After the Holidays

Slowly everyone is picking up the pace…

I managed to get the car serviced before its scheduled date – the overwhelming free time that I had was too good to be wasted on TV and lazing around at home and as it is a holiday season, my usual mechanics having more free time to properly check the car. I had a problem with the car’s brakes and the gear was a bit tough – I got both fixed.

After I drove the car back home, I realised my wife was still at work and there was no one around at home. It was almost noon and the sun was high over my head and crazy it may sound, I decided to wash the car – only then discovered rust like patches on the roof. There are also patches on the front. I wondered how I could have missed it.

The roof of the car had many rust like spots and I think I know why – ever since, my wife got her car, my car has been parked in the open and under the trees and on the weekends, we usually take her car instead mine. It is to save fuel (due Viva’s better fuel mileage) and also to run in additional mileage before the next service. When that happens, my car will remain at its place for days under the sun and rain. Over time, I guess my car’s paint surface must have given up, hence the start of rust.

(The last thing anyone wants on the car is rust especially on the painted areas. Image source: http://pbase.com)

But I realised the rust like patches was not like the rust that I have seen before – this one seems to be on the surface and without any rough areas. So before I start to panic – I decided to try to wipe off the ‘rust’ with car polish first (several rubs with the normal car shampoo did nothing to clear the rust like patches). At first, nothing happened but after several rubs, the rust like patch started to disappear and the original paint started to shine again. Major ‘disaster’ has been avoided and given me an excuse to alternate the shaded parking spot between mine and my wife’s car.

I realised that I cannot afford to leave the car under the sun and rain on a regular basis – the rust patches may not go away the next time. I also need to start back my usual 6 months once polish & wax session if I still want to preserve the paint quality – it is expensive, at least RM100 per session and that is what have put me off for the last 6 months.

On a quieter front…we had plenty of time for shopping items looking for the cheapest price tag and those under promotion, we also managed to find some ‘gems’. I also had some personal shopping to be done – mine for the long overseas deployment next month. There is a long list for this and I may even need to buy another suitcase just to carry foodstuff – high on the list are the usual suspects like instant noodles, instant oat meals, vacuum packed nuts and titbits, tea, tablets, etc.

The holiday was good but as many good things out there; it has to come to an end. The usual office work and the traffic jam will recommence from today and my departure date is looming closer.