Record Breaker

In the immortal words of Kevin 'Bloody' Wilson (from the song Dick'taphone, for those of you who are interested)... "Ah shit, I don't believe it, here we f*ckin' go again!"

It seems that the new Hilux will not only hold the record for being the Newest Vehicle We've Owned (to date), but it will likely take line honours from the Barina, to take out the title for the Vehicle We've Owned the Shortest Length of Time.

Why?

Although a great car to drive on its own, it is only a standard diesel, and as such, is sadly lacking in enough power to tow the tinnie in the manner in which Steve is accustomed. It has been tried and tested... but sadly it did not pass Steve's test!
Towing the tinnie into a headwind on the highway and only managing to do 90 km/h with foot flat to the floor, is apparently not good enough. Towing same tinnie up the Gateway Bridge and only getting about 50 km/h in second gear ? Well, that's hilarious really, considering my Mazdabator can get slowed down to 50 km/h in the traffic but still manage to pick back up to 80 km/h before the top of the bridge... without changing down out of fifth gear !

So, with the trip to Rainbow Beach coming up in July (up and down all those hills!) and a fishing trip to Hinchinbrook planned for September, Steve has decided to cut his losses and put the Hilux on the market immediately (accompanied by much eye-rolling and "I told you so"s by me).
This will give us plenty of time to find a replacement and get it set up ready for fishing.

All that stuffing around and time wasted getting wheels and tyres, alloy tray, side steps, yada yada yada... and for what? So that it looks more presentable and will sell faster!

Time WAS wasted making this vehicle aesthetically pleasing for Steve. I will NEVER get back (that's right! Not Steve, me!) the hour or so wasted while I waited for the wheels and tyres to be fitted, nor the almost 5 hours I waited when the wheel studs needed to be replaced (waited twice as long as I should have due to the incorrect parts being delivered the first time round)... and do you think he can answer the phone when the silly woman from Kirby phones back and tell her that I've discussed it with him and "No we don't want a Kirby demonstration" ???
Of course he bloody can't! He can't even thank me for wasting my time!

Who knows what vehicle we'll end up with next. He's thinking maybe a dual cab Nissan Navara (in a turbo diesel this time), but I'm not sure I even care. I do know he'll phone me every time he stops at a car yard or the auctions or scans the Trading Post, to tell me all about the latest prospect - the whole damn process we went through in December, all over again.

I also know that next time I'm going to try and manage to be unavoidably unavailable whenever the vehicle needs to be taken to tyre shops, mechanics, etc, etc... unless I'm getting some sort of reward (monetary or otherwise) out of it!

I wonder what the hourly rate for Executive Assistants is these days???