Comments

Failed by a hair — 16 Comments

  1. Now that you have cleaned it, why don't you put a blanket or sheet on the rear seat and the rear of the car?     Just before the test – remove blanket and 'all systems go'.

     

    No sense, you youngsters !

     

    (I did this with one of my children who seemed to puke at inopportune moments.   Worked fine.)

    • You underestimate both me and the dog.  Me, because I did indeed cover the entire back of the car with rugs after the last car test/clean, and the dog because she had still managed to cover the entire back of the car with fur even under the rug.  I haven't a clue how she did it.  It's quite clever when you think about it?

  2. I apologise in advance as this has nothing whatsoever to do with today's blog but I have just seen this on BBC news on the internet and think it is too important to miss, it concerns the four British women who have just finished rowing across the Pacific Ocean. The headline reads "Pacific Ocean Rowers, No cox crew reaches Australia"  That would be appropriate either way the fifth word is spelled.

    • Heh!  Someone with a sense of humour at work there?  I gather they call themselves The Coxless Crew?

  3. I'd be tempted to remove the seats altogether and put a folding lawn chair in for the driver position, with seat belts of course. 

    A friend of mine had a YUGO that was failing the smog check in Florida. It turned out it had a dropped exhaust valve and the piston was pushing the raw air fuel mixture out of the tailpipe. The garage want a thousand dollars to rebuild the head and replace the valve. He removed intake valve and hammered a wine cork in the valve seat. It passed the smog test and he drove it like that for 2 more years. 

    • Brilliant!  Why can't they make cars like that these days? 

      When they first introduced the test in Ireland I brought mine in.  Bloke came out with a glum face to inform me I had failed because of a duff headlight.  I gave the front wing a kick, the lamp lit and he cheerfully passed the car as fit and worthy. 

      These days they're all Jobsworths.

    • And they claim it's not a money making scam?  I trust you threw a can of Fanta at the tester?

  4. Dear Grandad

    Just a thought – a set of car seat covers which you put on for the test, then pack away from the dog 'til next year.

    I look after peoples' homes and animals while they are on holiday (I get paid holidays with dogs, AGAs and other animals thrown in for free). All my charges get to visit my other charges, so my car seats are covered in every flavour dog hair and interesting muds, and are unfit for human habitation. My car gets cleaned once a year for its MOT, but you know how dog hairs stick.

    If they tried to fail on dog hairs, I'd ask to see the relevant legislation, check with the 'authorities', lodge a complaint, write to the papers, post on Facebook and take my custom elsewhere.

    However, none of the garages I've taken my cars to be MOTed have ever even hinted at such nonsense.

    Somehow it's the sort of thing I'd expect in Ireland.

    DP

    • A precondition is that the vehicle is "reasonably clean (especially the under body)".   The interpretation of "reasonably" seems to be at the discretion of the tester.  Some testers don't give a shite while others are right fucking Hitlers.  As for taking my custom elsewhere – they have that neatly sewn up.  The car has to be tested at one of their centres and there aren't that many of them, so it involves a long drive and invariably a long wait in the queue.

  5. "Cleaning a dog-car means back breaking scraping of seats with combs, brushes, vacuum cleaner, more brushes, more combs and still there is a thick layer of hair everywhere"

    Probably a stupid question GD, but have you thought about using one of those sticky lint rollers?

     

  6. Is there any rule about a dog being in the car whilst the test actually takes place? I have this vision of Penny / Jobsworth eye contact, a glint of a fang, and the woof equivalent of 'Do you feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?'

    🙂

    • There probably is.  Leastwise there is a rule about nearly everything else. I did think about bringing Penny but had other things to do after so I left her at home [she has only just forgiven me].  I wouldn't fancy blood all over the inside of the car anyway.

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