A satisfactory day, if I must say so myself. Even if I did not get the chance to go and show Chris the new wheels. Never mind, you cannot have everything and it was a case of not trying to work around the Rock ‘n’ Roll lifestyle of Mr. Williams. I suppose, I should pick up the story from Saturday morning. The day I had been waiting for. The weather was appalling, but I did not really have high hopes for mid January. I had an eye test at 10.15am, in the centre of town. My Dad dropped me off and did not have a long wait. New optician though, compared to the same lady, Jackie, whom has inspected my eyes since I was 13th. Then, at 10.40am, exactly I called my Dad, he came around the corner from the Octagon and we headed to Amersham. As we pulled up at the dealership, I saw one of the staff bring my car around to the front. Talking my time, I looked around the car and smiled. Then I went in to fill in the final pieces of paperwork before driving off. Moving to a completely different nation of automobile and not just class, it unbelievable. While of course this was a mixture of an impulse and emergency purchase. I could have bought a different car, but this was the car I wanted. I am sure I will learn more about the car as I get used to it, but I joined up to VW Audi forum, a week ago. Not really made use of the services available under the A3 – S3 group, but I am sure I will do in time. I suppose there is little I can really add to the blog. If you know me, you will just have to ask to go for a drive around the block (or further a field) sometime soon. There is not much more to say but check out my latest set over at FlickR.

Apart from picking my new ride, I had a packed weekend. I came home, watched Football Focus (as I do almost every Saturday lunchtime) while having some lunch before heading over to Reading. Pav, as you may or may not know was over in Austria skiing, so I went to see Nige, so he could have a look at the car and we could get some ideas together for ICE. Then, I tried to call Chris again as I left, hoping to pop over to Henley from Caversham, rather than drive directly home. He did not pick up and I could not be bothered to leave a message again. For the record, I text him at 10.15 (approximately) then called him around 12.30pm and left a voicemail. Obviously, he had a much better offer. (Not sure whom, but fair enough). He called me back, while I was driving around 4pm, but I missed the call. Calling him back, I got the full explanation as to why he was unavailable at 10am and for most of the rest of the day and had just got into Reading. Talk about lazy. In any case, we rescheduled for this afternoon in the late afternoon before it got dark. When I got home, I just wanted to watch television and spend time sorting out other bits and pieces on the computer. However my graphics card had died (see previous post) so I needed a replacement. My Sunday was already quiet busy, but I packed in a number of little jobs and tasks, which perhaps explained why I feel so satisfied here, on Sunday evening with the prospect of work not too far away. Before I get attacked left, right and centre, I know I could have ordered online and waited a few days and got it cheaper, but this was a life and death situation. My existing video adapter was melting, when in fact I could boil water on it’s surface. So I headed to the Wycombe Retail Park and specifically PC World. To my shock and surprise, there were about 12 other people waiting for the shutters to come and the store to open. It was a few minutes before 11am, but these people were braving the cold (even though the winter sun was shining brightly in the clear blue sky) desperate to go in. When the store did eventually open, I went and spoke to a sales assistant, whom was not very knowledgeable and handed me over to a technician at the upgrade counter. He was a typical geek, game playing with a vast amount of knowledge on everything computer related. I explained my problem and he recommended the Nvidia Ge Force 7800 GT (sounds more fancy than my new car!). Thankfully the price has dropped considerably since launch in August 2005. I could have gone for the equivalent ATi product, but I explained that I was never going to buy an ATi card every again. Heading out of the store, happy that at least I would be able to resurrect my machine later in the evening. My next stop took me in the direction of my secondary school, the other side of the town. I was there strictly on business. Thankfully I had my sisters TomTom to guide me on my journey.

Then I drove off to Oxfordshire for my first piano lesson, which was scheduled for 2pm but did not start until 4pm, as we decided to head over to Towersey for some lunch. All I can say is that I did not realise how demanding my first lesson would be and how much work I would have to do as ‘homework’. I’m 25, I thought I had left homework back in the classroom, over ten years ago. I am determined to give it a good bash and improve my general confidence with music and learning music generally as well as learning a new skill. Progress (good or otherwise) will be reported on this blog. I called Chris as I drove home, he did not answer. If he had, I may just have driven down to Henley-upon-Thames, I was not that far away. He didn’t answer for the third time over the weekend and I left a message to the effect that I was heading home. I got home at 6pm and by 6.40pm had my new graphics card installed and was back up and running. Result. Hopefully this is the last major surgery I will need to carry out on my computer ever again. (Well until I decide there is something else I need to have). I must say this new graphics card is quiet and also must cooler, the general temperature of my unit, is much lower than before. My sister’s friend made my weekend though, she got out of my car on Sunday afternoon and made the passing comment, “You’ve got a lovely car by the way…”. For a brief moment, you would not have been able to wipe the broad smile off my face, as I drove off into the distance, onto my next mission.