Toyota Sera reluctantly for sale

OK folks, because my beloved is getting an Employment Pass in SG (Again :-p ), once he gets it, he will no longer be able to drive his Malaysian car in Singapore... which means it makes no sense to have two cars in Malaysia, which in turn means we have to sell one of our two cars... sigh... and, Yes, you guessed it, the car that is more logical to sell is my little Toyota Sera (sob.... sob.... sob.... :'( ).

The details are:
- 1990 Toyota Sera, 1.5
- 2+2 seater, with Gull-wing doors (see picture below). The colour of my car is the one in the picture that says Light Turquoise. I think it looks more like Silver!
- Interior is blue-grey fabric.
- Registered in my name, no loan on it.
- Bought for RM30K, Spent another RM30K on doing it up:
- engine, aircon, power steering rack, and brakes completely overhauled (that was the bulk of the cost!!)
- Totally all new piping, tubing, valves, etc. I think every single non-metal part of the engine has been replaced.
- new sound system (plays MP3!)
- new 3rd brake light (the old one was in a very stupid location)
- new electric windows wiring
- new alarm system,
- new hydraulic door supports
- even new floor mats
- I will be putting 4 new tyres on it in the near future, as they are due for a change.
- Maintained by Tom's Toyota Specialist in Bangsar, and it is really in good condition
- Asking price is RM49K negotiable (Yes, I know, I will be losing money on it, but I sure cant ask RM60K for it!!!)



So, if any of you know any member of the potential Sera fan club, please drop me a comment.

Week 3, travelling to & from SG

Yep, I have been doing this for 3 weeks now, and it has been quite hectic. Keeping track of Husband's company details, plus doing my own work, plus the time taken to travel up and down. But it is so great to be with Husband wherever he is, so I am definitely NOT complaining!

Luckily we dont have to worry about hotels any more - the last two weeks, and for this week, we have been given the loan of an apartment by one of Husband's colleagues who is on leave. He has broadband connection, so it is great for me to just plug in and I am online. No worries about hotels, so Husband and I can take a leisurely drive from KL to SG on Sunday... so no more dragging ourselves out of bed at 4am on Mondays, for Husband to drive to SG to get there in time for office!! Then, from 5th to 9th Aug I actually have to be in SG for a project, so my company has booked me into the Mandarin Oriental Hotel (Husband's absolute favourite hotel so far) for that duration... THEN, starting 9th Aug, we actually have our own apartment in SG again - in the Upper Bukit Timah area, near to Dairy Farm.

The estate is called Glendale, and we have a unit on the 9th floor of one of the blocks. Not the 'best' facing, as we are partly looking at another block and partly overlooking the swimming pool, but it is a lovely lovely unit. Approx 2000 sq ft, beautifully kept, 3 bedrooms, very nice kitchen, and the landlady is going to furnish it with all new furniture, all for the very reasonable rent of S$3000 per month - which is a lot better than paying between S$2.5K to S$2.8K per month for 2-3 nights every week in a miniscule hotel ROOM with the risk of rates going up during peak season, and sometimes not even being able to get a room (and, of course, driving on Monday to SG cos we dont want to have the extra Sun night cost of hotel). All this is no longer relevant - we have complete flexibility of when we drive to SG, how long we stay, we can stay weekends, our friends and family can come and stay... etc, etc, etc. Another added benefit is that we can get our own broadband connection, for me to work from home, and we dont have to pay exorbitant hotel rates for it either!!

Mind you, we have been very lucky with the apartment - it is reasonably priced, considering that it is a beautiful unit, spacious AND it is going to have all new furniture. Right now the rents in SG are just exorbitant.... my totally wonderful real estate agent (her name is Kylene, and if you want her contact number, just drop me a comment) showed me quite a number of apartments, but within that price range most of them are really grotty, tiny, tatty, badly furnished. This is the 2nd time I have taken Kylene's services and this is also the second time she has fulfilled her task beautifully (the first time was when we had our gorgeous Leonie Hill apartment, but nowadays that unit is renting for S$9K.... which is way more than we want to pay !). Anyway, I would recommend Kylene to ANYONE as the preferred real estate agent!

That's the latest update so, till next time, have a good life and may the sun shine in your life, figuratively if not necessarily literally.

Of remote work, idiot drivers, and great landings

It has been quite a while since my last update - lack of time, and (more correctly) lack of inclination!

I am, even as I type this, in Singapore - as I have been given the opportunity to travel to and from SG with Husband on his trips, as long as I dont have any meetings in KL to attend with any clients. Isn't that just amazing? It is true that I can do my job from anywhere, as long as I have an Internet connection, but to actually be given that choice by my boss is great! So now I can come to SG with Husband, and work from here, and then when he goes back to KL I go back with him. I am a very lucky person! So I am in SG this week - arrived last night (flew in, as I had meetings to attend, and could only come down after the meetings, whereas Husband drove to SG yesterday morning), and will be returning to KL with Husband on Thursday afternoon, will be spending Friday in Penang for meetings, and then Sat to Mon we will be at Langkawi :-).

Now, about IDIOT DRIVERS - last week, driving to Berjaya Times Square, I went into the back car park which is on the upper floors. On TWO separate floors, I am driving IN, and I come across TWO MAJOR IDIOTIC YOUNG (happened to be Chinese) DRIVERS, who are GOING OUT via the IN!!! AND, to add insult to injury, they are smiling away at me, as if the whole thing is a big joke. If I had been going any faster, I would have slammed my car head first into theirs. And, of course, this is NOT the first time I have personally encountered people doing stupid things without thought. I mean, what does it take to make IDIOTS like this realise that THEY ARE ASKING FOR AN ACCIDENT TO HAPPEN? When do they stop doing these stupid things - after they cause an accident where people are hurt or killed, or after THEY die in an accident which they cause? Why are they so stupid? Don't they THINK about the consequences of what they are doing? Obviously not - as I keep telling my Husband, obviously all these idiots (I include idiotic Indian, Malay, Chinese, Others AND expat drivers in this list) have so little respect for their own lives, why would they have any respect for any other life?

A better topic - great landings. I know there will always be people out there who have a lot of negative things to say about our lovely national airlines (MAS). However, I am not talking about the experience at the airport per se (I know there are problems happening at this time), but I am talking about the experience once one is actually on the plane. In the last 10 years of flying almost exclusively on MAS (my preferred choice) I have to say that I have always had excellent experiences with the cabin crew and, almost without exception, the landings have been SMOOTH (the few times I flew SIA during the last 10 years, the landings have been almost uniformly BUMPY, and the cabin crew experience generally mediocre). So, kudos to the cabin crew, and kudos to the pilots!!!

Enough for this week.... have a great life everyone.