The Tank Chronicles Chapter 2

When the aircon doesn't blow but isn't broken. When the wipers don't wipe but aren't broken. When the horn doesn't toot, but isn't broken.

By the time Pian the mechanic had finished with the car it was evening. Mei had asked if I’d drive straight up and I said I wouldn’t drive long distance at night with an old car I’d just bought. The last thing I wanted was to have to fix something on an unfamiliar car by the roadside late at night.

When I first saw The Tank, everything major worked - aircon, lights, wipers. When I saw the car for the second time, the horn didn’t work and neither did the aircon blower. Pian spent so much time attending to the other things he ran out of time to look at these two items. He did manage to ascertain the windscreen washer pumps were no longer working though.

I’d checked the lights and they generally worked fine. The right brake light would also screw up the right indicator circuit causing that to flash faster. It could be that the circuit was shorting and an indicator bulb could not work when the brakes were pressed, causing the faster flashing. There was also some issue with the right rear reverse lamp so obviously the wiring to the right rear lamp cluster needed some attention.

The aircon blower issue was a strange one - when the aircon switch was clicked on, you could feel a trace of cold air coming through the vents. When the blower knob was turned to any of the speeds though, this feeble draught of air would immediately cease. The compressor would still be running, but no air at all flowed from the vents.

The aircon switch and the blower knob below it.

I figured I’d get the aircon guy next door to Soon Loong to have a look when I got new tyres put in the next day. Then as I started up the car to leave Pian’s, the blower suddenly worked! I figured it was a wiring issue and decided to take the car and solve this later.

So off I drove through KL traffic for the first time, making it without any drama or fuss to my hotel, then to Soon Loong the next morning. The aircon worked all this time, but when I restarted the car at Soon Loong, it didn’t work again. Same symptoms. I asked the aircon guys but they said they needed 4 hours and I decided a trickle of cold air would be enough for me - or hopefully the gremlin would disappear like it did before, so off I headed for Penang.

"Old cars have no window tinting... I was soon sweaty, sticky and sleepy."

Old cars have no window tinting. I discovered that this, combined with just a feeble wisp of cold air, is not the ideal condition to be travelling through the afternoon with. Within 60 or so kms, I was sweaty, sticky and sleepy. I stopped to wash my face and have a short nap. All this while I wondered about the problem. The blower had previously come to life when I had restarted the car with the aircon switch on. Perhaps that was the answer? Maybe the electrical demand from the clutch on the compressor sent a surge of electricity through old relays and circuits and kicked the blower into life? I’d worked out it wasn’t a case of reversed contacts as that way the blower might simply suck rather than blow. The fuses were all good too.

With some hope in my stomach then, my sweaty hand turned the key and the engine started instantly… I put my right hand to the vents and nervously turned the blower knob with my left… Nothing! Darn, I was convinced it might work. I switched the engine off and tried again. Still nothing… OK hot and sweaty it was going to be then.

Another 60km and I really was suffering. At one point I switched the aircon off, put the windows down, put a cap on my head to stop my hair flying all over the place and drove that way, like it was normal to do in the early 80s when this car first came out. Global warming and deforestation meant that the ambient temperature was a little bit higher than it used to be in the 80s though but I thought I could survive the next 300kms or so.

Then it rained.

Windows up, lights on, wipers on. Errr…wipers on. Please. Damn! They didn’t work! Flicking the stalk about made no difference. I was sure they worked before because Pian was testing them. Hmmm was this how it was going to be with The Tank, then?

Jiggling the wiper stalk about didn't help when the wipers didn't wipe.

Fortunately the screen is more upright than in modern cars and at the speed I was travelling at, and the relatively light rain, I could still see as most of the rain simply blew off the screen. And so I carried on for some time. After a while the rain stopped and the heat returned. I stopped at the Sg Perak rest halt to get a drink and also to try the start cycle again. A few goes at the ignition and no difference. Hmmm...

