Happy New Year! I hope all your dreams come to fulfilment and your resolutions take effect.
We decided to have a new car for 2014. The old Territory has done 248000 kms, is creaking at the joints and I had just been alerted to a $3000 job which needed to be done. Now that we have decided to keep the caravan for another 12 months at least, we were looking for a replacement tow vehicle. On the top of my wish list was a new Territory with a Diesel engine but I couldn't justify the cost, as the car might be redundant in a year's time when we might be looking for something smaller. So, we have purchased a late-model Territory with low kilometres. We had an inspection by the RACT, convinced the seller to give us new tyres and a new battery, have arranged to get the heavy duty towbar transferred from the old car to the new, and we start the year afresh.
The salesman was a classic, rubbing his hands together and complaining how little room he had for negotiation. It's all a con, of course, but when he trades in a vehicle, he is faced with expenses to get it ready for for sale: workshop costs of $130 per hour, detailing, $375 site fee in the car yard, and so on. He claims he had only $377 potential profit in the car we bought. My heart bleeds.
I asked him what he was doing for the New Year. Apparently, he and three mates are involved in a project to drink at every pub in Tasmania. This year, they are going to Marrawah, wherever that is. One of the four becomes the DD and the other three sample the wares and rate the establishment. They have one or two beers in each place and move on. I suppose everyone needs a hobby but this one seems particularly self-destructive.
New Year's Day in Launceston is rainy. Probably a day for relaxing and reading.
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