Hire and Return
Posted: Mon 5 March, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Travel Leave a comment »I took the rented Peugeot 407 back today – it’s been a good weekend, and all told that car had about 600 miles added to it, which it handled on one tank of diesel – not bad at all.
While I’ve enjoyed driving it, and it’s made my life a lot easier over the weekend, I have to say that I don’t think I’d actually buy one. I’m not even completely sure of why, which is annoying – it’s been a fun drive, and it’s a fantastic car, but something just didn’t click somehow. I wish I understood myself sometimes.
When I was at the office on Friday, I asked what they’d decided to let me play with this time, to which the answer was “Well, you’ve had the Laguna already, so we decided to give you this one instead.”
Anyway, when I took it back, they asked how it’d been. I said it’d been great fun, and was an enjoyable car to drive. At which point the guy smiled, and said “Yeah, we thought you’d like that one“.
I’ve been going there too often, obviously, but that really is some good customer service…
Hiring
Posted: Sat 3 March, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Travel Leave a comment »Over the weekend, I’m going to be up in Nottinghamshire, and as we haven’t yet got round to buying Car 2 , I’m hiring one again.
No idea what I’ll get, but I’m sure it’ll be fun. And considering that I’ll be covering at least 350-400 miles, well, at least it’ll be in someone else’s car… Heh.
Update, once I’d collected the car : Ha! It’s a Peugeot 407. The thing’s fuckin’ gorgeous. It’s going to be a fun weekend.
Charming
Posted: Fri 23 February, 2007 Filed under: Charm School, Cynicism, Travel 2 Comments »It’s not just me who can be charmless, of course.
On the train last night, the two people opposite me were talking about whether they’d make their connecting train from Norwich. Now, the XDA phone has it’s uses, and the mini-version of IE is one of them. So, being in a fairly mellow mood, I checked the arrival time of the current train, and when their connecting one would go.
And I let them know that they’d be OK, and would have about ten minutes between trains.
The response? Absolutely chuff all. Not a word of thanks, just a nod of the head in acknowledgement of the information.
Tossers. And then people wonder why I end up being rude to them…
Beep
Posted: Sat 17 February, 2007 Filed under: Travel 2 Comments »Of all the really annoying things when it comes to public transport (and trains in particular) I still think mobile phones have to pretty much at the top of the list. I don’t mind the devices themselves, and I don’t (in general) have a problem with people taking/making calls on them. I mean obviously there’s exceptions to that (super-loud ringtones going off repeatedly, and constant ‘I’m on the train’ calls, like it’s some newly invented miracle)
Yesterday, though, I was reminded of one of the things I really, really loathe. Key-press sounds. Particularly loud ones, but any phone that’s set to fucking beep every time you press a key – that’ll drive me crackers every time.
And it’ll definitely send me crackers when the owner of said phone is sending a text message, and doesn’t even have predictive text on.
BeepBeepBeep BeepBeep BeepBeepBeep BeepBeep
That’s what it takes just to type “fuck”. (and probably some others as well, but it’s definitely ‘Fuck’) As it is, I’ve no idea what the woman beside me was typing, but it went on for what seemed like hours. Whatever, it took her from Cambridge to Ely to send what looked like one message. Thankfully, she got off at Ely. Otherwise there might’ve been some truly gory murder on the 17.12…
Unlit
Posted: Sat 10 February, 2007 Filed under: Driving, Thoughts, Travel, Weirdness 1 Comment »Driving in to work yesterday, I was absolutely amazed by the number of idiots out there who hadn’t even turned on their headlights.
OK, this was primarily close to Cambridge, so it was around 8:30 or so in the morning. But all the same, it was pretty foggy yesterday morning, and the visibility was pretty shit. So it’s still surprising (for me, anyway) when I see other drivers – and particularly those in light-coloured cars that blend into the fog even more) without lights or foglights on. I know that I’ve written about this before – and quite recently but it still shocks/surprises/scares me when I see it happening.
Of course, the even scarier thing in Cambridge is the cyclists. Yesterday morning, not one of them had any lights on at all. Again, still cold, grey, misty/foggy, yet they all seem to believe that they’re either indestructible, or that the dozy little twadgers have some god-given right of way so that they won’t suffer any collisions or accidents.
Yes, yet again, I find myself worried by other road users. I suspect that this may become a standard mantra.
Chicken
Posted: Fri 9 February, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Travel 2 Comments »So, did I go to Brixton last night to see Massive Attack?
No, I didn’t.
I can’t deny it, I chickened out. Instead, I just ended up going home, and curling up with a laptop and a website that needed some work. Not the most productive, and definitely not as much fun as seeing Massive Attack would’ve almost certainly been.
But I gave up. I looked at the road maps, and the traffic reports, then at where I needed to go, and combined it with my usual cynical attitude towards people, and figured I couldn’t be arsed.
Mind you, looking at the roads this morning, and the fact there were three or four abandoned (i.e. had slid/skidded off the road) cars this morning on the bit I’d have been driving on at roughly 1am, I don’t think I was being too stupid to figure it was just not worth the hassle.
Automatic
Posted: Thu 8 February, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Travel 3 Comments »Oh God, this is going to be interesting.
While I’m still undecided about London tonight, I’ve collected the car I’d booked from Avis for the journey. Well, I’d booked it, and it’s paid for, so bugger it, might as well use it.
And what’ve they given me? An automatic. Never driven one before. Ever. So – this should be fun!