Once more on the road and I was making rapid progress, The Tank running at 115-120 km/h quite happily - though my GPS showed the true speed to be about 8% less than that. I was surviving with the trickle of cold air, the weather having cooled a little. Then at one point, I suddenly felt a gust of air form the vents. The blower had started working again! I had no idea why but I sure wasn’t going to stop and risk losing it again. So in high spirits I continued on my way.

Then it rained again. heavier than before. I knew if it got too much I’d have to pull over so with dread in my heart I pulled the wiper stalk down pessimistically. They worked!!! Aircon working! Wipers working! What was going on?

No more drama all the way to Penang and my new home in Relau.

The next morning the blower was not working again, and neither were the wipers (they must be linked!) but I made it without discomfort to Georgetown and created a stir at Ah Beng Motor Services, the Volvo specialists at Lorong Macalister. Ah Guan - my usual go-to guy - and his brother plus a couple of the other mechanics gathered around The Tank appreciatively. Guan’s brother (whose name I don’t know) sat in the driver’s seat giving The Tank a look over. I mentioned the car was in good shape but needed some small things sorted out, and mentioned the aircon blower, the wipers and the horn. He started the car up, then switched on the aircon and blower and lo and behold! It all worked. And the wipers too!

He explained the problem: “Ignition switch”.

Ignition switches have a number of positions - locked, 1 (when the steering is unlocked), 2 (when many electrical circuits come online) and the spring-back 3 (starter cranks). When you turn from 2 to 3, the circuits momentarily cut out so power can go to the starter motor. It seems this old thing, having seen many miles, would not spring back to 2 too well so some circuits - no prizes for guessing which ones - would not reconnect.

The guys here really know their Volvos. You don't see any in the picture but step inside and you'll see 850s, V70s , S70s, even a couple of 122s sometimes. The Tank was the only 240 (well, OK a 245) around and attracted some attention.

The Tank filling up a lot outside Pedal Inn.

The cure? I could replace the switch barrel for around RM300-400, or I could live with it by making sure the switch went back fully to 2 each time I started.

I chose the second option happily - I was going to spend some money doing some important things and felt this key thing was an inconvenience but not much more than that.

So there we were, The Tank and I settling into Penang life. Aircon working. Wipers working. Oh, and horn too as they were all linked.

Next chapter: I’ll write about not being blinded by the light.

The Tank Chronicles Chapter 1

Would you buy a car that reminds you of this?
(July 5, 2009 - Source: Hamish Blair/Getty Images Europe)

French cars: they’re meant to be stylish, temperamental, loaded with personality and - dare I say it? - je ne sais qoui, aren’t they? You kind of expect a french car to give you wow and worry in equal measure.

The Swedes, on the other hand have  a coolness about them, a calm, even temperament. Less overt but steady and reliable. And even if a Swedish car were to expire after many years of trustworthy service, you’d expect her to do so quietly, with dignity and with little fuss.

I guess if I were to use Tennis as an example, I would think of a French Car as Henri Leconte - talented, unpredictable, occasionally making you laugh. And the Swedes, well take your pick from Bjorn Borg, Stefan Edberg, Mats Wilander…generally steady and unflappable chaps who do very well and who rarely let you down.

So, when I was contemplating a replacement for the Honda Airwave I’d run happily for 8 years, I narrowed the list down to two estate candidates - a Nissan AD Resort and a Citroen ZX Wagon. The former would be no-frills, plasticky but generally easy to fix. The latter would be a little more striking and recognisable, and being the less complex model in Citroen’s lineup, probably easy to maintain too.

I trawled through Mudah.my and sought opinions on the Citroen and generally had my mind set on the French car. I even viewed one which looked good on the screen but turned out to need far too much work in real life. Peeling paint, torn interior, mechanical issues… I walked away. The price was good so I became quite confident I could find something I liked under RM10,000.

