Re: The all-new all things driving thread

[cosmictanya]

Apparently my nearest petrol station is the most expensive in Britain.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-61764649

[Nightjar]

South Kensington is expensive, it's true.

[cosmictanya]

I'd have thought that the BP on Park Lane would be the top. Imagine spending £10 million on a flat and saying to people who are coming over 'it's just above the petrol station, you can't miss it'.

[Fangirl Three]

Imagine popping down there for a caviar pasty and a champagne box with a bendy straw.

[cosmictanya]

Imagine popping down there for a caviar pasty and a champagne box with a bendy straw.

'I'm sorry, we don't sell pork scratchings, but I believe we have truffle shavings in the vending machine.'

[Fangirl Three]

I have hired a Transit van in which to take certain core items to Scotland next month.

I wanted to hire the 'little van' again but it wasn't available

[The Call of the Wendigo]

[Zarniwoop]

I have had a Transit van at work a few times, I think the rear wheels spend more time on the pavement than the road going round corners.
This may be a feature of Transits


More likely a feature of my atrocious driving.

[Fangirl Three]

I have driven Transits before, I've been OK so far. It's parking them that's the difficult bit.

[Fangirl Three]

I'm going north again today, and I idly wondered if that new junction 7a on the M11 is open yet.

It is!



I'm planning to go via Hatfield Heath and come round on the B183. Though roadworks in Sheering might hold me up.

[Fangirl Three]

I enjoyed J7a a lot. It's goodbye to the 10-mile stretch between J7 and J8.

Today I have my usual drive from Kettering to Glasgow to contend with.

[cosmictanya]

I've driven a van too, and it's easier than you fear it's going to be - at first, you can't imagine the road lanes will be wide enough, but before long you're barrelling along with a f*g in hand and the radio up. The first one I ever drove was also the first time I've ever driven onto a ferry, so my nerves were particularly taut. If anything, driving onto what could've been Estonia II put my initial apprehension about the transit van into perspective.

[Fangirl Three]

I'm on my way south again today. Who knows what blockages there will be this time, and which route I will end up taking?

Fangirl Three Route Generation Table
d%
01-90 M6 including J10
91-95 M6, A50, M1
96-97 M6, A66, M1
98 M6, M62, M1
99 M6, M56, that bit round Manchester airport, Eyam, Chesterfield, M1
00 M6, Macclesfield, Buxton, Derby, M1

[Fangirl Three]

I had an awful journey yesterday, especially between Wigan and Stafford. On that bit there was a queue before and after every junction.

Much better this morning though.

[Fangirl Three]

I realised why the only station I can get on my car radio is Radio 5 Live - someone had stolen my aerial!

I went to Halfords yesterday and purchased a replacement for £9, which I duly fitted, just in time to listen to the Blue Danube waltz on the drive back to the hotel.

When I got there I unscrewed it and hid it inside the car so it didn't get nicked again.

[Butterfield]

I realised why the only station I can get on my car radio is Radio 5 Live - someone had stolen my aerial!

I went to Halfords yesterday and purchased a replacement for £9, which I duly fitted, just in time to listen to the Blue Danube waltz on the drive back to the hotel.

When I got there I unscrewed it and hid it inside the car so it didn't get nicked again.

That's a very naughty old skool thing to do. I remember my dad fixing a wire coat hanger as an aerial to our Cortina. That's when aerials were to the side of the bonnet and easier to grab. My current car has a sort of flexible aerial on the roof that can't be snapped but can be unscrewed - so I make sure it's as tight as it can be. A lot of newer cars have those "shark fin" aerials which look pretty much unremovable, and can go through a car wash.

[cosmictanya]

A blast from the past regarding wire coat hangers on cars there. Maybe they're about to make a return - for aerial quick fixes, for maternal healthcare, etc. We had our television aerial sellotaped a broken plastic Principles hanger sellotaped into a hole that had been specially punched into the wall at one point, because that combination offered the best reception.

[Fangirl Three]

A lot of newer cars have those "shark fin" aerials

That's why it took so long for me to notice the theft. I assumed that the aerial socket assembly on the car roof was a small shark fin aerial.

[Fangirl Three]

I've had to make a last-minute hotel cancellation and rebooking for tomorrow, cos I looked at the Warrington M6 Premier Inn on Google and to get back to the M6 you have to make a right turn into the traffic queuing for the junction 21 roundabout. No way was I trying that in a Transit van in the rush hour.

[cosmictanya]

The key is confidence. Not over confidence, but enough to take control of the vehicle and feel like you belong in the driving seat. You're driving it (whatever it is) and not the other way round.

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