I miss my car.

It's been six days since I've brought her into the shop. I hate not being able to drive her. Not just the fun of driving an air cooled, but the whole convenience of lots of space and a roof rack. And the yellow plate I'm driving is no fun at all! The car itself has no power, the only thing I'm enjoying is the power steering...

Missing out

Last year I went home for the summer and got to participate in the Great Canadian Prairie VW Cruz to Vancouver but I missed out on the Air Riders show. This year I missed out on BOTH!

The Air Riders Show was last weekend in Edmonton. Sounds like everyone had a good time. Next year is the 10th show! I've got to go! I'm one of the original members of the Air Riders. It all started when Jay and Jay invited me to hang out with them at the A&W on Whyte Ave. Wednesday evenings. There were about 6 of us diehards at the start but it didn't take long for the club to grow. People would stop to check out our rides and pretty soon we had to change locations in order to accomodate all the cars!

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to being part of the show next year, even if my Thing is not road worthy by that time. I'm not sure I've got enough money and resources to get her going quite yet. Maybe if I stop travelling this year and quit dumping money into my Beetle...

In other event news...I've been asked to be a staff member for the VW Show here in Toyama next weekend, it's some consolation to missing out at home but with the language barrier I'm a bit nervous about it. Shigeo, the owner of Bug Works, and the organizer of the event, says he's confident in me - I think he's just using me for my blonde hair...not that that's a bad thing!

He also said that because his show is only held every 2 years, he's totally up for going to the Air Riders Show with me next year! I think that it'd be great to introduce him to the Canadian VW scene. He usually 'limits' himself to European and American shows. I have no doubt that he'll be impressed by what Canadaland has to offer.

My first major issue with my Baby.

So, she's run soooooo well for me the past 2 years. I've driven her 30 000km around Japan so far. It was bound to happen, she is a VW after all.

Friday I was running errands and I pressed on the clutch, heard a bit of a click and felt something 'go'. I tried to put her in reverse and she screeched and growled at me. You know the sound -grinding gears. How fun.

I managed to get her home -in 3rd. Thank goodness I've been taught how to drive a manual - thank goodness I've been taught how to drive a manual without a clutch!

I took her into the shop, to my buddy Shigeo, who always gives her lots of TLC. My shaken is up this week anyway, so she was due for a visit.

For those of you not familiar with owning a vehicle in Japan -it's fecking expensive. I pay around $500 a year in taxes and then every 2 years there is a mandatory inspection that can cost anywhere from $300-$1500. The last time I paid around $1500. I expect to pay about the same this year. I have yet to find out why it's so expensive. It's something I hope to learn more about.

So, for now I'm driving a loaner -a little yellow plate (that's a car with a yellow licencse plate that designates it as an economy car). I'm enjoying the power steering and nothing else.

Wasn't gonna do it...

I told myself that 2 blogs were enough, but there's no way I can properly give my VW habit credit among the insanity of general life in Japan. So here it is, my official VW blogspot.