Quick update

Ok so I know I'm not posting regularly enough to keep you following however I do get the odd new person coming along to check out whether I lost the plot with champix or actually manged to kick the cigs.  The good news is that I didn't get all suicidal, have a heart attack or attack any loved ones and I did kick a 40+ habbit.  The bad news is that I do still treat myself to an occasional cigar and when on holiday that 'occasionaly' translates to five or six a day.  My recomendation is to not do the cigar thing.  Because I gave up more than a year before I tried a cigar I can sort of switch it on and off but it's a bit like old Alan Carr says:  people who switch on and off are just good at abstaining and torturing themselves for weeks between caving to the addiction.  I wouldn't even begin to compare my struggles with actually giving up but I struggle for about three days to actually quit each time I give in.  On the plus side not smoking at work ever is the one rule I stick by and it makes life a lot easier.

If I can be a phone bore for a moment I'd also like to say that I have got rid of the evil iPhone and am now about one month in to loving an HTC.  I don't have to follow the internet or spend hours jailbreaking and all my apps work without the phone crashing.  It's fantastic to be back to using a phone that both promises and delivers.  Incredibly the iPhone 4s still advertises its SIRI voice function in the UK even though it's been proved on several occasions to be useless.  I'll never convert the iPhone faithful but if your on the fence then trust me, iPhone is all mouth and no trousers as we say here.   It's incredible to me that people put up with apps crashing or just not delivering and a signal that is so poor that the mobile internet is almost unusebale but still stick with their phone because they think they would lose something by changing.

On the subject of things that should be brilliant but aren't:

I gave up the jeep last year in favour of a Mitsubishi Lancer.  Now I really have gone for something that is all mouth and no trousers.  The lancer looks like an evo sports racer but is actually just a reliable family car.  Is it reliable?  Yes.  Can it go fast on demand?  Yes.  Is it a sports car?  Probaly not.  You can get a fair kick out of it though.

So why get rid of the jeep?

The Jeep in question was a patriot.  Look for a forum on wranglers and you'll find a million satisfied customers telling what new and unusual thing they've done or what customisation they are saving for.  Look at the grand cherokee and you'll see stories of how they can move mountains.  Look at the patriot and you'll see complaints about water penetration from about six points, ball joints failing almost annualy and a variety of electrical faults (probably partly due to the water penetration).  Add that to oxidising alloys and poor break/tyre longevity and it's a pretty sorry story.  Jeep have decided to discontinue the range but still deny all the above faults and are selling off their reserve stock.

I wanted to love that car.  I did love that car.  When working it was faster than expected, more comfortable than expected and you could just about move a house with it.  It had great road presence, fantastic creature comforts and no little amount of power.  Strange then that I would actually consider it my duty as a friend to prevent anyone buying one.

The mistubishi is slightly less luxurious but just as fast and twenty to thiry times more reliable.  I just don't love it as much.  In fairness though I leave the house each morning expecting that it will work and have yet to be let down.

Saving money is still happening big time.  The biggest change has been that I'm getting clever at the home brewing and that that now accounts for about 95% of my alcohol consumption.  On the downside I'm now having to cut back a bit because I'm never short of drink and I don't need much excuse to drink it.

Sorry it's a short update after such a long time but I promise I'll be back with avengance soon.  I'm just waiting till the end of August and the the darker nights.  In the meantime, if you're wondering about phones cars or fages (that's cigarettes to our american friends) post a question or stay tuned.

T