First Frost

This week we have had the first frost of the winter - I nealrly missed the train to work because I was not expecting to have to scrape FTP's windows. Also this week Deece uploaded summer holiday pictures from her camera, and so I thought I would share a picture of FTP in the North Yorks Moors, and a road sign to Fryup. Summer Fun.

OK Diner, Fox Inn, A1

For several weeks the in-laws health has been our main priority. Fortunately, the father in-law has come out of hospital and we were able to take him out for a meal on Saturday. We went to the OK Diner, Fox Inn, on the A1. We had a very enjoyable meal, and I took this photo as we left.We had actually paid!

Lightning Never Strikes Twice - But Vandals Do!

When FTP was but a week old someone kicked his drivers side door mirror off.

A week ago we found someone had kicked off the replacement mirror. I photographed the mirror hanging by its electric cable and then made the car OK to drive. I ordered a replacement which took a couple of days to arrive, and then put the new mirror on. I photographed the whole process on my Archos Android based MP3 player.

Then I unplugged the Archos from the PC without un-mounting it and lost all the photos!

Perodua Myvi Extreme 1.5 - Bet It Will Never Get To The UK.

Just visited my favourite car website, Paul Tan's Automotive News. There are pictures of a new Myvi edition, Extreme 1.5 (have borrowed a couple, with thanks). It looks great. Alas, I bet it will never reach the UK, even though it would raise Perodua's profile significantly.





Not sure that the Myvi needs the extra power of a 1.5 engine though, my 1.3 is more than ample.

Footnote: 21/09/11 - Looks like Paul Tan's did not want to share a couple of pictures from their article, even though I only borrowed a couple, refrenced/linked where they came from, and thanked them. They have been removed!

QPod 350

Not in work today so went and picked Deece up from work for lunch. I parked to wait for her and noticed a QPod 350 parked opposite. QPod is the English name for Secma a small French manufacturer, whose products are not currently being imported into the UK.

Deece said the QPod was cute, and looked fun. May be true, but, alas, not as good as the Myvi for comfort, taking her mum and dad places, putting in loads of camping equipment, reliability......







PS Just found out that there is indeed one Secma dealer in the UK.

Not The Worlds Greatest Blogger

My favorite blogger manages to put together a sensible, well written blog every day. Life with a Myvi is intended just that, a tale of living with a Myvi, major events, funny stories, places visited, etc. Alas, I am not a very attentive blogger, life is so busy that bloging items get overlooked. So far this year we have been on three holidays in FTP, but not one has been mentioned. Perhaps I had better show some photos of FTP on his various holidays.

1. Peebles:

In Febuary we traveled to Peebles a small Scotish border town on the River Tweed just below Edinburgh. FTP took four adults the 338 miles there almost non-stop, and we emerged without much discomfort. We stayed in a holiday apartment on the main street. FTPs Peebles holiday snaps ~



FTP in Edinburgh.


FTP on forest road near Peebles

Ping and Lewis in FTP on forest road near Peebles.

Forest road near Peebles.

Driving home from Peebles it starts snowing.

The snow gets worse.

But FTP caries on carefully.

2. Romney Marsh:

Deece and myself went down to Romney Marsh in April and camped at Romney Farm. We were keen to see Dungeness.


FTP at Dungeness Old Lighthouse.


FTP at Dungeness Power Station.


FTP at Romney Farm Campsite.


3. Runswick Bay ~

At the begining of July Deece and myself visited Runswick Bay in North Yorkshire and stayed at Runswick Bay Caravan & Camping Park We had a relaxing time walking, and enjoying being outdoors.

FTP in the North Yorkshire Moors National Park.



FTP at Ravenscar.

New Perodua UK Website - At Last.

The UK Perodua website was to say the least poor. If the website was my first contact with Perodua, I would more than likely have never got past the first page!

Fortunately, Perodua now has a new UK website, its just so much better than the old one. Hopefully, the inquisitive will get past the website and visit the dealer now.

With the new website comes a useful new page, for people like us who have our car serviced by a non-Perodua dealer. Currently our garage gets photocopies of any information they need from our Perodua dealer; but the new page allows garages to obtain workshop manual details for the Myvi by e-mailing Perodua. Hopefully, this will reassure more people who do not live close to a dealer that a Myvi is a viable car to own.

Found a Fungus!

Whilst cycling through our local woods a couple of evenings ago I found a large fungus growing on the base of a tree (lime?) near the edge of the woods.

Stopped to show Deece when we drove past yesterday, she was impressed too (1. with its size - Deece uses her foot to give an idea of scale in the second photo, and 2. that it had not been damaged by kids). We belive it to be a Dryads Saddle (Polyporus squamosus).

Superman Kenari Advert

A Perodua Kenari advert - think I know where Superman is coming from, its just so big inside!

Fell Onto My Left Wrist Last Week

Force caused damage at the elbow. Nothing broken, and as the picture shows the swelling has gone now. Have not been driving much! Steve.

FTP is a Year (and a bit) Old

I was driving along last night when I had to pull over to the side to mark FTP reaching 20,000 miles. Alas, it was safer to pull over at 19,999 miles to take the mileage photo than wait till around the corner! That reminded me that I would have to check when FTP had his first birthday; upon checking I found we had missed it - registered 8th of April, collected on the 9th.

I think that a year and 20,000 miles fault free is quite an achievement - well done FTP.

Footnote: for a car FTPs size the avaerage annual milage is only 8,500 miles if included with smaller cars such as the Renaut Clio, or 11,200 if grouped with the Ford Focus/Vauxhall Astra. Unfortunately, work is a long way from home.

Horse Manure for the Allotment

Last year we took over an allotment that had not been worked for many years, the soil was hard and compacted, and weeds ruled. In August we covered a small area with horse manure, this improved the soil quality and made it easier to pull long roots. Because clearing the ground for planting this year was so difficult we decided to cover a third of the allotment with horse manure, and we will plant in compost plugs dug into it.

A local riding school has a pile of horse manure which they are pleased to have removed. For the last three weeks I have been collecting manure each night on the way home from work. Fortunately, I have four large boxes which fit beautifully into FTP allowing clean transportation. I am just pleased to have the large flat load space, and the low plastic covered boot lip.







Most of the pile is now spread on our allotment!

2nd Service, 18,126 miles.

Second service completed, 18,126 miles. Nothing to report.

Spring Is Coming - Preparing For Winter.

As winter passes, and spring arrives, it is necessary to prepare for the next winter. FTP has been busy collecting wood, ready to cut and season for next winters fuel. Deece says it has been hard work for her shoulders too!

Before and After Cleaning......

With all the salty wintry weather recently FTP has looked very dirty, so the other day I gave him a wash. The change was remarkable (and without waxing):





Where clean water now stands proud again on the paint. Alas, today I noticed that I failed to wash the whole roof....

Myvi Facelift - spy shots.

Malaysian site Paul Tan has some spy shots of an updated Myvi, which is due in April in Malaysia.

Update: some nice official pictures now available.

Snow/ice now gone.

The UK seems to have had varying amounts of snow and ice with sub-zero temperatures for most of the last month. FTP has handled these conditions extremely well. I found the ABS irritating at first, but if you know its going to happen it stops being a surprise.

I am please that the low temperatures are gone; having to wait for the engine to warm every time I use the car in order to to melt the iced windows gets boring. I am also pleased that FTP performed well.

Happy New Year

Steve & Deece