Take Care out There

I wish this motorcyclist was wearing a reflective vest to be seen to be safe!

The following scene all took place within about ten seconds. It was completely instructive and could have saved the average driving student weeks of training.

A motorcyclist was following a car far too closely and apparently was intending to overtake inappropriately.
The car driver seemed to suddenly realise that he needed to enter a side road that he was then passing, so he made a sharp left turn into the entrance. Were it not for the motorcyclist who was entirely too close, no-one else would have been disturbed by the manoeuvre.
The cyclist became so alarmed and enraged that he started giving the car loud mouth abuse while at the same time looking over his shoulder to deliver it. I don’t think that the driver had any clue what was happening.
Coming towards the biker was another car and they were headed for a head-on collision. The driver blasted his horn and the biker got another scare, and the collision was avoided by mere millimetres.

The moral of the story is: (a) Keep your distance; (b) do not overtake along two-way road systems unless it is abundantly clear that it is safe to do so; (c) when in the process of making a mistake it is safer to play the mistake out properly by going on to the next roundabout or entrance, then driving back. (d) Lastly, keep your eyes on the road ahead. Road conditions are constantly changing.

It’s a jungle out there! Take care.


Copyright © 2009 Eugene Carmichael

Go Full, Return Empty

A Yellow Canary

This isn’t even possible, but in the world of hire cars this is one of the very common terms that you are expected to adhere to. Basically, if you don’t have to hire a car then you would be well advised not to do so. One thing is clear, whatever you think you will pay you will eventually end up paying more….much more.

We have just completed an around Andalusia driving tour, and the truth is that we thoroughly enjoyed the experience, but the hire companies do get you. We responded to a come on from one company that promised a car for six days at a cost of 60 euros. The actual cost to us before we even turned the key was 127 euros. The terrible thing was that the company that we chose was one of the better ones.

The basic rental was as advertised, however, added to that was the cost of the full tank of petrol at 48 euros. This was a Kia Picanto, bright yellow, that reminded me of driving around in a canary, with a very small tank that holds 35 litros. The cost to fill up is about 30 euros.

Then, they charge 2 euros a day for the second driver. What’s this for? Probably nothing, but they can charge it, so they do

You are advised to take out comprehensive insurance cover that pays from the first euro. No excess charge fee for the insured driver is a very good thing, because if there is an excess charge you’ll probably get stuck with it, even for minor scratches that were already there but not noticed by you when you picked up the car. (At least that has been my experience.)

Then there is the little matter of the cost of the insurance. Comprehensive cover for my car in my name would cost about 750 euros annually. That’s about 2 euros a day. However, some companies charge a per day charge of a specific amount for this cover that is over and above the basic rental. I have paid around Î5.00 a day. We can quickly see the profit involved there.

Car hire is like travelling by plane. You know it’s going to be painful, but it’s just one of those irritants that we learn to live with.

Copyright © 2009 Eugene Carmichael

General Motors and All that Jazz

We have been hearing for some time that automakers in the United States have been facing some very difficult times. They have been before the U.S. Senate asking for government funding to keep them afloat. Originally their request was denied, however former president Bush signed an executive order appropriating funds to assist them. However, General Motors are now saying that was not enough, and that their problems are so deep seated that they are seriously facing bankruptcy.

The three major automakers in the U.S. are GM, Ford, and Chrysler. Together, with smaller parts makers, they are the most labour intensive industry in the United States. The consequences of GM closing are the same as the sky falling. It simply cannot be imagined.

U.S. automakers are in large part their own worst enemy. They have failed to make good, fuel economy cars that Americans want to buy. That gave an opportunity to Japanese firms to satisfy that market, resulting in the loss of that market to the Big Three. But the problem that they now face is common to all automakers, in that as people lose their jobs, or watch a shrinking economy, car sales have fallen like a heavy rock.

Many of their workers have already been sent home as they are overproducing inventory that no one is buying. A complete closure would add so many people to the unemployed roster as to spell complete disaster.

Filmmakers have put their imagination to work in creating disaster films where people live like rats in underground sewers and abandoned buildings without law and order.

As a reality, is this so difficult to imagine? Stay tuned!

Copyright © 2009 Eugene Carmichael

The Annual Examination

Here in Spain the examination of your vehicle is undertaken by the ITV, which means Inspeción Tecnica Vehiculo. This is a private business that works in concert for the government, something that we call a Quango in the U.K. The government here would say that it has outsourced the problem.

I have written about annual examinations before, and I return briefly to say that life has gotten a little bit better as they streamline their operations. Now, you can make an appointment on-line for your annual inspection. Instead of showing up without an appointment you can now show up at the designated time and be seen to within a reasonable waiting period.

Normally, this is a very painful experience that takes up to two hours of staying with your vehicle and moving it forward one car space at a time. Taxi drivers demanded that the system be improved so that they need not spend two hours going through this twice a year.

So, the appointment system was created for them, but other people saw what was happening and spoke up in indignation. In response the opportunity has been thrown open to everyone, but amazingly most people still prefer to go and simply wait the two, or more hours.

I expect the system will catch on. Then it will change into one whereby it will be difficult to get an appointment unless booking a year ahead.

Good Luck!

Copyright © 2009 Eugene Carmichael

Goodbye Old Friend

Well, it’s taken me five years to do it, but I finally called in the grua to take away our1992 Fiat Tempra station wagon. It has sat around on the property all that time as a good and faithful friend. Every time that I went to run the engine it answered promptly, even though the spiders took it over as their own home. It developed that old person smell after a while, as compared to the new car smell, so we knew it was getting along in age.

We stopped driving it because it developed a problem of jack-rabbiting, or hiccupps that absolutely no mechanic in the land was able to clear up. They could alleviate the effects a bit, but the problem always came back again. To say that it was embarrassing is an understatement. Finally, we bought another car and simply parked the Fiat and forgot about it.

I did start it periodically to keep the battery charged, and then, after about a year of this I decided that it was time to get rid of it. So, I started it up and moved it and the problem was no longer in evidence, and was never experienced again. It seems that all it needed was a vacation. However, to pass it through itv it would also have needed a few other things done to it that would have probably cost more than we could have sold it for.

So, with reluctance and a heavy heart I called in the grua and we drove it on to the truck, I gave it a pat on its rump to say “farewell and thank you”, and it was gone.
It’s funny how attached we can become to things. A car is supposed to be an inanimate object, but once we turn the key it bursts forth into life and becomes something full of energy. We call our cars names, even some not-so-polite ones, but that has the effect of endearing them to us. It might be an SOB, but it’s my SOB.

So Fiat Tempra V-7964-EB, wherever you are, you are gone but not forgotten.

Copyright © 2009 Eugene Carmichael