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2 0 1 5
2 0 1 4
2 0 1 3
2 0 1 2
2 0 1 1
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H e l g e a b o u t t h i s a n d t h a t . . .
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December 31, 2011
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WARM THOUGHTS
The temperature this morning was minus eight (Celsius), and the engine heater is defective.
Therefore I placed a plastic bag with boiling water in the engine bay for a while before I started the car.
I didn't think it would be any help at all, but I felt sorry for the engine.
H a p p y N e w Y e a r !
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December 24, 2011
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LONG NOSE
We are expecting guests this evening, so I had to put my CX in the carport so they could park their cars in front of our house.
One shall of course be nice to guests!
Or more correctly: I tried to get the car in.
Why can't these carpenters make carports that fits normal 5 meter long cars?
M e r r y C h r i s t m a s !
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November 12, 2011
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Here is a sad CX that has not been used for many, many weeks...
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November 11, 2011
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BICYCLE FUN
I still use my bicycle to work, because the engine heater on the CX has stopped working, and it seems
to be impossible to get a replacement. Maybe I should try one to fit on one of the hoses between
engine and radiator?
I normally use the road also where there are walkways, apparently to many motorists major irritation.
Strange; when I drive my car it is I who irritates me over the other motorists,
but when I ride my bicycle it is they that are irritated with me!
But going home last night I found out that I would try this walkway.
After a while I got behind a man who walked with a dog on a leash.
He was walking in the middle of the road with the dog on his left side.
I passed him carefully on his right side, and was just then observing in the corner of my eye the dog running behind his owner and after me,
so that the bewildered guy was twisted around like a corkscrew. Fun!
From now on I will ride my bicycle on the walkway every day.
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October 29, 2011
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ABUSE
—In the Norwegian newspaper "Aftenposten" we can read:
—45 of 48 rape suspects of foreign origin
—Imagine if we could make a bunch of lady robots that could walk the streets at night?
With a powerful mouse trap mounted inside at a special place.
—The robot had to be heavy, at least 150 kg, so that the perpetrator would not be able
to carry it with him. After the mouse trap snapped the robot should start playing
Vikingarna
non-stop for 24 hours. Then the mouse trap could open up again.
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October 26, 2011
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JENSN & NABOEN
Tried for some years ago to make a small cartoon...
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October 1, 2011
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LOST SCENES
Much good can be said about driving the CX, but as with all cars: If you suddenly see a great photo scene there can be problems.
Because you cannot stop anywhere. A lot of great pictures have been lost over the years because of this.
With the
bike on the other hand, you can rip up the camera almost anywhere and catch the scene before
it disappears. Such as this morning. I stopped on the middle of the Loftesnes Bridge and caught
this
scene at just the right moment. It is especially when there is fog that the scene can change quickly.
Here
is another picture I took some time ago. But then I had the CX.
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September 30, 2011
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ROLL MODELS?
I read in a web newspaper
today about security guards patrolling in Oslo
to get rid of drug sellers and making the streets safer. A good thing, that.
But one of them was using drugs himself
(snuff), and one of them (the same?) was walking in the middle of a
bicycle lane.
Hmm...
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September 26, 2011
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DIRTY WATER
When one starts to ride the bicycle in the spring, one is usually chock full of good intentions,
one stays close to the roadside, stops often and let the traffic pass by, use the walkway
(do not know if that's so good, by the way), and in short try to be a perfect cyclist, polite and smiling.
But then one experiences again and again to almost be forced into the ditch by rude motorists,
and also violent use of the horn, and even shouting through open car windows,
and then proceeds gradually to become what motorists probably feels like a monster cyclist.
And — it is they who have created the "monster"!
One begins to use more of the road to avoid being overtaken at the very tightest of places,
and to have some more to go on when one is overtaken with minimal clearance, and don't bother so much with helping the rest of the traffic.
Because one does not have anything to show for it. (Well now, I am
fully aware that not all those motorists who show idiotic driving can help it, they're
just so incredibly dumb in it their heads, poor ones, that I guess we should rather be sorry for
them.)
This morning it was raining somewhat horrible when I got up, so I put on my "extreme" rain
clothes (pants and jacket designed for extreme weather in the high mountains). But when I started to ride
it had of course stopped raining (annoying).
