the birm*

When last is first.

What with the sun shining and the snow melting at the speed of butter on freshly cooked pancakes,  I decided (well, I had previously decided) to head out and give my legs, and the bike, a wee spin. As I was sweating and panting up the hill (45 mins up, 15 mins down) it hit me that this may be the last ride of the winter (with spring just a few days away), meaning that it would be the first of many rides of “the season” (when snow/ice/salt doesn’t prevent one from riding in the mountains) and when temperatures are a little more encouraging. Bring it on!!!

Destroying things makes you learn?

So I called the garage and said I was sick of looking for a part for the car and they should order the new one. I changed my mind when they said it would be between 500 and 1000 euros…

So I headed into G-town with some old clothes on and a toolbox. I got to the wreckers and the dude pointed me in the direction he thought there was a FIAT brava (like mine). Sure enough, there was one. I went to work on it and for two hours unscrewed, cut, unbolted, assessed, got mad, pulled, broke and unscrewed some more. I managed to get a few parts (the mechanics kinda described what I needed) and headed back out. I asked if I owed them anything and the dude said “hum…just give 10 bucks to that girl there [driving the crane], she’ll get us coffee in the morning”…

I dunno if I have the right parts, but it was a real fun/crazy 2 hours. I learnt a lot about cars, about my car and I now know how to take certain parts off without breaking them (once broken it was easy to see how they actually came off…more news if it was the right part…or not!