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| Broken glass because assholes |
A short update. Stargazer was grounded for almost a month because some punk decided it was worth smashing a glass to steal a furry bear kiddy bear bag containing a few plastic toys to entertain Albany in the car that cost no more than $10. Truth to be told, if anyone had the courtesy to paste a post-it note on my glass requesting for the bag for his or her kids at home, I would have donated it generously with a plate of whatever lunch I was having that day. Perhaps with some biscuits, a toothbrush and a propagated Aloe Vera shoot to complete a goodie-bag. Just imagine the face of the recipient, tears rolling down his or her cheeks, on hearing that I even bothered to give my goodie bag a name, say Fun Pack Pack or something. A touch of Singaporean goodness.
Unfortunately, kiddy bag admirer decided that smashing the glass was the better way to go, to escape the possibility of hearing me chant the Fun Pack Pack song as I award him or her the Fun Pack Pack. Needless to say, that left me disappointed in humanity but I didn't spend time feeling sorry. So, I sprung into action to be stunned into inaction for the next 4 weeks. My neighbours began to be concerned because I chose to leave the broken glass unattended to. It must have felt uneasy for the neighbour next door, who was trying to rent her unit out one Saturday. Still, she had takers, broken glass or not. A bad broken glass reflected poorly on the man of the family because it showed his lack of initiative or the ability to act quickly to get things back to normal. In my case, I couldn't be bothered, that was all.
So the mechanic quoted me $140 for the job. Hmm... should I pay it? Maybe not. It was a quarter glass, not a full side glass. I thought I was wearing t-shirts with holes. Weren't the holes big enough to be noticed? Did I look like a carrot head from Singapore? So screw them, I decided to do this myself. Sadly, this episode showed me the bad side of WA because it ended up not a single of the ten companies responded to me with a quotation. We ended up asking a wrecker for a glass but was quoted A$70.00 for a piece of used glass. Hmm... not even brand new? Not that I really need a new glass, but 70 bucks? I told my neighbour at work, who was a glass specialist that didn't specialise on autoglass. He simply told me, "People in WA are greedy."
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| It hasn't fallen off since, so it's a good job |
It turned out that he was right. A company in Brisbane was willing to sell me the part I needed for $59.00, inclusive of postage. After trolling me by sending me the wrong glass, I thought it was an expensive lesson. Fortunately they were worth their salt and promised to resend the correct part. Another week later, the glass finally arrived. So the excited wife took the initiative to vacuum the glass bits and set me up for the replacement after I returned from work.
By then, Stargazer couldn't even start up. It wasn't even the battery problem. Something was choked so badly with hardened carbon that filled the entire port with smog when I finally manage to squeeze the life out of it. Within seconds, Startgazer woke to its previous best. Work was hard. I was no mechanic but being a miser, I was nothing and everything. So I became autoglass mechanic for that evening. After some drama and delaying dinner longer than I initially planned, the glass was put in place. That ended a 4 weeks grounding of my wife and daughter. Congratulations ladies.
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| Albany helping to clean the dust-caked grey (previously white) car |
I noticed a commentor came to the blog and commented a load of bullshit about Australian healthcare, tax and other what nots on a Singapore CPF post. I supposed talking out of point was infectious, since it started from the government and spread to one too many citizens who couldn't debate a topic with valid points without bringing in irrelevant factors.
Since there seem to be a fraction of population here who can't sleep unless they read something awful about Australia, let's summarise every short tales about my life here with something bad, so that someone living somewhere else can feel good. Seems like a better deed than handing a single person a Fun Pack Pack.
Remember, from this episode, you would have learnt that:
1. Australia is dangerous. Criminals and psychopaths lace the streets.
2. Tax is very high. Whether or not it is relevant to anything, just remember that. And it's bad.
3. Australia business people are greedy, especially in WA.
4. A piece of glass job by the mechanics cost me 4% of the total cost of my car. In Singapore, 4% of a Corolla is $6,000, inclusive of COE. Mechanics are day light robbers. So are plumbers by the way. And electricians. And probably you, whatever you are working as.
If you are fishing for what you want to read and now you know how bad Australia is, do yourself a favour and fuck off from this website.
Awesome post! Good on ya for being such a mega tight arse.
ReplyDeleteI'm inspired to do some sphincter exercise now..
Anyway Australia is a terrible shitty place. Met racists here. They come from a country called Singapore. So yeah, don't migrate here please, whoever is reading
-s
Gd post Haha. We Still miss u
ReplyDeleteWhich wrecker? Was it Keyline in Maddington next to the Gypsy Jokers?
ReplyDeleteHi Nix
ReplyDeleteI am writing this for the benefit of others who may want a slightly different view of things.
1. Stargazer AKA Toyota Rav 4 belong to a certain group of car owners which is bought brand new by Yuppies or Dinkies in Australia since it is more expensive sort of a station wagon on a high pseudo 4WD chassis. As such in the earlier years 2000 - 9 it is relatively few in numbers compared to other family car and 4WD. SUV only became more popular as more families use these vehicles as tank car for middle class mothers driving their children around. So Stargazer suffers from the perception of having rich owners and yet few in numbers (but current model rav4 definitely more popular). Thus if you are looking for a Rav 4 second hand parts even at the wreckers and especially in WA where population is smaller, it will attract a rarity premium and a rich people premium even if you turn up with a torn singlet.
If you have a car like commodore or falcon, you will not get charged that much.
2. The cars with a 2 piece
2. Cars with a 2 piece window usually the rear door of older cars are especially susceptible to opportunist break in since the smaller window is much easier to break than the one piece window glass. I had my previous car broken into at night even with no obvious objects in sight but I noticed the thieves only targeted cars with 2 piece window glass. I found out it is much easier to break that glass with the elbow or shoes, compared to the bigger glass unless you can find a brick.
ReplyDeleteIt's not even remotely new. I doubt it's the yuppie factor. Probably just a plain and simple petty theft
ReplyDelete-S
BTW Nix
ReplyDeleteI am sure you already know this but for the benefit of others:
Because so many tradesmen in Australia charge ridiculous fees (unless you are old mates with them, and then you find how cheap the parts are and easy the repair jobs are), otherwise most Aussie try to learn DIYs to save money.
Thus there are many DIY books in your local library and if your car is old enough, often there are reference car books for loan (like Gregory's) which you can borrow for vehicles of certain models usually older types. If your local council is rich, you may even find DIY books for new cars....
And if you really planning to keep the Stargazer for a few more years you may want to buy a DIY servicing book for $45
http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/online-store/products/Gregory-s-Car-Manual-RAV4-SXA10-SXA11-ACA20R-ACA21R-ACA22-ACA23-535.aspx?pid=288384&menuFrom=1021137#Cross
And then you can turn to you Tube for ideas
Totally unrelated, but a blast from the past from SG
ReplyDeleteVictor Khoo, entertainer from the 1970-90s died from cancer.
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ReplyDeleteThe "F" word become a common word in your daily life when you live in OZ. Because everything also F, F and F. I hear it everywhere even in the office, they just shout "F"ing this and that in the office like a bogan. I am still not get used to it.
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