My little car, a Nissan March, has served me extremely well for nigh on 2 years. It is incredibly reliable, surprisingly capacious and has a pleasing hue of pig’s liver.
Fried pig’s liver with sage.
Notice typhoon damage to usually lush vegetation
Dismay upon raising my eyes when opening the hatchback to find that rust is corrupting.
Damn moths
It is a cold, blustery Sunday and perfect for little jobs such as slowing down car decay. OK the temperature is 18 degrees but believe me it feels cold. It must be the wind chill.
Parky
I go to the hardware store and mime sanding and applying primer to vaguely bemused shop guy. The Japanese for primer is primer. You never actually know if what you walk out with is actually what you want.
The emory paper looks good but who knows what is in the can.
Marceau would have been proud of me
Won’t work
The rust will abide – like the dude. But decay is cool and ecological. Happens to us all.
HAMLET
To what base uses we may return, Horatio. Why may not imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander till he find it stopping a bunghole?
HORATIO
HAMLET
The Quiet Ripple Defines The Pond 
Ah, the rustworm has hit your little motor, of which I have pleasant memories. One of the downsides of living by the sea and its salty water. Primer’s all very well but it won’t do more than lipstick on a pig in holding the rustworm back. What you need is Kurust. Not a magic solution but it will help a bit. The only real solution is to really try and get rid of the rust down to bare metal and then apply the Kurust followed by primer and gloss. Can you borrow an angle grinder from the technicians/maintenance staff/builders at OIST? Sadly the position of the rust on the welded seams doesn’t have a good prognosis 😦
Hmmm, think I will just buy another car.
Learned friend Bob Logan agrees.
“The global economy is based on unlimited growth and when your car gets a bit of rust, you are required to trade it for a new one. Heavens! Repairing a defect or rust shall certainly plunge us into a recession or worse.”
Do what they do in the states with old amercan cars, cover the hole with bondo the swape out the car, but act fast before the rust starts spreading. don’t tell the car dealer your real name.
then swape out the car
Hi ben
Thanks for the advice. I want a Miata
Bit chilly here recently, 20 degrees less than Okinawa, so I have been stopping the odd windhole, but with shop-bought stuff, not mouldy Caesars. Just been to the Science Museum – James Watt made flutes before he got on to steam engines, which has to be worth knowing. Alan is denying the real pleasure of a bit of cosmetic treatment – makes one feel virtuous.
True enuff, Ian, but if you’re going to do a job etc… The sadness of seeing the cosmetic job swept away by the recurrence of the old evil outweighs that initial feeling of virtue. One answer in Neil’s case would be to head for the local car-breakers yard, B&M at Kadena looks useful. Get a secondhand boot lid – matching colour would be nice but something that didn’t clash would be fine and might be seen as a bit avant-garde. Some of the happiest days of my life were spent in scrap yards – even when mt little bro was trying to entomb me in a steam engine amongst the scorpions.
Off now to mutter darkly in the tool-shed.