All MOTd And Done

Posted: Tue 21 January, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Finances, Getting Organised | Leave a comment »

Today was the day for getting the Slab’s MOT done (for non-UK readers – MOT test is an annual test/certificate of basic vehicle roadworthiness for cars over three years old)

I already knew it needed a new front wheel bearing which needed replacing before it would pass the MOT, so I got that done as well. And that was all it needed – passed with flying colours, and all good.

The difference in driving noise now the wheel-bearing’s sorted is amazing – it’s now running almost silently. I hadn’t appreciated the change it would make, but now it’s done it’s really surprising.

This is A Very Good Thing, and has made me happy.

One Year On

Posted: Sun 19 January, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Bankruptcy, Change, Domestic, Driving, Finances, M1, Work-related | Leave a comment »

It’s now roughly a year since my Mondeo killed itself on the outside lane of the M1. It’s pretty scary how time flies sometimes. At the time I was lucky, because despite certain essential bits of the engine having effectively exploded I was able to coast/chug across to the hard shoulder. I suspect that whatever it looked like from outside the car caused some brown trousers on the part of other drivers, but there were no collisions or dangers.

That was really my last “oh shit!” moment when it came to finances. I honestly didn’t know how I could work it out to sort out a replacement vehicle, what the hell I was going to do with Mondeo, or even what I was going to do while waiting for a replacement vehicle. I spent a couple of very cold hours on the hard shoulder of the M1, waiting for the recovery vehicle and trying to work out what I could do next. I was pretty sure that repairing Mondeo was unfeasible – which was confirmed once the recovery people turned up and did their diagnostic tests – so I knew that was likely out.

Fortunately, I got somewhat lucky. Once I got home I was able to get in touch with the people handling my bankruptcy, explain the situation, suggest a plan of action, and within an hour they’d agreed to it, which freed up a certain amount of money. I also organised an advance on my pay with my employer, allowing me to rent a car for two weeks until I got paid. It was a real juggling act, but I got through it.

And in the end I got the Slab, which has so far served me well. I got a good deal on it, although there were some things I didn’t consider at the time- particularly what amount of vehicle tax I’d pay on the thing.

I did OK in the end, and things have continued to improve ever since then. I hope I’ll never be in that situation again, but as with so many things, if it does happen, I know I can handle it again.

Micro-sleeps

Posted: Thu 9 January, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Commuting, Driving, News, People, Sleep - or lack thereof | Leave a comment »

If you ever wanted to be really scared by a statistic, try this one from this story from the BBC about ‘micro-sleeps’…

Of 1,000 drivers it interviewed, 45% of men admitted to micro-sleeping while driving, as did 22% of women.

A micro-sleep is an episode of light sleep lasting five to 10 seconds. The brain goes to sleep involuntarily and it is more likely to happen in a monotonous situation. People wake suddenly, often with a sharp jerk of the head.

I know I’ve driven behind people before that I’m sure were doing this – but maybe it’s more prevalent than I thought. Jesus.

Extreme Commuting

Posted: Fri 27 December, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Commuting, Driving, News, Travel, Work-related | 2 Comments »

The BBC today has an interesting piece about so-called ‘extreme commuters’ – those who travel more than three hours a day in order to get to/from work.

As regular readers know, I’ve been doing idiot commutes on-and-off for the last twelve years. I do have periods of commute sanity (the current phase has lasted most of the last two years) but I’ve also done plenty of long commutes. My own record has been a train commute on a daily basis from either Manchester to London (and back, of course) or Bath to London. The main section of that was roughly 1.5 hours for the Bath one, or 2ish for the Manchester one, and with additional time at each end for getting door-to-door.

More recently, the two long commutes have been from Suffolk to London, and Suffolk to Luton. The London one was two-and-a-bit hours door-to-door, and the Luton one about 90 mins each way.

What interested me the most (and to some degree defuddled me) was the person commuting by car and train from Trowbridge to Hook. According to the story, that takes 2.5 hours door to door. I’m bemused, because I know that just driving that route takes between 1.25 and 1.5 hours door to door. The train journey takes longer, and also includes two changes of train. Frankly, fuck that for a game of soldiers.

I know there is the minor advantage by train that you can get some stuff done. But for me, I’d rather get in and get the stuff done in the office.

Anyway, it’s an interesting article, but as always you kind of wonder about the decisions people make, and want to know more than is covered in the piece itself.

As for me, well, I’m quite sure that at some point in the coming year I’ll do some kind of daft commute again – although from where I am now, journeys to London etc. are nowhere near as much of a struggle as they were from Norfolk and Suffolk. But there’ll be something daft to do, I’m sure.

Serviced

Posted: Mon 23 December, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Domestic, Driving | Leave a comment »

As well as keeping myself busy with other stuff, today the Slab’s getting its 100,000 mile service.

It had a service and fluid change back in August, so all should be fine this time (fingers crossed) but as it’s just gone over that major mileage trigger point, I figure it’s better to have it checked over properly. It’ll also mean I should be pre-warned of any significant issues in time for the MOT check in January.

I’ll update later, once I’m back and know what the end results are.

[Updated now I’m home]

All good, and all sorted. No issues, and according to the garage, I’ve “got a good one there”. Indeed, they’d pay me significantly more on part-ex now for it than I paid for the damn thing in the first place.  All told, that makes me really quite happy!

Crunchiversary

Posted: Wed 18 December, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Domestic, Driving | Leave a comment »

Four years ago today I had my one and only serious (i.e. ‘claimed on insurance’) accident.

How time flies when you’re having fun, eh?

Those Tyres

Posted: Tue 17 December, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Commuting, Customer Services, Driving, eTyres, Getting Organised | 2 Comments »

As you probably already know, over the weekend, I got my car fitted with two new front tyres by eTyres.  (This is relevant later)

What I didn’t know – and what Blue Witch pointed out in her comment on that post – is that actually, this isn’t the best plan when the car is a front-wheel-drive car. Basically, it means that the tyres with the best grip are on the driving wheels, and you’ve no way of knowing if the rear tyres are losing their grip, particularly in snow, ice, or heavy rain. So on a front-wheel-drive car, the tyres with the best grip should go on the rear tyres – meaning eTyres should’ve swapped things round, replaced the rear tyres with the new ones, and put the used rear tyres on the front wheels. (The eTyres fitter even confirmed that the rear ones will be OK for a good while yet)

Indeed, as BW then pointed out by email, eTyres even carry this advice on their own website.

Yesterday morning I emailed eTyres about this…

I recently ordered two new tyres from eTyres, order ref [xxx] to replace the two front tyres on my front-wheel drive car.

I have since been referred to various manufacturer information that says that on front-wheel drive cars, it is safest/best to have the new tyres on the rear wheels, and in a situation like mine, to move the used-but-safe rear tyres to the front, replacing the rear tyres with new tyres.

Can you explain to me why eTyres

  1. Do not inform their customers of this
  2. Why their tyre-fitters do not recommend/do this ?

This isn’t a one-off – earlier this year I did the same thing with eTyres on a different vehicle (also front-wheel drive) and had no advice on how this work should be done.

This is also the recommendation of Kleber Tyres and Michelin – see point 6

I’m interested to know why eTyres apparently ignore such advice, and potentially endanger their customers as a result.

As yet, I’ve had absolutely no response from the useless fuckwhistles. If I haven’t heard by the end of today, I’m going to call up and make a pain in the arse of myself that way…

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