We are considering buying a car.
Another car.
A second car.
Yes I know.
Very sinful of us.
But you see, in the 21st Century in the central/west midlands of England we have no public transport system to speak of.
It’s all very well to point at the (soon to be refurbished) Birmingham New Street train station but (and I’m slightly apologetic about this) we don’t live there.
Birmingham New Street train station.
And (I’m sorry to say) for that matter we don’t live in any other train station.
Yes, very antisocial and inconsiderate of us.
But the truth is that it is quicker and cheaper for us to… oh, let’s say… get to the centre of Dublin from home than it is to get a train from home to London.
This is the state of the crumbling public transport system in the UK today.
Pitiful.
Anyway…
So yes, a probable second car.
We looked at it yesterday morning.
Bigish.
Very red.
Diesel.
And best of all… 50mpg.
Which brings me to the cunning plan (I soooo want to add ‘Baldrick’ after the words ‘cunning plan’!).
We get bigish red car with healthy miles per gallonage.
I adopt said vehicle and, just to prove I’m not totally greedy, pass on my little silver speedster to The Lovely S.
Hmmm…
I pause in the composition of this piece and, just for the briefest of moments, wonder about the health and safety of all other road users and pedestrians…
Shakes head, thoughts clear.
Here’s some weird stuff.
Hastingsdirect.com quote £40 per year more for the insurance of the potential new car on their website directly, than they quote via godirect.com
As I said… Weird.
Also…
When I clicked on the ‘existing customer’ button (having already filled in enough information to identify me as such), hastingsdirect.com’s website breathtakingly didn’t populate itself with known details about me.
Not good systems integration.
They need me to come and sort that out for them.
Of course, I’d need to get the potential new car insured first – before I drove down to Hastings.
Because I’ve just checked on thetrainline.com and guess what?
I can’t get a train from here to Hastings either.
B.
It is impossible to get to Hastings by public transport. This is actually good planning on the part of the government. You see, apart from a single punch up nearly a thousand years ago, Hastings has nothing to offer the rest of the country. It’s very sad really.
Oh, a red car. Insurance is more expensive for red cars (in the US at least). They statistically get involved in more accidents. Even though they should be more visible, they tend to belong to irate drivers. Or so I’ve been told.
On a golf tour in Ireland, Tiger Woods drives his BMW into a Petrol station in a remote part of the Irish countryside.
The pump attendant, who knows nothing about golf, greets him in a typical Irish manner completely unaware of who the golfing pro is. “Top
of the mornin’ to yer, sir,” says the attendant.
Tiger nods a quick “hello” and bends forward to pick up the nozzle. As he does so, two tees fall out of his shirt pocket onto the ground.
“What are dose?, asks the attendant.
“They’re called tees,” replies Tiger.
“Well, what on the good God’s earth are dey for?” inquires the Irishman.
“They’re for resting my balls on when I’m driving”, says Tiger.
“Fookin Jaysus”, says the Irishman, “BMW tinks of everyting…”
The typical American male devotes more than 1,600 hours a year to his car. He sits in it while it goes and while it stands idling. He parks it and searches for it. He earns the money to put down on it and to meet the monthly installments. He works to pay for petrol, tolls, insurance, taxes and tickets. He spends four of his sixteen waking hours on the road or gathering resources for it. And this figure does not take account of the time consumed by other activities dictated by transport: time spent in hospitals, traffic courts and garages: time spent watching automobile commercials or attending consumer education meetings to improve quality of the next buy. The model American puts in 1,600 hours to get 7,500 miles: less than five miles an hour.
http://www.worldcarfree.net/resources/stats.php
Col – 0/10 for the Irish accent there I’m afraid. 🙂 But on the other comment, I’m neither typical nor American but… I do take your point. Things will improve dramatically come the revolution.
hoverFrog: I blame Thatcher. I know that’s almost a cliché in itself, but I truly do.
Citronella: The new car is more expensive than the little silver speedster which is ironic to the nth degree (where n = a very large integer) considering the engine in the little silver speedster is very special!
I always thought green cars were statistically more likely to be involved in an accident -because they blended into the scenery. That presupposes you only drive in rural settings and shun urban conurbations. Usual bollocks from me, I’m afraid.Just promise me you won’t buy a Perodua.
Mya x
Mya: Hang on, I’ll check one out. (fumbles another session to life, flips over, googles images, views, flips back) Oh my God! What on earth is that?
Cunninger than a fox with a big red tail.
Give wife your car.
By BeeM Z4. 10K
No kids, no, sweat. If I didn’t have the two hoolies, I’d swear it was the cheap and enjoyable way forward.
LOL! Gumpher, you’re very naughty. 🙂
Nope, it’s slightly more mundane than a Beemer. Interesting thinking though!!