Observations on Automobiles

Introduction

In the post at the end of this I initially thought I had covered every Vocal Community with my writing but there were six that I had not touched, so I thought it would be a challenge to, so to speak, complete the set. After this in the Vocal Wheel Community I will have five more to do, but as these areas have not caught my attention before there may only be one story from me in each of these communities.

There are six that I have not graced with my presence so far are:

• Blush
• Marriage
• Serve
• Chain
• Unbalanced
• Wheel *

These will reduce as I work through them.

The Vocal Wheel Community is described thus:

For anyone that drives a car. Wheel is for car lovers, enthusiasts, and first time drivers. From maintenance tips, to communities, tips, history, and more.

The thing is I am not a car lover, enthusiast (though I love the look of certain classic cars, especially American), I’m not a first time driver - closer to a last time driver, or the rest so I suppose my area is the “and more”.

So let’s get into my experiences with cars and automobiles.

My First Car

My mum bought me a Mini for fifty pounds when I passed my driving test.

I failed my first driving test on three counts all in the same incident. The moderator told me to turn left at the end of the street and there were two fire engines parked so I had to try and go past them, and when I did there was a car coming which I was unable to see. I slammed on, the moderator wasn’t wearing his seat belt, hit his head, said I had failed to control my car, had stopped without instruction and could have caused an accident. I think he had to fail so many people and I was in that lot.

Within five minutes I was sure I had failed my second test, stalling the car, screwing up my left turn and three point turn and not knowing any highway code questions. Then he said ”OK I’ll Let You Through” and I’ve been able to drive ever since. I know my first test was perfect and my second a mess but I was a lot more confident on my second one because I was certain how good I was on my first test.

In the Mini the floor was fairly rotten and whenever it rained there was a lot of water in the car. At some point I actually changed the engine in it, with block and tackle and was amazed how they could get so much into such a small space,

Looking back I am sure I would not trust myself to drive a vehicle that I had put the engine into, but that is the confidence of youth that allows you to actually do that.

Eventually the Mini got scrapped and I replaced it with a Blue Ford Escort bought with my first bank loan.

And So To My Last Car

I have had some awful cars and some good ones in the past but my final one was a Renault Clio, which I bought for a hundred pound contribution to St Oswald’s Hospice. It had twelve months tax so I thought I had a bargain.

When I came to renew the tax I was asked for my disabled certificate. The person who had before was disabled so didn’t have to pay tax and I had been driving for a year with no tax. When I went to the tax office they were fine about it.

Conclusion

Since then I have just hired cars but the insurance, deposits and penalties have made hiring almost impossibly expensive so I know just go everywhere by train, bus and taxi.

That is my Wheels piece.

This is the piece that inspired this