But when I came to Kjørnes, there was a mega jerk in a red truck that crashed through a huge mud puddle and
sent a shower of shit water right in my face! You probably experience it yourself sometimes when you drive a car,
you get half a lake right onto the windshield with a bang, so you do not see anything before you in panic
have the windscreen wiper started. Imagine then to get this right in
your face when you come rolling in 30-40 km/h in the semi-darkness.
Well — if nothing else, I certainly needed the rain clothes.
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September 22, 2011
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THE DARK ONE
I use my bicycle to work at the moment, as the CX isn't completely healthy.
It is revving up the engine on its own, has apparently got a drug problem ... is getting
high.
It was still a bit dark this morning, but I was clearly visible, with powerful lights front and rear,
and red rain pants and yellow cycling jacket.
On the long straight stretch here at Kaupangerskogen, I suddenly discovered a cyclist coming against me,
and I almost jumped, for he appeared like a ghost. He was wearing dark clothes, had not a single light on his bike,
and after what I could see no reflectors either.
And the driver of the car that came behind me right at that moment probably didn't seen him either, because he let himself
completely into the oncoming lane when he drove by. He must have passed the dark-clothed with no
more than millimeters.
So — if there had been an accident here I guess it would have been me who had been blamed,
because I was too visible...
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September 10, 2011
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JERK
Do you go out in the dark in traffic WITHOUT reflective bands? Are you a JERK?
No – no, of course not. You always keep two reflective bands in the outer jackets the entire year
and always put them on when you are outside in darkness and gloom.
And if you are together with a non-reflective friend, you can lend him one. (Then you will appear as the wise and farsighted;)
Likewise do you also have all the necessary lights and reflectors on your bike,
and all the lights on your CX are in order?
When you're driving in the dark, and you see a pedestrian coming at you at the roadside WITH reflective bands,
you of cause dim your lights. If you on the other hand meet a JERK, you may well
wait a bit with dimming; perhaps he then realizes that he is difficult to see.
Maybe. In any case: Watch the roadside carefully, especially when you get cars towards you, because it can then be incredibly difficult
to spot one or more people walking there without reflective bands. We had an accident here at Kaupanger a couple of years ago:
Long straight stretch, pitch dark, two cars approaching each other, and a pedestrian who was walking at the roadside thinking
he had be seen. But the driver who hit him, did not see him at all. Noticed only a thump in the car.
But do not automatically think that the driver sees you just because you have reflective bands on you;
maybe it is a MEGAJERK who is sitting there sending text messages when he should instead be keeping his eyes on the road...
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September 3, 2011
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HELVETESFOSSEN
Quite a few years ago we had a gas station of the good old type, with a garage and everything you needed for your car.
The managers last name was Fossen, which means waterfall.
Not too far from the petrol station, in Årøy, we have a waterfall called Helvetesfossen (The Hell Waterfall).
It is said to be named so because
the people of Sogndal once chased a bailiff into the river there; he died in the waterfall.
And then one day a Danish tourist came into the station, he turned to
one who worked there and asked: "Where is Helvetesfossen?"
He who was asked was probably used to a bit of each of conflicts when it came to cars and repairs and so on,
for he answered without hesitation: "He sits in his office."
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August 29, 2011
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A SLOW ONE
Driving home this evening I ended up behind a long row of cars, and soon I got cars behind me too.
Okay, I thought, yet another foreign tourist.
When we came to the long straight stretch at Kaupangerskogen the line continued in just about 60 km/h.
The vast majority are here driving in 80-90, and are also
quick to overtake. But not today. The white car in front continued its slow process, with the others trotting after.
You have now obviously understood it: It was not a foreigner, but a Norwegian uniformed police car.
He turned off the main road down to Kaupangsenteret, driving slower and slower, and through the roundabout he barely moved.
I was wondering if I should follow after the car and provide lifesaving first aid, both for driver and car, for
it seemed to be only a matter of time before both stopped permanently!
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August 27, 2011
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DARK HOURS
It begins to darken earlier in the evenings,
and this in combination with the rain that we seems to have gotten more or less permanently
this summer, means that now you must do the following: Clean the windshield properly on the inside. Check
that all light bulbs works. Insert a new wiper. Top up with a good windshield fluid.
