Poor quality leather!?

Posted on by Ian C.

Can I really say this on the GBMINI weblog?
First, I love my MINI – great fun to drive, great bunch of friends on MINI2 and elsewhere, great dealership and people at MINI Peabody, etc.
But the Lapis Leather in my MINI Cooper S has never looked as good as the leatherette in my first MINI Cooper, and today I noticed that not only is it very wrinkled but it has actually worn away on the edge of the drivers seat!

GBMINI#2 worn seat leather

I will talk to MINI Peabody next week to see if they can/will do something about it – after just over one year and only 14,000 miles, I don’t think the seats should be worn like this.

“Coopers for Caregivers”

Posted on by Ian C.

For a while now I have been working with Deborah who works at Seniorcare here in Gloucester (the same place that my wife Margaret works); the organisation provides various services to assist elders in staying in their home. Deborah specialises in support of “caregivers”, family members that support their elders.
Deborah loves MINIs and had the idea to combine a drive (like last years MINI Meander) with promotion of caregivers; she asked me to organize the MINIs, which I have been doing on this MINI2 thread.

Now with the date (Sunday April 25) fast approaching, there is more happening – we have Beverly Hospital providing a breakfast, at which some Massachusetts state “significants” will attend. We will of course have MINIs, with their drivers. We have locations to visit (Beverly, Wenham, Hamilton, Topsfield, Essex, Ipswich, Gloucester, Rockport and Manchester-by-the-sea) but I still need to put the exact route together.

And now we have our first media involvement, in the Hamilton Wenham Chronicle:

Coopers For Caregivers announcement

If you are local and wish to get involved in this event, please contact me – we could use a few more MINIs …

Obligations when you own a MINI

Posted on by Ian C.

My friend Virginie is hoping to buy a MINI Cooper S Convertible; she recently signed up to receive more information from MINI USA and sent me this screenshot of “rules” to agree to:

MINIsignupAgreement.jpg

I agree to change my locker combination to include the numbers 1964 (the year we won out first Monte Carlo rally) [“We?”]
I agree to chase the squirrels around the park every now and then and giggle like a madman while doing it [done that]
I agree to be more adventurous and try to avoid homogenized restaurant chains [anywhere with good dessert is fine by me!]
I agree to name my first-born Cooper [does “GBMINI” count as a name?]
I agree to bare the soles of my feet to the earth and feel grass, sand, stones and streams [ok]
I agree to watch the movie “The Italian Job” as soon as I can [done, many times]
I agree to at least think strongly about learning to play a musical instrument [no]
I agree to consider painting the roof my house in contrasting colors [:)]