So i got up early today and ventured into Calgary (2 hours by bus...)
The aim of going there was to look at some potential cars for my to purchase.
Man, did i underestimate how widely spread calgary is! Arrive at the airport at 10:45am then get a bus ($2.75 ticket) over to the North East side. Bout 15-20mins...
Looked at a VW golf whos starter motor died just the night before. stuffed around and Clutch started it to see how it went anyway. 95 model, drove fairly nice, was asking $1400 and i could get it for $900 but too much hassle with the starter motor...
On to the next one, Find my way to a bus stop and the general direction of where i need to be (south east now), Got on the bus to find i only had a note and they dont give change... Bit of confusion with the bus driver and he eventually just said "just sit down, its ok" so free bus ride woo!
Got to my next destination around 12:30pm, looking at a mazda 323. 94 model, 224k on it, winter tires, apparently in good condition.
Drove alright, decent condition, bit of an oil leak and then a big rust patch just behind the driver side door... sketchy so left it, and he was after $1000, too much for what it was...
Start walking down the street towards the south west. try to get onto a guy with a 98 civic but he went MIA so i couldnt go look at that.
Spoke to the other guy i had lined up to look at a 323 and he was working till 3:30.
So started walking towards his work (about 17km...) walking down a street and i decide to have a go at hitch hiking... First time i have done this btw.
Walking along the side of the street and a number of cars go by. some giving me a strange look, others just not caring.
Have walked about 3km down this road by now and still have my happy cheer on and positive thinking that someone will be kind and save me from a 2 hour walk and/or getting lost. a guy turns around and asks me if im alright and if i need a lift.
"sure" i say with a smile on my face and go around to get in.
"Brad" was his name and he was a nice guy. said that he picked me up cause if he was walking along trying to get a lift he would like someone to do that... good man!
Told him what i was doing and he actually said there is a place that usually has some cheap cars for sale, (this was in the opposite direction to where he and i was going) and he offered to go check it out quickly.
So went and looked, not really anything good so back towards my destination.
Talking to him more and it turns out he is a cop, he manages something there and was telling me how much damage (like public and traffic etc) the police force causes there and said it was in the millions a month lol.
But really nice guy and he even bought me a coffee!
Brad said being a cop here for a while you get to know the people who walk to work or go running or what not, then there was me and i just stood right out, so he thought he would see if i was fine.
Haha, im glad i stood out!
So turned out the place i was getting to was a bit further than i realised, he ended up giving me a lift all the way there. Was awesome, i couldnt thank him enough!
He was telling me they always screw around with people in the patrol car, like he would do 70 on the highway just to see if other people do too. or if someone is getting close he flicks the lights on and scares the crap out of them.
Had a good laugh..
So after the guy (roland) finished work, i grabbed a lift with him to his house to have a look at the Mazda 323 (93 model)
This one was quite well looked after, timing belt done recently, power windows, power mirrors, clutch recently replaced.
He was after $950 FIRM.
On the drive over (that took about 35mins lol, shit it was spread out) we got talking about cars and motorbikes and other things and whatnot.
Got to his house and he showed me a scale model dune buggy kinda thing. big petrol powered RC car with decent suspension on it. Was pretty cool.
Then went to check out the car.
Took it for a drove and all seemed to be well, offered him $900 and he said "yea ok, it will help you out" and he was so awesome.
He ended up setting up with someone he know for the insurance inspection (need to get a mechanical inspection for insurance on cars older than 12 years), and got me a discount on it.
And waited around for me, and while there i was trying to organise insurance so i could rego it (by now its like 5:40pm, so getting a bit concerned and contemplating that i might have to drive it back to Banff without it being rego'd)
Then end up finding an insurance company that is still open, Spoke to a friendly Laura who had a chat with me and ended up sorting stuff out. The mechanic let me use the fax so i could get stuff to them and back.
After all was done and i got the insurance papers (its now 6:10) and ive kept the mechanics past their closing time (Thanks Eugene) but they were happy to be helping me out so that was pretty cool. They even recommended a registry to goto that was open till 8 and the people were friendly.
Roland now offers to take me there so i can find the way (mind you my phone battery just died and i was going to be lost in the middle of this big wide spread city lol)
So i follow him there and get registration done (only $40 till the end of march! :o that was pretty good)
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Roland even put the new plate on for me. - what a champ.
So i followed him on the way out of town and saw the COP (Calgary Olympic Park) which is this awesome snow slope, just out of the town. looked pretty sick, he was going to have a board. no pics at this time cause my phone was dead :(
Told him we definately need to go for a snowboard sometime, so will meet up with him again.
Really amazed at how amazingly helpful some people are and how far they went out of their way. Im sure i took him away from some things that he was going to be doing, or getting to the snow sooner.
So, today i learnt that you dont need boobs to have people be generous and help you out willingly (sometimes anyway :P)
I will put some pics of my new car up tomorrow when its light and i can get some photos :)
Tomorrow... now that i have transport AND my season ticket... I think i might go for a SNOWBOARD!!! :D
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