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How odd that the locals can speak decent old English but are not so good at modern english...
Maybe it's an accident and they are really thinking of the chocolate bar.
Anyway, it'll be nice to see the RR on the road again. The ride in the side car was very nice but there was nowhere to put the virtual durian I bought you from the street seller (suitably wrapped in leaves). The durian - not the chap.
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How odd that the locals can speak decent old English but are not so good at modern english... Maybe it's an accident and they are really thinking of the chocolate bar. Anyway, it'll be nice to see the RR on the road again. The ride in the side car was very nice but there was nowhere to put the virtual durian I bought you from the street seller (suitably wrapped in leaves). The durian - not the chap. Sorry to disappoint James, but I may have made that bit up. Poetic license and all that. Shakespeare did it, so why can't i?  On the RR front... We're still awaiting a resolution on the hoses. Goodridge sent a zero invoice for customs, but now they want a letter as well, which arrived last night and has been forwarded. What's next? I also got to thinking... This here gubbins...  Is located by this here plug...  and, as you can see, it gets in a bit of a state inside, possibly not helped by being open to the elements, and probably making it more difficult to remove than perhaps it should. Which was quite,if you remember. So I found a little plastic plug to shove up its 'ole. Then I got to thinking about air pressure. What if it was left open to allow pressure equalisation when the various pistons were strutting their stuff inside and not just because it's cheaper? So I've stuck a little hole in it as well. Should be enough for air but should also keep the majority of crud out.  Another "vital" job crossed off. |
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Last Edit: Mar 10, 2017 1:46:27 GMT by georgeb
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Latest update in the "Waiting for ma hose" saga. My original diagnosis was correct. The Bureau of Customs didn't like the fact that my parcel had a declared value of zero on it. Thrown a bit of a spanner into their money grabbing works. So... Following a request from the BoC, Goodridge, as mentioned, supplied a nil value invoice, which I forwarded. They then asked for a letter from Goodridge explaining the situation. This duly arrived saying that the parts were replacements for those incorrectly sent and that they (Goodridge) were neither charging for the bits, nor the carriage. I sent this and, for good measure, a copy of the e-mail trail on the matter to BoC on Friday. This elicited the following reply:- "Good day!
Attachment will be handed over to the assigned Customs Examiner. Will provide you information once at hand
Thank you."which, as I think you'll agree, tells me little but, looking on the bright side, they've asked for nothing further. Yet! And credit where it's due. If we forget the incorrect stuff advertised and shipped in the first place, and their useless "Customer Service" rep. Once I was contacted by Goodridge, following my Twitter post, they've been pretty good in getting replacements sorted with no argument and shipping the stuff the following day (shame they used Royal Mail, but) and since then following up to supply the various bits and pieces of paper that BoC have asked for pretty much by return of mail. |
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Last Edit: Mar 12, 2017 22:58:30 GMT by georgeb
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And another milestone in the "You messin' wit ma hose?" epic. "Good day Sir!
Your parcel has already been marked with "PASSED" last week, March 11, 2017. Kindly inquire at Philpost if they have already dispatched it to its domestic location through their email add: amed.supportservices@phlpost.gov.ph
Thank you."This obviously means something important has happened and now all I have to do is wait for it to get from wherever it is now to where it needs to be. Then I can look froward to spending a day down the Post Office to collect it.  |
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Last Edit: Mar 13, 2017 10:46:46 GMT by georgeb
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Lo, I did enquire, as it was written, and recieveth no response. And nine days did pass and no little card cometh unto my pigeon hole, and a voice spake unto me saying, "Thou should consult the Oracle that is PHLPost tracking system, for it is wise and true." Verily, I did so and recieved thus...  Wise? True? Nine days behind the real world would be a better description! So another mail was sent to the nice PHL enquiry chappie. The response was thus... "Good day!
Sir, as per verification from Philpost track and trace, your package was enroute to delivery office last March 12. Kindly follow up at your local Post Office if they already received it.
Thank you."Well yeah, I kinda gathered that. But which office, the dreaded Manila Central, or my nice little local one here in Ermita? Whilst I was at it, I'd copied in my little mate Bing at BoC, who'd been so helpful last time. He's literally just sent this... "To: AMED (He's the guy at PHLPost) Good day!
