Cars and Stuff
Posted: Sat 10 March, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Travel Leave a comment »I promise, I absolutely promise I’m not going to become a car bore. Promise.
But anyway – for today, before I go off and most likely buy something, a few things.
- Thanks to those who made comments yesterday – the feedback was much appreciated
- No, I won’t buy a BMW. I doubt I ever will. Don’t like them, and don’t like a large majority of the people who do drive them.
- No, I most likely won’t buy anything French, Jann. Although I do love the Laguna 2 Estate (sorry, Sports Tourer) it’s currently way outside my practical budget
- I’m taking all the costs into consideration, believe me. Anything I’ve prospectively looked at, I’ve been checking what the insurance will cost, and wading through vehicle licensing bollocks in order to attempt to figure out what road tax it’d be likely liable for
- I’m working to a budget and payment method – it’s one that works for me, and means I’m not screwed financially, nor lumped in to 18% APR finance deals for 3 years, or whatever. Which, to me, sounds like the best option
- The type of car I’m looking at is disturbingly practical. Gone are the days when a little two-seater coupe or whatever would’ve been of any interest at all. (Actually, if I’m honest, they were never really there in the first place. But well, you get the drift)
- Unfortunately, all the cars I’d really like to have are currently way outside the budget. Also, well, it’s a first car, so getting something I’d really like is unfeasible.
- Thank God for being a named driver on a Tesco car insurance policy already – it’s saved me a hefty whack compared to most other places
And that’s it for now.
Ponky
Posted: Fri 9 March, 2007 Filed under: Health, Travel 2 Comments »I don’t know what someone (I suspect it was the guy opposite me, but I’m not certain) on the train had been eating last night, but fuck me dead, they smelled nasty.
This particular someone had farts that could stun a donkey at 50 paces – they smelled like something that’d crawled out of the colon of a long-dead dung-eating mammoth. Truly, truly unpleasant.
Of course, they may have been improved slightly by the addition of warm air in the train carriage, and the fact it’s a pretty much sealed environment. But bloody hell, it was unpleasant.
Automotive
Posted: Fri 9 March, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Travel 6 Comments »So, this coming weekend it looks like I’m finally going to become the owner of a car. How scary is that?
Up ’til now I’ve been able to resist such a thing. Firstly because I didn’t drive (’til eighteen months ago, give or take) and then because, well, I still didn’t need one of my own. If I did need one of my own for anything (like going away for the weekend, say) I hired one.
But now, it’s (hopefully) coming close to the time when we move to the new place, out in the arse-end of nowhere. No, not Norfolk – we’re there already. But this is more ‘arse-end of nowhere, even for Norfolk’, which is a pretty scary concept in itself.
But that also means that yes, it’s time to buy a car. So I’m off to see and test-drive a couple I’ve got my eye on over the weekend, and we’ll see what happens. In the meantime, well, be afraid. Be very afraid…
Changing Lanes
Posted: Thu 8 March, 2007 Filed under: Charm School, Cynicism, Driving, Travel 4 Comments »I know, I know, every time I rent a car, I end up having a rant about bad drivers.
And this time is no different, you’ll be pleased to know.
But for once it’s not about those tossers who sit in the middle lane and never fucking move.
No, in this case it’s all based around roadworks. Now I suspect the roadworks is something that most people could rant about – particularly the fact that you can go past entire sets of roadworks and not see one single bloody person is working, or even visible.
But what gets me – unsurprisingly – is certain people’s driving ability. Or lack of.
I just don’t understand the mind-set that comes up when one lane is closed – and signposted as such from a good two miles off – and people still drive right to where the lane is coned off before trying to pull in to the still-open lane. It screws up the traffic flow, and leads to those self-same tailbacks that they’ve just cruised past. Cunts. But of course, that’s not their problem, so long as they’ve managed to get past all the other drivers.
Mind you, it’s bloody funny when some smeghead scrote BMW driver who’s gone roaring past everyone is then blocked entry by all those same drivers…
Ooops
Posted: Wed 7 March, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »Now this is enough to make any man cry. Well, that and snigger smugly too. Schadenfreude (and Month of the Bastard) is alive and well, after all.
A beautiful Bugatti Veyron crashed into a tree. Personally, I couldn’t ever spend £800,000 on a car – but all the same, the owner of it must be bloody livid right about now.
Catching Up
Posted: Wed 7 March, 2007 Filed under: Travel, Weirdness Leave a comment »Over the weekend, I had quite a strange experience.
Many moons ago (Many, many, many moons ago) I worked at a hotel in Rugby, Warwickshire. Every so often, I’ve thought about getting back in touch with the people who’d been there, or alternatively just going back for a revisit. (Yes, I’ve thought about revisiting other ex-workpaces as well, but haven’t previously mentioned this one)
Anyway, when I got to the hotel I was staying at on Saturday, I leafed through a magazine that was in the room about good food and drink in the area – and in there, the general manager of the Rugby hotel has a column. It turned out that he was working for another hotel in the area – well, about 40 minutes away from where I was.
So on the Sunday morning, I drove over, on the off-chance. I figured why not, I’m in the area, blah blah.
Anyway, it turned out that he’d left just before Christmas – but then his father, who had been the owner of the one in Rugby, walked in instead. He owned this place too, and so his son had been the general manager. But we caught up, and talked for about half an hour all told.
It was a really pleasant time, and was something I’m glad I did. But all the same, weirder than weird!