Crunch 2
Posted: Sat 19 December, 2009 Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Travel, Weather 3 Comments »So – following on from yesterday’s post about crunching the car, this is what I did to it…
The result of my sliding into the fence
Fucked wheel, flat tyre, buggered headlamp and bumper, knackered plastic bodywork, and a bundle of crunched connections and wires.
I’ve still not had any news about how much the repairs will cost – I suspect that’ll be Monday’s news.
Crunch
Posted: Fri 18 December, 2009 Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Norfolk, Travel, Weather 1 Comment »Last night, as may have come to people’s attention, it snowed in Norfolk. Quite heavily in fact, with a heavy wind that meant the snow was horizontal in places.
It was also effing cold – in snow? Who’d have thought? – which meant that the road was slippy.
Coming home, I started slipping at one crossroads, and slowed down as a result. I knew the next bit was dodgy at the best of times – seen the results of several accidents there already – so I was down to about 15mph. The car slid, and rather than turning went straight on, up the verge, and took out the fence of the house that’s on the corner. (Again, that fence has been taken out at least four times to my knowledge – so I’m the fifth) It slid along the fence, popping out the wooden fence panels, and hitting the concrete fence posts.
It wasn’t a hard impact – just inertia and momentum really – and didn’t even trigger the airbags. But the entire front quarter is stuffed, I’ve lost a headlamp, front nearside panel’s gone, and the bumper’s stuffed too. It’s going to take some work to fix.
The insurance company I use (Tesco) have been really good so far. The recovery truck was out within the hour they said, and today I’ve started the claim, and just about everything has run smoothly. There’s one exception to that, but that’s a separate post.
More mortifying was the fact that someone had called the police – I don’t know if it was one of the houseowners, or someone driving past, but still, up they pulled, blue lights and all. Probably for the best, as the corner was still dodgy and slippery (the police car came up at about 15-20mph too) but all the same, pretty mortifying. Still, it means that as well as having my first “proper” accident, I’ve also had my first breathalyser test – blowing an absolute zero, which wasn’t a surprise – and given all my details to them about the crash. An interesting experience, to be sure.
So the car’s stuffed – but thankfully it appears to be mainly the bodywork, not the chassis or anything. And it could’ve been so much worse. After all, I’m not hurt, no-one else got hurt, and really it’s just a car and a fence.
Scratch List
Posted: Fri 11 December, 2009 Filed under: Driving, Travel 2 Comments »So, following on from yesterday’s post, a list of the scratches on the car. (Just for laughs, it’s nowt special)
- Rear nearside wheel arch – scraped down a wall in Devon three days after I got the car. (Stuck on a single-track road, reversed, didn’t know the length/width of the car. Scratch)
- Slight dent on rear bumper – on the same trip in Devon, not knowing the length of the car and reversing in a car-park.
- Rear nearside passenger door – scraped on the bumper of another car. (Yes, that’s the one in the multi-storey car park in London)
- Rear driverside doors – scraped on the tight entrance to the car park at Little Ouse Moorings
- Another dent on rear bumper – reversed into in Reading while pulling out of a parking space
- Rear driverside door – the new scratch from yesterday, courtesy of Mr M 521 BNH
Along the way there’s also been the damage done by two collisions with deer, and the smashed driver-side mirror when got whacked by someone coming the other way.
And today it’s in the garage for a service and replacement handbrake cable. *sigh*
Places to avoid
Posted: Tue 1 December, 2009 Filed under: News, Travel Leave a comment »If you were planning on going to Nottingham this coming weekend, this story is a pretty good explanation of why you really should change plans…
Dragging Behind
Posted: Mon 30 November, 2009 Filed under: Domestic, People, Travel 1 Comment »Yesterday’s trip to the BBC Good Food Show went OK – as expected it was mentally busy, and in a lot of cases nowhere near enough space between the stands. This particularly applied to the smaller stands where the little independent businesses were showing, and even more so in the cases where they were giving away samples and/or selling their wares. (i.e. Most of them)
But the other big problem this time (in my opinion, and that of others who I heard commenting about it) was the bastard wheeled trollies/cases that loads of people had brought with them.
I’ve written about my feelings about wheeled suitcases – and the people who use them – on a couple of occasions in the past (I thought there was one more recently, but I can’t find it currently) and my feelings really haven’t changed.
In the case of the Good Food Show, it was exacerbated by the sheer number of people around, and the brain-melting stupidity/vapidity of the people wielding the fucking trolleys. I lost count of the number of times the self-obsessed twats would either a) stop, leaving the wheeled trollies dangling out for people to trip over or b) ran over my feet. (and one assumes the feet of many other people too) If I’d been wearing my steel-toecap boots, there’d have been a few of those trollies that got a serious kick as I went past/over them – and there’d have been a couple of their owners receiving the same treatment.
Today I’ve got an exceptionally sore foot from where it got run over several times. I now wish I had taken that stun-gun to the show – although the people with wheeled bags are probably pretty lucky that I didn’t.
Brum Again
Posted: Sun 29 November, 2009 Filed under: Business, Charm School, Customer Services, Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »Today we’re off to Birmingham and the NEC again, this time for the BBC Good Food Show. It’s just been one of those months where we’ve ended up there twice. Mind you, hopefully we won’t be going back again ’til it’s time for the International Spring Fair.
The Good Food Show (and most of the others held at the NEC) is usually good, except that the NEC – and probably most other show venues as well – does insist on trying to stuff in as many exhibitors as possible. I understand that up to a point – after all, it’s good business – but it gets annoying when each aisle is wide enough for three or four people at most. That’s fine when people are moving along, but when they’re stopped at a stall and trying to either a) get to it or b) get samples of whatever’s on offer it gets ridiculous. At that point those “4-people wide” aisles become half the size (at best) because there’s people either side of them stopped and not moving.
I’m going prepared this time. No, I’m not taking a stungun – although that would be a good alternative – but I’ll be prepared to go and sit somewhere else, either with the laptop or a book, and just not get involved. It’s not ideal, because I’d actually like to be going round the stalls – but if I do that, the odds are that someone’s going to get hurt. And people, it won’t be me.
Stick That, National Express
Posted: Thu 26 November, 2009 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, National Express East Anglia, News, Travel Leave a comment »Fantastic news today that National Express are to lose their franchise on the East Anglia route three years earlier than expected.
I’ve written before about just how shit National Express are – and how shit they’ve been with their customers – with ‘under-the-table’ price rises on tickets and the like. (Which reminds me, I’ve got something to add on that score, but it can wait) So I think it’s great that their utter shitness has been recognised, and had something done about it.
Of course, this isn’t going to be a “with immediate effect” thing. The useless fuckbags still don’t lose it ’til 31st March 2011. I wonder how many nasty little fare rises and shitty tactics they’ll put in place between now and then in order to maximise their income (and thus profit) before losing the contract?