Kindly assist Mr. George Bryden in his inquiry. He wants to know where will he go to claim the package (Manila Central or Local Post Office in Ermita)? As per your Philpost Track and Trace, his package with Tracking No. RI687385688GB was en route to delivery office last Mar. 12.
Please provide him the necessary information regarding the whereabouts of his package."That's telling him. Now we wait again whilst Amed does what he's paid to do!  D'you know, I'm sure it shouldn't be this difficult!  |
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Mar 28, 2017 10:57:33 GMT
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So those of you following the Letter from Manila will know that we're on the move this weekend. Problem? Could be. You'll remember that the last I heard of my brake hoses was March 12, en-route to some unspecified destination. Well, given the lack of response to any enquiry and no updates on the tracker, I reckon they've disappeared.  This adds another problem to the one I already have. Problem 1 Nowhere to move the '38 to at the moment, but need to find somewhere before Sunday. Problem 2 It's immobile anyway. Theoretically, Problem 2 should cancel Problem 1 but it doesn't really. Looking like I'll have to build up with what I've got, i.e. new front hoses, old mids and rears and do a six litre bleed, just to move it. Then, if PHLPost ever find my new hoses, fit those and do another six litre bleed. If I ever find somewhere to get the car to in order to do it of course. Eee, it's a grand life if you don't weaken. |
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Mar 28, 2017 12:05:08 GMT
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Can you not tie four or five of the bikes to the front and sit on the roof/bonnet with a piece of rope and pretend it's a chariot? Slow pace, someone inside to steer and apply the handbrake if necessary. Maybe tie some balloons to it and a bunch of flowers and act like a festival float? |
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Mar 28, 2017 12:52:29 GMT
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If your motor was broken you'd tie it to the Fortuna and tow it. But you have the opposite problem - it won't stop.
So tie the Fortuna to the back and use it as the brakes. Every body will think the Toyota broke down so there's no embarrassment and you get the 38 moved. Win win.
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Mar 30, 2017 22:12:38 GMT
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Maybe tie some balloons to it and a bunch of flowers and act like a festival float? Yeah but if we were to do that, we'd have to eat loads of roast pork and BBQ fish and drink copious amounts of beer and...oh, hang on If your motor was broken you'd tie it to the Fortuna and tow it. But you have the opposite problem - it won't stop. So tie the Fortuna to the back and use it as the brakes. Every body will think the Toyota broke down so there's no embarrassment and you get the 38 moved. Win win. As ideas go James and in virtually any other country, it may be a solution. But what we have here is, to put it politely a clash of driving styles. See the preferred Philippine method is that all pedals must be used to the full extent of their travel at all times i.e. if you're not accelerating hard, your braking hard, and mine kinda isn't. So when we are going forwards, he'll be trying to climb in the back and, if he lifts his head long enough from the SMS he's sending and actually notices some braking effort may be required, I'll be through the windscreen. Given the above, it was therefore timely when I received an e-mail from Bureau of Customs last evening;- "Hi Sir! It is at Manila Central Post Office. Just present the tracking no. Thank you and God bless." They have obviously realised that PHLPost are not going to acknowledge my mails and took it upon themselves to find out for me. Above and beyond, above and beyond. Although now I think about it, given the amount of cash the BoC have fleeced me for over the last three years, it was about time I got something back!  So this morning will see me a) taking the battery around to my little charging man and b) spending the rest of the day (if I'm lucky) up the MCPO. That'll give me tomorrow to fit the lines up and bleed the system meaning that, with a following wind, we'll have brakes by Saturday and I can shift her on Sunday. I wonder where to? A thought did occur to me, if my package is indeed actually at MCPO, it has basically taken 42 days to get from Ninoy Aquino International Airport to Manila. A journey of around 10kms! |
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Last Edit: Mar 30, 2017 22:25:13 GMT by georgeb
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cap78
Part of things
Posts: 96 
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Mar 30, 2017 22:18:54 GMT
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Hurray, some progress of post business!
Must be curse word post wice to live at your location.
