Yet another year in the life of Old bess.

 Another birthday, the RSX is now in it's twenty-second year.

An early photo here, still covered in morning condensation, the car has (sort of) been behaving itself this year of life, I will present the highlights of the year.

It has been a year of slight electrical niggles, nothing to disable the vehicle, just enough to irritate the driver, overall the only "major" expenditure over the last twelve months has been a new set of NGK Iridium spark plugs that I installed a month ago.

The knock sensor started throwing out random errors, so the check engine light would come on. The psychology of that little amber light in the corner of your eye is quite powerful while driving and from what I understand it is most common for the wiring to be at fault, or the actual sensor. The problem there is the sensor is behind/below the inlet manifold and not readily accessible. 

The car had hit 145k and it was time for new plugs, it was also time to buy a new extension for my socket set, for the one I had was not to be found anywhere in the garage, which is quite typical, so the $65 for the four plugs was augmented by another $25 for three Craftsman extensions, so we will add those up for the total "repair" cost.

The DRL light is still misbehaving, the knock sensor throws out the occasional error and then resets itself for most of the time, the SRS light is still on, it has been on for over half a decade, it keeps me company while I drive. It is no surprise to me that despite all the electrical niggles, the car is still driving very well and behaving itself mechanically.

I will save those electrical jobs for later....

Snow Day

It is Wednesday and we usually start our social days today, but it looks like we are having a day in, no complaints whatsoever, we have all we need indoors, food, water, heat and beer if we really need it. This snow business will be a day or so, I pity those that need to commute to work, I am sure we will see how they all get on with their snow day on the evening news.

What a difference a month makes...

January 17th, strange weather this year and we are complaining, I suppose we should blame our neighbours who have a Tesla and a big truck for days like this.

Sunset

December 13th, strange weather this year but we are not complaining, I suppose we can thank our neighbours who have a Tesla and a big truck for nights like this.

 

A Bridge to Twiglets

This marvellous photo of our bridge, over the Sooke River, appeared on social media in the last few days, quite a brilliant picture from a drone camera.

Sooke River Bridge with the Castle Pub on the right, it is rumoured that some day the bar will reopen, but for now it is a liquor store and cannabis dispensary. I think this photo was taken in the last year or so as it shows the upgraded intersection off there to the left.

If the bridge was missing, Karen would not be able to get her regular supply of Twiglets from the British Sweet Shop and of course, we would not be able to go visit our favourite brewery.

New one on me....

Today a magical visit to the toy show down near Tillicum Mall, always a reminder that fall is here, and we spent a pleasant few hours indoors while it rained outside and perused with the hundreds upon hundreds of the happy punters.

I picked up a few things, and one was this chap, very similar to the Johnny West character from Marx back in 1964 but this guy had no knee or hip joints and was called Stoney Stonewall Smith. I had to buy him for the collection and he was only thirty-five bucks including the accessories.

Port Renfrew

The day after labour day, when all the kiddle winkles went back to school, my good friend and I drove up to Port Renfrew for three solitary nights, a stones throw away from Sooke, what seemed like a light year away from reality.

We stayed at the West Coast Trail Lodge, which sounds exotic but was quite normal, a couple of queen size beds, a bathroom, kitchenette and a difficult to understand television set. The lady at reception warned us not to have two kitchen appliances on at the same time or we would trip the breaker, which we did, they also warned not to unplug the fridge, which we didn't, but we turned it right down in the night.

A holiday away from the holiday, three ever so quiet days and lovely trips to beaches and trails, nights at the only pub in town and good food, relaxation from a life of relaxing, and down there on Botanical Beach, off Botany Bay, Rock pools, endless rock pools....