Two things threw me off track.
First, I suffered through more than the usual period of jet lag. I was wide awake every night except for the last two. Sleep would come at almost exactly 6:30 every morning and I would awaken at about lunchtime. To entertain myself while everyone else was asleep, I would pore through all sorts of reading material and it being the US, catalogs comprised a huge portion of that. I saw what was on sale at which store and on what date. Under this kind of brainwashing, my disoriented mind easily concluded that resistance was futile.
Second was the fact there were actually a lot of good deals to be had. The economic downturn really has taken its toll and retailers seem to have little choice other than lowering prices to find a way to lure customers in. As a result, between Tina and myself, we ended up with 9 new pairs of footwear among other things. By the way, its 7:2 in her favor. And to think that I did not want to get a single one before I left. To further emphasize how good the deals were, I ended up with a new leather jacket...inspite of it being over 100 degrees outside!
On the car related things, I saw some Meguiar's interior and exterior care products at less than half the price of what its going for in Manila. I probably now have enough of these supplies to run a small detailing operation from my garage. That and a few other random/impulse buys took up most of whatever extra luggage space was available.
It was not as if I did not plan to buy anything at all. I had listed down a few items which I wanted to get from Bavarian Autosport, a long established supplier of BMW parts and accessories. BavAuto keeps inventory of a lot of hard to find items especially for older Bimmers and at reasonable prices too. Since I am in their catalog mailing list, I had already preselected what I wanted for Sergio and calling their East Coast timezone business hours helped while away the sleepless night. I was worried that shipping would take longer than expected but fortunately everything arrived with a couple of days to spare.
What did I buy?
On top of my list was a pair of original BMW chrome exhaust tips. These are hard to find and much more expensive in Manila. There are some substitutes available but I was never happy with the quality among those I saw and frankly speaking, the price differential was not much. Again, I am lucky in this respect because my frequent trips abroad and having a mailing address outside the Philippines helps as otherwise, access to these goods would not be easy.
 |
| Pair of chrome exhaust tips |
In order to complete the car's toolbox, I have long been looking for the reversible BMW screwdriver. This is some thing not absolutely necessary but nice to have for originality's sake and when I saw it at the BavAuto catalog, I even ordered an extra one for spare. Another minor irritant for me was that Sergio's fuel door hinge no longer holds open while loading gas and while its an easy DIY, I had been unable to find a replacement until now. Probably the smallest item on my list was a windshield washer nozzle adjuster. Ever notice that, over time, the jet of water used to clean the windshield is no longer aimed properly? This is the solution to the problem. Sure it can be done with an ordinary pin but determining accuracy is messy as its literally a hit-and-miss affair. Relatively expensive for such a little piece of metal but I justify it as a purchase which should be useful for all my cars over a very long time.
 |
| Washer nozzle adjuster (top), fuel door hinge, and reversible screwdriver |
While I am now fighting off the return journey jetlag, its still good to be back home. With a few more things stricken off the list...
No comments:
Post a Comment