snowy Jura

i took this picture a few weeks ago. it was a gorgeous day! if you click on the picture, you'll see a bird flying at the top of the mountain...

5 years

i've now been blogging for 5 years! how time flies... i've been having a look at some of my old posts, and it's funny to look back and see how memories differ from the posts (not much, actually). i wonder what will happen to all this information. originally, i'd tried to save each entry, but it quickly became too much work (and space!), so i gave up. still, it'd be nice to be able to have them all somewhere i could keep forever...

near sunset

on the way to the mountains

getting the car back

not having heard from the expert, despite what the insurance said, i went down to the garage where my car was being kept to find out what the situation was. he said that there was no internal damage, but that the repairs for the outside would cost more than the car, so it wasn't worth repairing. the important part, of course, was that it was good to drive and he could take out a few wrinkles to make it look normal. and so he did.

i picked up the car this afternoon and it doesn't look like it's been in an accident if you don't look at it closely. both the front and rear bumpers are cracked, but that's it, really, although i must admit it felt slightly sluggish when i drove it back home. presumably, ti's just my imagination, or the fact that it'd been sitting out in the cold for a week.

32 trees

Red Dragons taking their time

i watched the Scotland-Wales game yesterday. i was in the pub with some friends. the first half of the game wasn't all that interesting for me. Scotland was playing really well, and i think i was about the only Wales supporter in there. i was explaining that Wales had a habit of not playing so well in the first half, but that the second was usually good.

just over 10 mns before the end of the game, my friend turned around and said he thought it was the end for the Welsh. they couldn't possibly come back now. but there were 10 mns left and i kept believing. and they did it! they scored nearly 20 points in those last minutes and finally won the game! amazing action.

google ad

just saw this clever google ad. worth a peek.

http://msn.foxsports.com/video/shows/2010_super_bowl_commercials?vid=f0aab814-4dca-4ae5-8920-af71d05e1287&from=foxsports_SuperBowlAds

insurance woes

insurances can be such a pain... i notified mine about the accident, giving them all the information i had (nearly down to the colour of the cars, but then decided it wasn't really relevant) and asked what the next step was in terms of getting my car looked at to determine the extent of the damage. 'just let us know which garage it's at', came the reply. ok, but wasn't there a particular one they wanted me to go to? apparently not, as they didn't reply. so i took it down to the closest place. in the meantime, i was able to check that it still wasn't leaking (a good sign - maybe the radiator is fine after all) and the exhaust pipe looked fine from where i was looking. the bonnet's not even wrinkled - just not where it should be, seen as the very front of the car did get pushed in pretty hard. so maybe that's all, the front, the light bulbs and perhaps the ventilation. still a lot, i know, but probably drivable?

then today i went to the police station to get extra information i'd forgotten to get a couple of days back. ah, well, that was protected information, so i couldn't get it. the insurance was going to like that one. but why did they even need it, asked the officer i was talking to. as far as he could see, i didn't even need to talk to anyone other than the guy's insurance. i might just do that, seen as mine is refusing to advance any money because there's no paperwork on the accident - not until the police report is done, that is, but that'll apparently take another month... having said that, they completely blanked my email about what the expert said about the car yesterday, so i don't even know if anything's repairable.

great winter!

loads of people complain about it but i LOVE the fact that it's truly winter this year. there hasn't been more than a week without snow since mid-December, and even when it doesn't actually snow, there are still snow-plough-leftovers on the sides of the some roads. and then it snows again. it's great. and yes, it's a bit on the cold side and all those people who are not equipped have trouble driving (this is definitely one year where those snow-tires are well-worth the hassle of putting them on the car - shame mine is currently sitting in the garage...)

getting home

i'd had such a good time at the party... when the tiredness finally came back, i headed back to my car. S. was with me, as she was heading home. we separated on a corner and i noticed that the car parked behind mine was halfway up the pavement. weird way to park. as i got closer, i saw that it was also all the way up to mine. and as i got to the front, i saw that my car was now touching the one in front. just great...

to keep a long story short, i had to call the police. it wasn't hard to figure out that some idiot had come round the corner at great speed and been unable to avoid the last car parked there, rammed into it, which rammed into mine and mine into the one in front. the shock had been violent enough for the car to lose its number plate and the other car to move up the pavement.

the police called a tow truck to move the car behind mine so that i could get out. in the end, it looked like the only problem with that car was that the lights were broken, but they took it anyway. then i was able to move mine and it turned out the one in front barely had a dent on its rear bumper. my car, on the other hand... the mechanic tried to open the bonnet to check whether the ventilation and the radiator were shot, but he couldn't. and the policeman had also pointed out that my exhaust might be out. oh, and for some reason, despite the fact that the outside was fine, the lights on one side were out (including the one that was replaced just 2 weeks ago). fantastic. the radiator didn't seem to leak, but the mechanic couldn't be sure. eventually, he said it was cold enough for me to drive the 5 miles back home without problems, but then i'd really have to have it looked at.

as there was a number plate, the owner was found quite fast. apparently, his son was the one driving (oh, but he never drank!). his insurance will cover the damage, but my car being 13 years old, the damage may well be a lot more expensive than the car, so they'll pay me the value of the car and that's it. i am really hoping it just looks bad - i mean, driving in a car that looks like it's had an accident is fine, as long as it works. the car's otherwise in pristine condition and doesn't even look old!

pancake party

honestly, i was exhausted by the time i got home from work and coffee (well, hot chocolate) with S. i was about to fall asleep and seriously considered staying home. but i got up, put on some make-up and took off to T.'s. and i'm really glad i did. i had a great time! i got there, started eating and chatting and then, out of nowhere, i got a second wind. suddenly, i was dancing and laughing my head off at the weirdest things. it was really good. i don't think i'd enjoyed myself like that for quite some time. shame about the end of the night, though (see next post).

too much!

i had originally planned a quiet week, with only one evening of going out during between Monday and Friday, but that just didn't work. in the end, it's come to look like this:

- Monday - dinner with M. (who's between Afghanistan and Iraq)
- Tuesday - FREE!
- Wednesday - 2nd or 3rd date with the engineer (2nd if you don't count the first time we met for a mere 20 mns as a date)
- Thursday - drinks with A.
- Friday - lunch with Mr. J., coffee with a new colleague, pancake evening at T.'s.

it's Wednesday evening, i gotta go meet the engineer, and i'm already tired...