Especially for those of us who are somewhat older than the car, it is important to have this checked.
Our night vision apparently is not as in our youth. So if you have headlights with the big metal reflectors and power
coupled through relays, and headlight wipers, you could put in rally light bulbs to compensate for your vision loss.
But this is not legal (at least not in Norway). Although the CX has automatic level control! This had hardly caused more glare than what
those !#%@#! xenon cars are causing. Or the Christmas tree lights (diode driving lights or whatever it is) that stings
your eyes even in good daylight! (If you look straight into them.)
Do at least put on extra lights with high beam, if you don't have already.
(That is hopefully legitimate.)
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August 16, 2011
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BLINKING
On the road driving home today I ended up behind a small Dutch car, a white Renault.
It drove neither fast or slow (fast, for a foreigner).
Suddenly it lit it up on the right side of the car, and a light began blinking.
I first did not understand what it was, but then suddenly I realised it: the directional lights!
This was long before the next exit, and I could therefore let go of the throttle and slowly create
more distance between us, for so to calmly speed up again after it had swung off the road.
Had the driver in front been Norwegian, I would have seen his stop lights long before
the directional lights, if they at all had been switched on!
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August 13, 2011
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BANGING FROM BEHIND
I have recently wondered what has been going on behind (on the CX).
It has made a loud bang when I have driven a little fast over speed bumps, and occasionally the
tailgate has been creaking somewhat terrible. I had started worrying that something around the suspension was going to peaces,
and a little rusty there is, but no worse than that it was approved at the EU control.
Now I found the problem.
The spline in one of the hinges on the tailgate was destroyed, so the hatch was hanging only in the
other (which probably is no better). Nice with simple problems!
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August 8, 2011
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EU TEST
At the EU test two years ago there were no faults.
Today there were three: Brake discs front, uneven braking front, uneven braking hand brakes (front again;).
Both had too low braking effect on the left side. Can the brake disc have gotten slippery somehow?
Suspected this, for when braking hard the right front wheel had a tendency to lock up.
And the discs are not below the minimum yet, but unevenly worn, so they have started getting somewhat thin on the inside.
OK faults: I would have had to replace the brake discs soon anyway, and
the re-test is free.
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August 7, 2011
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BIG SERVICE
Found out today that I had to tighten the hand brakes, so into the garage, up with the front
and start adjusting. On the left front wheel both the small bolts that shall keep the
brake disc in place are gone, so then I first had to find three wheel bolts for steel rims and put in so
that the brake disc was sitting properly in place during the operation.
This did not take very long, so maybe I should find something else to do also. So out with the car,
and back it in again onto two wheel ramps. They would not keep themselves in place, so I had to
find two boards that I put between the ramps and the wall. Worked fine. To be on the
safe side I also placed safety stands in tractor dimension under the rear jacking points.
(And as the CX started sinking at the front, it was eventually laying with the nose
into the gravel;) I crept under behind, and yes - there were things to do,
both holes in the exhaust system and plenty of rust.
And then I had a look into the engine bay. Out with the air filter and cleaned it the easy way (compressed air),
and replaced the diesel filter. The drainage hole was blocked as usual, so I opened it with compressed air.
Fffffflopp! it said. And when one first have ones head stuck down into the engine bay, one have to clean
a little. So when I finally was finished and went inside for dinner, it had become nine o'clock in the evening.
Why I have ravaged so on with the car today? Well — tomorrow morning the 8/8 at
8 o'clock, my CX is going to EU test to get it's fitness certificate ...
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August 6, 2011
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HITCHHIKERS AND CX-DOORS
Picked up a nice elderly couple from the Czech Republic today; they stood with their backpacks on the side of
the main road in Kaupanger. They had come by plane to Oslo, they said, and had hitchhiked all the way to Vestlandet (the West Coast of Norway).
I normally don't pick up hitchhikers, but these looked very trustworthy, and they stood right where I turn
onto the main road, so I had a very slow speed. (It's always easier not to stop
when you come in 80 km/h.)
What was funny was that when they should get into the car neither of them understood how to open the doors.
But they had no problems opening the doors when they should get out. Normally it is the opposite!