Visits to used car dealers didn’t yield much - an AD Resort that refused to start, and a ZX that looked good but needed minor work. I quite liked the latter and asked a mechanic contact to view the car and assess it so I could make an offer but 3 days of stormy weather were his excuse for not going so I never managed to get back to the dealer on that. Then one day in Selayang, I met a dealer who drove up in an old Volvo 240 GL. It looked good propped up high on large 18” wheels. The paint was rather distressed (which we thought was intentional) but the interior looked fine and the engine sounded smooth. It was his personal car and we chatted for almost an hour about cars. He showed me a couple of pictures of AD Resorts that had been done up - 300hp in a 25-year old Japanese tinbox? OK that one had Wow! - but were out of my budget.

I won't show pictures of the engine and interior, but must admit the owner had done a marvellous job with this car.  This particular one had no price but the one below was looking for a new owner at about RM14k.

Adry was enthusiastic though and over the next two days he continued to send me pictures of AD Resorts in varying states of repair. We narrowed the possibilities down to 2 models and I made arrangements to have a look at them.

In the meantime, I came across a ZX that looked beautiful on screen. A shiny blue (Subaru blue lah, not Barisan Nasional blue, as the owner eventually told me), it looked the part at just over RM10,000. I made an appointment to view the car.

About the same time, Adry sent me a picture that was to change my whole direction - an old Volvo 245 Wagon. A car that was pushing 30 years old - a good 12 more than the blue ZX - but which looked in good nick. So suddenly, I had a whole new option - the first Swedish car I’d ever considered owning.

The more I thought of the Swede the more I liked it. The car would not just be conveyance, it would also be the platform to advertise the new ‘thing’ we’d be doing in Balik Pulau in Penang and I figured the Volvo would have the recall factor and visibility.

I eventually did get to see and test-drive both cars. The ZX was really pay-and-drive as it needed no work whatsoever. It was a truly beautiful and beautifully kept example of the ZX. The owner was even going to change the front suspension bushes as he didn’t like the ride. The Volvo, on the other hand, had rough edges which needed work. Quite a bit of small and minor things - missing wipers, an aircon fan switch that didn’t work, a speedo that also didn’t operate, and so on.

This picture from Mudah really was how the car turned out to when I eventually saw it, as my pictures below show.

This was perhaps the most difficult decision I had to make and I agonised over it for a few days. I gave myself a final deadline, had two looks at each car, even went to the extent of measuring the boot floor-to-ceiling height to see if my bikes would fit inside.

The photo that started it all. Though this wasn't the actual car that became The Tank. This was an even older unit which was in very bad shape though the pictures didn't show it. I did like the rims in the picture but am very happy with the ones on The Tank.

The Tank on the morning I paid for her.

The comparison list was long but it ultimately could be summarised, most amazingly, thus:

“The French car would be the rational choice and the Swede would be the emotive one.”

Besides the image of the Volvo, I was also more confident she would get the right sort of attention because the workshop just across the road from Pedal Inn was a Volvo specialist. I’d sent my Honda there for some attention and they had done a decent job so I was not concerned about maintenance.

So, after not-sleeping on it (I really did spend a restless night or two) I finally opted for the Volvo. When I picked her up I found that none of the work had been done so we spent an afternoon at a workshop getting some things sorted out.

The next day I put new shoes on the old girl which I was now affectionately calling The Tank. Although the tyres on her still had ample tread, I always change the tyres on cars I buy as they’re the only contact patch with the road and you never know what damage may have been inflicted on them by the previous owner - kerbed wheels can be damaged internally and could blow out at speed.

Pian the mechanic at Gombak who fixed up a few things and did a wonderful job. Warm and kind-hearted bloke to boot. Let me know if you'd like to send your car to him in Gombak.

The guys at Soon Loong along Jalan Penchala in Petaling Jaya put new shoes on The Tank. They do a great job at a great price. 

So here I am now, the owner of a Swedish car for the first time in my life. Read more about her in the next few chapters. I’ll talk about the fan switch that didn’t work but wasn’t broken, the wipers that didn’t work but weren’t broken and the horn that didn’t work but wasn’t broken…

The Northern Chronicles Chapter 1

The view from my new place.

