paid off.

First, an ad appeared on Monday on Gum Tree for an MDX being wrecked down in Rockingham. Great, I thought, I’ll drive down there, but luckily I checked first. No, the car’s been there for about three years and my part was gone. However he suggested a couple of Sydney wreckers. Long story, but now I have the part I wanted, in fine condition, delivered this morning from a wrecker in Melbourne. It cost $90 including $15 postage, but it’s worth it to me. Thank goodness for the internet.

Later: I fitted the new switch assembly this afternoon – easy – didn’t even have to take the door lining off. One screw and some jiggling and it was done. Wish everything was that easy.

These items seem to break easily – there are hordes of them advertised on eBay etc (in the USA). This one had been well and truly broken in the past. Someone must have applied a lot of force.

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Coincidences! First one: a couple of years ago I was introduced to the term pinata (pronounced pin-yahta), a Spanish word meaning a papier mache fish full of small gifts which is suspended from a low branch and kids smash in a game to get their toys. Never heard it before or since.

Then a few days ago I was browsing one of my USA cousins’ Facebook page and there was the word again. I forget the context, but …

Next, this Saturday we have our high school reunion. One of the guys in our class of ’64 was called Zdzislaw, pronounced Dishak (but we called him “Snagger”). I’ve just been to see my GP and the car I was parked next to had the number plate ZDZIS.

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I just went to the doc to get a prescription for an antibiotic to take with me to Bali in a few weeks. It’s “just in case”, because I always seem to develop some small ulceration or infection and I’ve found this antibiotic works. Better to be safe.

While I was there he checked my blood pressure – 135/60. Pretty good!

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Speaking of pressure, I never got the hang of tyre pressures in metric. I knew 32psi, and here we are 40 years later and I still think that way. But having bought the Aldi Li-Ion jump starter with air pump, it only reads out in Bars. Oddly, there’s no provision to change to psi or kPa.

So I was forced to look it up. Easy – 32psi = 2.2Bars or 220kPa. It’s in my head now.

Likewise, I’ve never been able to get acres/sq. m/hectares/ares. My Trigg house was on 728sq.m. or nearly 1/4 acre. [NB: no it’s not. 728sqm = 0.1798acre] This house is 180m2 on a 360m2 block.

In Bali they use ares where, afaik, 1are = 100m x 100m or 10,000m2. So this block is 360/10000 = 0.036are. Klaar?

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Next job: replacing the radio antenna on Maggie. I bought what I thought was a drop-in replacement, but it’s not as easy as that. I’ve got the broken one out, complete with its drainage tube and floor plug, but how to get the broken inner part out? It’s not clear. Luckily I have plenty of time.

Similarly Vera, the Verada, has a motorised antenna but that’s busted as well. Again, I have a new inner extending portion, but how to fit it is not clear.

Finally Honda-san has a screw-on short rod antenna over the rear lift back, but the radio reception is terrible, barely listenable and highly variable. I’ll have to work on that next. I hope I’ll be able to buy a better quality rod antenna and just screw it on. Or maybe I’ll find a bad connection (he says hopefully).

Three cars, three faulty or busted radio antennae. Great.

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I forgot to mention, I tried very hard to take advantage of the Qantas offer of 30% reduction for FF Points trips last month. I spent hours crafting an itinerary from Perth to Paris, with two or three stopovers to break the journey. I could have gone Perth-Bangkok-Colombo-Dubai-Paris for 77,000 points and I have 117,000 available.

But every time I tried to take the final step and book, “Database error 45678. Please try again later” or similar. And I’d have to go through it all again, with the same result.

I tried more than a dozen times, right up to the cutoff time, but gave up in frustration. Qantas speak with forked tongue in my opinion. Maybe the website was overloaded, and I kept trying thinking I might crack it, but no luck. I tried phoning their help line, but it’s 7am to 7pm AEST, so no help there. Phutttt.

But I’m not sure I have the stamina for that level of trip these days. I could still go on FF points, just at a higher cost. Maybe.