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August 5, 2011
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STARTUP AND NOISE
Came to think about this morning, that maybe I also sometimes is found to be a noisemaker by my neighbors.
I often go to bed early, because I get up early in the morning, and are therefore often disrupted by several neighbors that makes noise at all
conceivable and unthinkable ways. One night at about half past eleven was, for instance, both carpentry and use of a circular saw heard loud and clear, and when
I poked my head out the window I fond that the sounds came from two different houses! Not to speak of partying with shouting
and screaming to five-six o'clock in the morning sometimes (that house is luckily located some way down the street), loud talking,
and cars and mopeds. And barking dogs (must be the worst thing there is).
Today I got up before four o'clock, and therefore left our house extra early. I have a diesel-engine and the CX do use
some time to lift to the driving position. And it gets oil or LHM on the belt to the pump, so this
sometimes takes extra time. In addition, I have to gas up to about 2000 r/min before the alternator
starts charging. So neighbors with cars where it is only to turn around the key and drive away probably don't understand
what I am doing.
Have almost wondered if I should create a circular and put in all the mailboxes, where I explain the situation...
...or maybe I should start to park outside the house of the party happy neighbor,
then I would start up approximately half an hour after he has fallen asleep ...
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July 22, 2011
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FRONT WHEELS AND TERRIBLE SOUNDS
The rear tires had started getting quite worn-out, so today I got new ones. I got both them and the front tires
(which are quite good) moved over to the alloy rims that followed my previous CX.
I told them specifically that they should not put on balance weights on the inside of the rims,
and got back the wheels with balance weights on the inside of the rims.
Well - well, I will try anyway, I thought. Halfway to work, suddenly it started banging and scraping
somewhat terrible from the front wheels. I quickly pulled the handbrake lever halfway up,
and drove with it this way the rest of the trip.
After work, I removed the right front wheel (had thought that that was where the sounds came from),
but no, did not see any mark on the weight that was glued on there. So off with the left wheel,
and there there were no weights, but a severe scratch in the rim after the end of the hand brake cable.
So inside again finding extension cords and a power saw and starting to saw off the end of the hand brake cable. People peeping and staring,
and probably thinking it very strange that I was sawing in the cars vital parts.
(Maybe a long time since they themselves had done something similar;)
Well — it worked, no ugly noises after that, and the car feels nimble and frisky with the alloy rims.
(While I was lifting up the CX to the high position to get off the front wheels, my landlord was standing in
a loft window having a conversation with an acquaintance on the other side of the street.
But the diesel engine on the CX made such a high noise that he had to put the conversation
on hold.)
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January 16, 2011
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STUPID DRIVING
Had to make a trip to work today, even though it is Sunday. For instead of sleeping away the Sunday mornings
one can instead do something useful!
When I arrived at the roundabout in the town of Sogndal and would turn towards the lower part of town,
I saw a terrible snow edge. But someone had driven there before, although it seemed to have been a truck,
so I hoisted the CX' up to the top position and speeded on. And stopped abruptly
on top of the snow banks and was totally stuck. Could not move at all. Neither was it of any use to lower the CX'
down to the lowest position, and then up to the top again, either. It normally works fine otherwise.
Well, then it was time to take the feet in use and walk to work and pick up a shovel.
Albeit, I had one in the car, but it was a folding one, poorly suited to the task.
On the way over, I came past a house where there was a Citroën parked outside, and the owner was shoveling snow.
Got a loan of one of his shovels, returned to the stuck one and began to dig.
Left the engine running, for the CX' tends to sag down fairly quickly at the front end.
After a fifteen minute struggle, I finally had removed so much stone hard snow that I was expecting to get loose,
so I handed back the shovel with thank you for the loan, and roared away to work. Almost there the engine began to boil somewhat awful,
it was like running a steam locomotive. (I guess it was the CX's way to tell it had not liked
the stay in the roundabout.)
I had taken pictures, so I wrote a few lines and sent to the local newspaper,
and don't you think I ended up on the front page half an hour afterwards!
And soon my wife called, she had just gotten up and almost got her morning coffee in her windpipe
when she opened the newspaper on her computer.
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. . . m o s t l y a b o u t c a r s a n d d r i v i n g , b u t n o t a l w a y s . . .
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