Mei and I had been thinking we’d retire somewhere in Malaysia. Despite 25 years away, it’s home for me of course, and it’s not far from Mei’s ‘home’. Factor in all the other reasons - food, relative affordability, nice people… and even when you balance that out against a political climate that isn’t very encouraging, crime that is prevalent, public transport that is non-existent and so on, you still get a pretty good argument for a retirement in Malaysia.

Our plans were also to set up some sort of Eco-friendly B&B so Malaysia was an obvious choice. We’d looked initially at Ipoh and had even made a couple of trips up to look at property there but eventually set our sights elsewhere. Yes, Ipoh is a lovely place, and yes, it’s Cantonese, and yes, the food is fantastic, but it’s just a little too old, tired, and perhaps even faded. More importantly it was no longer on a busy tourist trail and if we wanted a sustainable retirement business, Ipoh, despite its attractions, could not quite make it.

Melaka was our next choice. It was, after all, one of my favourite cities in Malaysia. Turns out ‘was’ became the operative word. IN recent years, I reckon Melaka has somewhat lost its charm. Development that has ignored the historical heritage and natural attractions has become a turn off. Land reclamation, for example, has destroyed some of the seaside eateries’ attractions. The Portuguese Settlement has been affected too, and has also suffered from a lack of proper guided support. It seems to me that in trying to provide a little to everyone, Melaka is simply failing to provide an excellent experience for any one.

Then it came time to smile… My Senyum Sajalah exhibition in Penang at the end of 2013 gave me my first extended experience of Penang. I spent over 10% of 2013 in Penang, researching, chronicling and eventually exhibiting. It was a wonderful time and I made new friends whom I know I will have around me for many years to come. 

“It seems that when you’re on the right path, the Universe conspires to help you on the way”

I remember telling Mei one day that we could forget Ipoh, Melaka and even Johor. Penang was the place for us. She came up for the exhibition and spent some time with me and agreed. And so we took the first steps towards settling up North.

Among these were exploring some business opportunities. It was at this time that I discovered things in Penang move a little slower than I am used to. Our negotiations for some business premises began in January and it wasn’t until June that that our plans had to change because the location became unsuitable for a variety of reasons. We quickly found another and finally signed the lease a few weeks ago.

It seems that when you’re on the right path, the Universe conspires to help you on the way. My friend Newton had accepted a job overseas and left a few weeks before my arrival in Penang. He generously let me stay in his apartment. I also had to sell my Singapore-registered Honda Airwave as it didn’t make sense to keep it here. You can read about the wheels elsewhere on this blog. She’s a 30-year old Volvo 240GL Wagon. I’ve affectionately dubbed her The Tank.

So here I am now, making my first steps towards settling in Penang. I’m slowly prising open this oyster and discovering the pearl within. The first steps have been good and when I turn back and look at the footprints I’m planting here, I feel very happy and proud.

Farewell dinner with my old yoga mates.

We had a great farewell dinner at New Ubin Seafood in Singapore.

My son, Mark (on far right) joined us for dinner.

Just one of the many loads I took up in my trusty Honda Airwave.

Your personality is not you.

A quick thought for the weekend:

Don’t be attached to your personality for it is probably not the real you.

We construct images of ourselves which we put up for others to see and experience. These constructs are often not the real ‘us’. Few ever truly put themselves up, wholly and completely.

As an extension, don’t be attached to constructs other people put up as themselves either.

Linked Up Follow Up

I hit submit on the last post, then checked my email and this link came up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbz2boNSeL0

No coincidences. 

Thought of the Day: Linked Up

I don’t believe in coincidence. Nothing happens by chance. If you look back at key moments in your life and think ‘Wow! I’m so glad this person appeared just then’, well just accept that that person was meant to be there. And if he hadn’t appeared, someone else would have, to give you the same opportunities you were always meant to have.

Many people have proven pivotal for me in these last few years. Right now as I type this, I am sitting in my new home in Penang. I moved here just a few weeks ago and this really isn’t my home as such: it belongs to a friend who has gone overseas for work and rather than let the place sit empty, he’s let me live in it.