Think it easier to receive post at the north pole LOL
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Mar 30, 2017 22:32:25 GMT
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Hurray, some progress of post business! Must be curse word post wice to live at your location. Think it easier to receive post at the north pole LOL The words I dread in an e-mail are, "Your items were posted on..." To be fair around 98% of the stuff I order from Rimmers and the like go with UPS, DHL or similar which often sees me with the parts within 3 days of ordering. There's just a few who think entrusting anything to this lot here is a good idea. Goodridge, unfortunately, being one of them. |
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Mar 30, 2017 23:08:34 GMT
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If your motor was broken you'd tie it to the Fortuna and tow it. But you have the opposite problem - it won't stop. So tie the Fortuna to the back and use it as the brakes. Every body will think the Toyota broke down so there's no embarrassment and you get the 38 moved. Win win. I've seen this course of action suggested somewhere before. Quite possibly in a manual of instructions to new drivers or even perhaps the New Zealand Road Code. |
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As I write this I'm in a taxi heading for the post office. It's 2.2kms away and the driver doesn't know how to get there!
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There's 15 people in front of me. Some look like they have been here weeks. Could be a long one and I forgot my bloody kindle 😞
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Well if I understood how the lottery worked here, then today would be the day!
Gave the nice lady a print of the mail from BoC (or rather put it into the empty ice cream tub that passes as "paper inwards") and ten minutes later, she was back with my parcel! She was demanding to know where the official card was though but kinda went quiet when I pointed out that she had been sitting on my package for basically 42 days and it took Customs to tell me where it was.
Muttering darkly, she demanded I sign six, yes six, forms, scrutinised my ID like a Chinese border guard and reluctantly passed my stuff over.
Home now with a cup of tea.
Next step; battery on charge and buy a load of brake fluid so I'm ready for the morning.
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Can you not just park the RR on the street corner against the wall of a nearby shanty, and lean some extra tin against it so it blends in?  |
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Can you not just park the RR on the street corner against the wall of a nearby shanty, and lean some extra tin against it so it blends in? Well I could I suppose, but then it would have 17 families living in it, then one would be denounced as a drug dealer, get shot and dribble all over the BECM. That would be a real pain. I liked the float idea better. |
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Yeah but that was more of a temporary solution to move the car. If you dressed it up as a float, presumably it would then have to go on regular outings to block up traffic? Where do you store a float in the off season?
Maybe you could go park it in the secure railway depot while you inspect something imporant. and then disconnect the battery.
'oh it won't start! I'll get right on to fixing that! pity parts take so long to get, look how long these brake lines took!'
Assuming the depot is secure, of course. :-P
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To precis all this, does this mean you'll have brakes again shortly ? ( All being well going forward )
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Mar 31, 2017 23:24:28 GMT
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Yeah but that was more of a temporary solution to move the car. If you dressed it up as a float, presumably it would then have to go on regular outings to block up traffic? Where do you store a float in the off season? Maybe you could go park it in the secure railway depot while you inspect something imporant. and then disconnect the battery. 'oh it won't start! I'll get right on to fixing that! pity parts take so long to get, look how long these brake lines took!' Assuming the depot is secure, of course. :-P Strangely, had the old General Manager of PNR not been fired off with the new government, I could have found a home for it up their depot as he was sort of a mate. But now it's all change... Oh, and this is the Philippines so there's enough festivals for one saint or another to turn pro-floater. To precis all this, does this mean you'll have brakes again shortly ? ( All being well going forward ) Good question, well put, deserves an answer. Yes, possibly. Today's sticking point could be brake fluid. Yesterday I found some DOT4 at PHP350 for a small bottle. That's about a fiver. All the stuff I've read reckons I need around 5-6 litres of the stuff which means 18 bottles! I only wanted brake fluid, not the Elixir of bloody Life. DOT3 is about two quid for 50 gallons, but of no use to me at all Anyway, Madam's driver has been tasked to find somewhere that does reasonable size bottles of 4 at sensible prices. Let's see what he comes up with. I'm about to overall-up and head down to the Pit of Hell to do some hose fitting first anyway. Let you know how we get on later! |
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Last Edit: Mar 31, 2017 23:29:21 GMT by georgeb
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