A: They are all CD’s I found today inside the CD multi-changer that I didn’t even know was under the drivers seat the Discovery I bought last week!

The previous owner had removed the original Land Rover stereo and replaced it with a much nicer modern Radio/CD Player so it never even crossed my mind to see if there was a multi-changer in the car, but during my lunch break today I was trying to work out why the drivers seat doesn’t go up and down and while looking underneath suddenly realised that there it was, staring me in the face.

Because the original radio had been removed, it wouldn’t eject the cartridge so I wondered into the office to grab a screwdriver and socket set to remove the whole unit.

Obviously because nothing is ever easy (particularly on a Land Rover) it didn’t come straight out.  Normally it’s a really easy job as you just slide the seat to reveal the bolts and then you can whip it out.

Did I mention the seat is stuck and can’t be moved?

Therefore I had to go with either a) removing it with tools properly or b) removing it with a big hammer (also technically a tool, but not really the right spirit!)

I started by removing those little plastic push-fit lugs that were holding on the trim around the bottom of the seat so I could get at the bolts. Naturally this didn’t want to come off because it was tucked under the carpet at the edges.

The carpet won’t come up because it in turn is held on with a 3 foot bit of trim under the edge of the drivers door.

So the removal therefore went:

1. Remove the plastic lugs – astonishingly enough not a single one broke/split/pinged off hitting me in the eye
2. Remove the trim at the bottom of the door sill (4 very rusty screws)
3. Remove the trim around the drivers seat – after finding the hidden rusty screw, Hidden underneath a sticky substance I don’t even want to consider.
4. Bugger about for 10 minutes removing all the skin off my fingers undoing the 3 bolts that hold the cd player down. This nearly resulted in giving up and heading for Hammer Option B
5. Refit the various trims.
6. Carry exceedingly dirty cd changed into the office
7. Wash hands. A lot.

It then took me nearly as long again to get the damn case of the CD changer to get at the CD’s, but due to pig ignorance/brute force I got them out. The CD changer (well, the 4 or 5 large bits left) when headed for the bin.

Based on the CD’s found I can only conclude the previous owner was likely around 40 (due to the very high number of Clapton CD’s in it), bought Thriller Special Edition because it reminded him of when he was young and had the original LP (yes, I know I have the LP too, but thats not my point!) and was having a mid life crisis and decided that buying a single Zutons album would remove 20 years from his appearance.

On the plus side, I’m now up 6 albums and theres enough space to look under the damn seat to start working out why the seat won’t move :)

More to follow….