Tuesday 9 September 2008

Post, as promised

It has been a busy time! I guess it's the whole end-of-year-itis that hits around this time every year, but I really feel like I need a holiday now. That's wishful thinking, of course, but we're all allowed to dream.

My folks are setting off on their little little 3-week jaunt around Eastern Europe next week and I am so jealous. TSC and his team will be repainting their house while they're gone, which means that I will barely see him. That man is unbelievable when it comes to work. As soon as he has a project on the go, everything else falls away... his studying, his wife... *Sigh* I'm hoping that he'll be more reasonable this time, but I doubt it. I'm pretty sure that he sees this an yet another opportunity to try to prove himself to my folks.

In other news... I scraped the side of my car on a pillar in the parking bay last week. Argh! I drive so carefully and try to take really good care of my car and then I do something stupid like that. THEN... when I took the bloody thing to the panelbeaters, they tell me that, actually, the front of my car needs work too! Why? Because I went through a huge and completely unavoidable pothole that stretched right across one of the main roads in Rosebank (a very affluent part of Johannesburg) awhile ago, which has buggered up my bumper.

So I call my insurance agency and log the claims. Becuase the incidents are separate, they apparently need separate claims and I must pay the excess twice over. AND... because I am under the age of 26, my excess is very much higher. I could cry.

Sorry - this is very much a rant of a post, isn't it? Even Formula One has let me down. After quite a dull race on Sunday, the last few laps burst into action when the rain came down, and Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton (two of the main championship contenders, from Ferrari and McLaren respectively) were fighting it out on the track. They came close to touching and Lewis, who was behind, needed to go off onto the grass. He came back on the track ahead of Kimi. Now, in this situation, a driver can be penalised for gaining advantage off-track, so according to the rules, Lewis needed to surrender the position back to Kimi. He did, letting Kimi pull in front of him. He then made another attempt at overtaking the Finn, and pulled it off magnificently.

Kimi then lost it and smashed his car into the wall, while Lewis managed to remain cool and calm in crazy conditions (skidding around a wet track on his "dry" tyres) to pull off a win. Celebrations ensued on the podium.

And then... because the body that runs F1, the FIA, and Ferrari are big buddies (fact: the Ferrari team boss and the FIA boss go on annual ski holidays together), Ferrari complained that Lewis still gained advantage off-track, and the FIA penalised Lewis by 25 seconds, putting him in third place, and handing the race to the other Ferrari driver, Phillipe Massa.

This drives me mental, especially because in the last race, Ferrari unsafely released Massa into oncoming traffic in the pit lane, which blatantly trangresses the regulations, which state that a team needs to check the pit lane before allowing their driver out. Did the FIA allow Ferrari's race to be compromised? No, they just gave Massa a fine.

Almost enough to make me quit watching. Almost.

14 comments:

boldly benny said...

Hello

Sorry to hear about all the rubbish that has been going on. I'm totally with you on the needing a holiday. The next three months are going to be INTENSE for me at work and I shudder just thinking about it.

As for the claims, perhaps chat to your panel beater and find out how much the two jobs will cost. Maybe one will be less than the excess so you can claim for just one. (Bumpers aren't too pricey so shop around.) I once had two separate scraps (one of the side of my car and one on my bumper), the two claims would've been R6000 for two excesses so I chatted to my panel beater and he agreed to do both jobs for R4000 so it was less than claiming and I decided not to involve my insurance at all. Just an idea!

Unknown said...

Sorry to hear about your car - that sucks. And don't you just hate it the way insurance seems to make things extra difficult?

Cam said...

Can you believe that F1?

Most exciting GP this year and Lewis gets shafted! So upset...think the FIA are in Ferrari's pockets!

Sweets said...

two separate claims?? you should really negotiate something with the assessor... if you guys only knew what you could squeeze out of them :) don't give in so easily!!!

hope you feel better soon!!

Ruby said...

Oh noes!!! not the car:( I quit watching F1 a looooong time ago, it's just not the same anymore...*sigh* You're going to have to forgive me my blond moment here, but why do you call him TSC again? I'm not sure if you told us, but if you did you'll have to tell again cause your little ruby darlink can't remember:)

Arkwife said...

Good grief!! I can see why you need a holiday, between the car and hubby and deadlines, I would've collapsed.

I really hope everything works out fine. :-)

MsBehavn said...

Who are you insured with and how bad is the damage to the front of your car? Is it worth repairing and having to pay double excess? I'd think about that before forking out a ridiculous amount of money.

I can't really comment on the F1 'cos it's not a sport that I watch regularly. I'm a rugby-kinda girl :D

Lindsey said...

Thanks for reading my blog! I enjoy your blog as well!=)

Caz said...

SHAME LADY!! Flippen insurance are giving us a hard time too!!! They want to replace everything instead of pay out.. hallo, how do you replace 40 year old earrings of my grans? They say they will have a replica made. DOFF!! So clearly and blatantly not the same. ANYWAY!!! Thanks for explaining the formula1 thing - i had heard the fuss, but now I understand it! :)

Tamara said...

Boldly Benny: I'm seeing the assessor this morning, so I'll see what he says.

Kitty cat: TOTALLY!

Sweets: Any advice?

Ruby: were you a Schumi fan? If so, you can no longer be my carbon copy ;-) Read my posts on 2 and 4 July this year - they explain why TSC is called TSC.

MsB: It's definitely worth repairing, so I'll just have to grit my teeth and get on with the forking out.

Lindsey: Thanks, lady. It's a pleasure.

Caz: Glad I could be of help. And sorry to hear about your burglary - that bites.

Tamara said...

Ches: You think?

Cam said...

Most likely not...but it's very bizzare...in my opinion, Lewis gave Kimi the position back, then took him, then lost it again, then Riakonnen span!

Either way, I feel sorry for Lewis.

Gill said...

Oh shame what a bummer re: your car. These potholes are getting waaay out of hand!! I drove into one a couple of days ago and I can't actually SEE any damage, but it sure sounded bad...

AlasMyDear said...

eeeyargh! so sorry to hear about the car. yukk! repairs are expensive horrid things.

actually, if you don't mind so much, how about not repairing the front bumper? since you didn't notice it before they told you, and there're still potholes on the road anyway ;)

am a complete F1 virgin, though i must say you made the race sound super-exciting!