Sunday, December 20, 2009

So farewell SAAB.



So, the new GM is closing SAAB, the Swedish car manufacturer. It's not unexpected but still a shame as we have happy memories of owning them. As a student in Scotland in the 1970's a SAAB 96 was one of the first cars I had ; it was also the first car 'the font' was alowed to drive. For some long forgotten reason it was christened 'Bernadette', perhaps because it was bright red. Thinking about it, and it's unusual wallowing motion at anything over 40 mph, still brings a smile to my face.

Years later when our circumstances were different we bought a large four door SAAB 9000. Like all SAAB's it had the ignition peculiarly situated between the seats but apart from that was pretty characterless - just a large,safe, family swallowing saloon. It was also one of the first cars to have electrically heated seats - now pretty much standard but then state of the art. When taking delivery I blithely ignored the salesmans run through of all the features opting instead to get the car home and go for a long drive with 'the font'. About three miles down the road from the dealership, on the road out of Edinburgh to the Forth Road Bridge, the area between the small of my back and my knees started getting hot , indeed very hot- and more alarmingly the area at base of my spine had started to sweat. Approaching home an hour later the hot flushes were now constant and my symptoms indicated that I had contracted some rare, hitherto unknown, tropical illness . The hot flushes lasted for about a month ,recurring anywhere more than two miles drive from home. It was only by chance when out of the blue someone asked me how we liked the heated seats that the source of the disease became clear.

It was Wilf's day for grooming yesterday. Long haired dog and exhausted groomer can be made out in the bottom photo. You will be pleased to know that much of what you see is fur and not the real state of Wilf's waistline.

'The font' is off to the airport this morning to attend to 'Granny font' . The weather is beautiful, sunny and cold, so there should be no travel delays at this end. Thankfully, the disruptive BA strike seems to be on hold. The boyz are here with me to await the delivery of the beds, the Fortnums hamper , and the presents that were entrusted to DHL when I was last in London. Talk about cutting the deliveries fine. I intend to enjoy the peace and quiet before the 'gannets' arrive.

5 comments:

  1. Wilf looks beautifully groomed and ready for Christmas - just hope he doesn't decide that it's time to visit the cattle across the road for a romp before the guest arrive.

    I hope the "grannyfont" has a great trip and that your visits are pleasant and warm.

    Lynn

    BTW - the raincoat are an AKC brand that I got from an Ebay store - I don't think they have larger ones in stock, but I imagine that Digby would need an XL. My Scotties wear large ones and they weigh 22-25 pounds. They have saved a lot of washing, brushing and removing snowballs. If I'd have realized that, I would have purchased them a long time ago.

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  2. When I met my husband in the mid-eighties, he owned three Saab 95's, which were the station wagon version of the Saab 96. He kept one of them running, and used the other two for parts to replace anything that broke in the drivable one. He became quite a car mechanic working on those Saabs! He spent a huge number of hours pulling the engines out and moving parts around. Whew, I'm glad that we have vehicles that don't require so much time now!

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  3. Not fat just fluffy eh Wilf? Yes, I use that line too! Espcialy around Christmas!
    Cheers, H.

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  4. i laughed out loud at the heated seats problem, I so totally would have done that!!!

    wheeeew glad that isn't his waistline! lol

    have a great visit with the family!

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  5. Those seats had me giggling! Glad you figured out the source of the fever!

    Ahhh, we're already in the throes of Christmas family togetherness here. Today was party number three, with three more Christmas parties and three birthday parties before the new year! Enjoy your time with the family!

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