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Black Bar

The latest update as of May 17, 1999

The day starts with a side-trip down to the Hertz agency in Surfers to deal with the rental car that was originally booked for 4 days... that was 11 days ago now, and they've been "rather" persistent in phoning to see when they might expect it's return. Since the rental, like almost everything else connected with this adventure is being financed by credit -- and all four cards are starting to get on the warm side -- I'm a little worried about when the plug is going to be pulled on the Amex card the car is running on.

Turns out that it will cost me more to turn the car in today than keeping it for the rest of the week and moving into a lower rate classification. Arrangements made, I'm soon back on the road in my "luxury" car. Strange thing about it though; it's got air, 4-speed overdrive automatic, cassette deck, power everything... except the windows. They're still hand cranks. Only in Australia, I guess.

Back at Ken's it's time to check the e-mails from home and see what's happening. Not much to report there, but a quick check of the Hanjin shiping website gives me an update on the arrival date of the container (with race car, truck, etc.). It's currently sitting on the wharf in Singapore (arrived there yesterday) and will be transferred onto the "Itha Bhum" on Friday (May 21) and is now scheduled to arrive in Brisbane on Tuesday, June 1st.

The gates open for the Winternationals on Friday, June 11th... so that leaves less than 10 days to assemble everything and get it running. Plus, we have to allow at least two days for the ship to unload, customs clearance and delivery to Ken's shop. At worst, we might be looking at barely seven days to ready the car for the race meeting. Pressure?? No way. No worries, mate, we'll be right.

6:00 pm:   Time to close up shop for the day -- with the sun setting shortly after 5 pm (and not rising until nearly 7 am) -- the days seem very short and the nights very long and dark. Even at this time, as we walk down to the house, the stars are glowing brightly in the night sky (almost no moon tonight) and put on a show that I never see back home in "the big city". Best of all, it's free and on nearly every night.

No time to linger though, as dinner is ready and tonight we'll play the tape of Sunday's "Drag Racing 99" TV program. My personal highlight will be seeing myself on the tube again, hopefully not looking too bad or speaking too badly. Surprise! My ten seconds promoting the Winternationals comes across fairly well. Combined with last year's short segment from the Winters, my "15 seconds of fame" is all used up... Does this mean it's all over before I've even started?? We'll just have to wait and see.

Black Bar
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