That was easy. I advertised Maggie, the Magna yesterday on Facebook Marketplace and it sold today. At least, I hope it’s sold, I’ll be certain once the money’s in my hand, but the guy’s coming from Mandurah on the train tomorrow to pick it up.

That’s a relief, paying the licence fees on three cars was a bit much and I’ve just got in with a month left on this one.

As for the money, I got $1,000 and that will about cover the $930 I paid out last week to have the oil leaks fixed (rocker cover gaskets replaced), two new rubber drive belts and the back three spark plugs replaced. But it’s running like a sewing machine now and I have a clear conscience. I hated having to have that work done but the oil leaks would have caused a yellow sticker at least. I can clear the laneway at the back of my house now. No-one complained, and one or two other houses park cars in their laneway, but I was a bit worried about it.

So ends 16 years with that car and it’s been great. Apart from a flat battery or two, I don’t think it’s ever let me down or failed to start. Two separate mechanics have told me that these engines will just keep on going forever if you look after them. One said he knew of one that had done 460,000Km (mine has done 157,000Km). It’s still smooth, qquiet and powerful. No rattles or squeaks. Lovely car.

That’s why I replaced it with the 2004 Verada, below left.

It’s the same car but three years better developed and with more luxe. Now that the brakes and exhaust are done, it also drives beautifully. It’ll see me out, I think. Unless I trade it on something more expensive, but the Honda might go then. Who knows.

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It’s lucky I didn’t make any move to buy that Mercedes CL500, because it wouldn’t fit! I knew it was a big car, but I decided to check the measurements. Yes, the Merc is 5950mm overall length, and my garage is 5850mm max. So even with the bumper touching the garage rear wall, I wouldn’t have been able to close the roller door. Hah. It wasn’t meant to be.

But never let it be said that I don’t aspire to high class. One of these has come up for sale at a dealer in Perth. It’s a 2006 CLS350 at a considerably lower price than the CL. I might just go and kick the tyres, sit in it and scratch my beard.

Oh, and the length is 4913mm, so I’d have 937mm clearance. That’s do-able.

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The er, low standard of education of people on Facebook is astounding. They don’t seem to read the ad before asking questions. They need information repeated, sometimes twice or even more. They ask the same questions, just with different words.

The guy who bought Maggie asked me to send him photos of the car. There were 15 photos on the ad. If he was seeing the ad well enough to answer it and ask questions, how come he couldn’t see the photos? I asked him for an email address so I could send them to him. No reply. Then I put the photos into my reply. That seemed to do the trick. Huh?

I also bought a laptop power supply on Facebook Market this morning and went to Greenwood to collect it. But the woman left me standing at the door for several minutes while she went and searched for it. Why didn’t she have it ready when I called? Even then it was a lower power one. I asked about it and she said, oh yes, and went to search for several more minutes until she found the right one. Even then, it was missing its clover-leaf power cord. Oh, yes, and I waited several more minutes while she searched it out. Duh!

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My power bills used to be about $250 per two months before I got solar power, and dropped to about $45 for the same period after solar. Yippee, I said. But in this winter, I’ve been using reverse cycle for heating during the day and into the evening. Uh oh, my bill for June and July was back up to $220. It can’t be helped I suppose.

Dinner time. More later. Ciao, chow.