Replacement Glass
Posted: Wed 21 August, 2013 Filed under: Customer Services, Domestic, Driving, Insurance 8 Comments »Last week, when I was driving over for the interview in Cambridge, the windscreen got hit by a stone thrown up by the car in front. It chipped the windscreen pretty seriously, although it didn’t crack or break. It’s been annoying me since – it was right in my viewline – but I didn’t have a chance to get it repaired ’til today, due to doing lots more driving and commuting to office etc.
Getting hit by a stone like that is quite a sobering experience – or at least it is if you think about it a bit. You realise just how piss-poor your reaction time truly is. OK, it’s a closing speed of 140mph-ish (stone coming towards me propelled (I assume) at 70mph-ish from a vehicle travelling at that speed, towards a car travelling towards it at 70mph) but still, you see a blink of something coming towards you – indeed, in this case directly at you – and then the impact. You haven’t even had time to flinch. I assume that when it’s bigger items (you know, a car coming towards you, for example) you’ve had a bit more warning, a bit more time to prepare, but I don’t know. Honestly, I hope I never find out.
Anyway, this glass repair had to be organised through the insurance company this time, rather than the age-old technique of finding a company doing it in supermarket carparks. (It turns out that this used to be fine, but then became a nightmare of companies doing the same, invoicing insurance companies, and generally just all going to cock. Now the industry has entered the world of approved/preferred suppliers, organised through third parties etc. etc.) So all arranged for today.
They’ve tried to just repair the chip, but that hasn’t taken, for whatever reason. (Personally I think Saab glass has some weird coating on it that doesn’t like rubber suction cups. I know my SatNav has always had problems sticking to the glass, and on this occasion the equipment in use with suction cups was also failing to stick.)
So now I’m getting a full replacement windscreen. Bit of a pain in the tits, but at the same time I know there were other (far smaller) chips, so at least with a new screen it’s clean of issues and damage. I suspect it’ll be weird for a couple of days, having a completely clean screen. It won’t last…
Driving Through
Posted: Wed 7 August, 2013 Filed under: 1BEM, Driving, People, Thoughts, Weirdness 2 Comments »My local supermarket is on a small(ish) retail estate, and there’s also a McDonalds in the area, with a full “drivethrough” (sorry, “drivethru” *spitting noise*) option. Every time I go past it, there’s something that boggles my brain.
I don’t understand the drive-through option. Well, that’s not true – there’s one particular aspect of drivethrough behaviour that I really don’t understand. I get the whole “grab food while driving, and continue going” concept, that’s fine. For now we’ll gloss over the whole road-safety aspect – after all, if it’s dangerous to use a mobile phone while driving, surely it’s equally dangerous to be eating a messy burger – but I get the concept.
What I don’t get though, are the people who use the drive-through, and then park up to eat their ‘food’. What’s the reasoning? If you’re going to do that, surely it’s just as easy to take a proper break, go inside, sit at a table, eat, and then leave to go back on the road.
What’s the logical process for getting food, and then sitting right outside the premises (I refuse to call it a restaurant, sorry) to eat them?
Yet every time I drive past, there they are – people doing exactly that. They’ve bought at a drive-through, and now they’re sat in the car park to eat it. It truly makes my brain bleed.
Transport
Posted: Mon 29 July, 2013 Filed under: Driving, Media, Public Transport, Travel, Weirdness 1 Comment »What on earth is going on with public transport in Europe this week?
In the last week we’ve had…
- Two trains colliding head-on at Granges-pres-Marnand in Switzerland, injuring at least 40.
- A coach plunging off the road in Avellino in Italy, killing 38 people.
- and of course the train derailment in Spain at Santiago de Compostela, killing 78 people.
There’ve been other things too – the bus in Manchester ripping it’s roof off going under a bridge, for example – but it just seems like public transport is having a really bad time of it at the moment.
Pulling Out
Posted: Tue 23 July, 2013 Filed under: 1BEM, Commuting, Driving, People, Stupidity 2 Comments »On my route to work – in particular, although I’ve noticed this phenomenon in many road/junction situations – there are a couple of junctions from which people can pull out onto the main roads, which are (of course) much faster.
I’ve noticed of late that there seem to be a significant number of drivers who either don’t look before pulling out, or look but who are incapable of actually judging the speed of oncoming vehicles. To whit, my oncoming vehicle.
I’ve actually lost count of the number of times this year where I’ve been hacking down the main road at 60, and these ball-bags just pull out in front of me, necessitating my needing to significantly slow down.
Even worse, they pull out and then just pootle along at 20 or 30 mph. I know it takes time to get up to speed – but seriously, so should they. And if you’re going to do a manoeuvre like that, you damn well make sure that you’re going to be speeding up in pretty fucking short order. (Well, I do!)
I don’t understand the logic (or lack thereof) in doing this, of pulling out in front of someone who’s already on the main road. All I can assume is that it’s either a) some innate need to be ‘first’, even if that means running the risk of being killed, b) they’re wanting an accident which would be “not their fault” in order to claim and replace their vehicle, c) an arrogance that their driving will force the other driver to slow down, d) they’re just fuckwit bastards, or e) all of the above.
Regardless, it just pisses me off.