I can also easily trace back the string of events and the people associated with them, that has led me here. So let’s work backwards.

This place belongs to Newton whom I met when he was a partner at Pedal Inn in Georgetown and I stayed there for a few weeks while doing my Senyum Sajalah Exhibition. I did Senyum Sajalah because my friend Clifford was involved with the Camera Museum where it was held and he extended the invite to me. Clifford thought of me because I had taken some pictures of him and his wife. I was doing photography because of an idea my ex-client Louise Tan had planted in me while I was wandering around between focussed careers. She asked me to take pictures of her PR clients, I did and the idea of a company to do photography was born. That company is Chronicle People of which my friend Johann Annuar and I are partners. I met Johann because I needed advice on cycling through Malaysia and sought out my friend Joe Nathan who introduced us. The idea to cycle through Malaysia was because of Bill McDannell who walked across the US to petition against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The ride was made possible because my friend Johari Low started the wheel turning by saying he’d support me and because my ex-colleague Andrew Wilson asked a very important question of me “In 5 years, would I be happy I’d done the ride, or regret not having done it?”. I was even cycling again because of my wife who reintroduced me to cycling after many years away from a bike.

Each one of those links is no different from the links on a bicycle chain - if any one had broken, the entire sequence would have been altered.

"...ask yourself what each person means to you and how each person in your life makes your life different."

The thing is though, if any one link had broken, I do believe that some one else would have stepped in to bridge the gap.

If Louise had not asked me to shoot her clients, someone else may have asked me to shoot his family.

If Bill McDannell had not walked across the US, I might instead have read about Rory Stewart walking across Afghanistan.

And so on…

I believe that every single person in my life is there for a reason. And I believe it is the same for you too. It may sound predatory, selfish or self-centred but it really isn’t: so ask yourself what each person means to you and how each person in your life makes your life different.

Then ask yourself what you may mean to each person in your life and how you make that person’s life different. For of course, you are placed in that person’s life for a reason too.

The First Words in Two and a Half Years

Not a word written here in two and a half years. Well, time to do something about it.
In the last two years I’ve actually done quite a bit including focussing more on photography (pun very much intended), having my first exhibition of my photography work (a solo exhibition in Penang called Senyum Sajalah), making lots of new Penang friends and falling in love with Penang in the process, and most importantly, finally actually relocating to Penang to set something new and wonderful up.
I’ve written about Senyum Sajalah elsewhere and it was featured in The Star and on even mentioned on radio, but if you haven’t read about it, then please go to SenyumSajalah.tumblr.com. I’ve recently been encouraged to finally get up and do some of the follow ups I’ve been promising including the book version and I’m slowly stirring and moving in that direction. You’ll be able to find out more on that site.

In the meantime, I have moved to Penang and currently reside in the flat that belongs to a friend of mine - a new friend who has shown me amazing generosity and kindness. I’m slowly making this place a home and though Mei is not yet here with me, I’m too busy settling in to stop and think about it for too long. Before she comes out this way, there’s budget air travel anyway, and whatsapp and whatnot to help us keep in touch.
One of the things I’ve had to do is to pass my Honda Airwave which I have grown to like very much on to a dealer to sell on. If you’re looking for a very versatile car that has served me well for 8 years,give me a shout.
In her place comes The Tank, a classic 1985 Volvo 240 GL Wagon. She’s quite a comfy thing that is a little rough around the edges, but she brought me the 400 km to Penang from KL where I’d picked her up, without much fuss. She’s getting loving attention from me and the guys at the workshop in Lorong Macalister in Georgetown. They;re Volvo specialists and when I drove her in they all came out excitedly. She’s going to get some care I tell you…
She’s also going to get some coverage as I decided to share some of the experiences of owning and running this 30-year old Swede in The Tank Chronicles. Right here on this blog and on Facebook. Stay tuned…

I will also share a heap of other things that are happening right now, as well as the odd thought that flickers across my consciousness or my soul.
So all in all, expect this blog to get revived and for the light to shine a little brighter now.