Transport

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The new car

March 22, 2007 in Transport, W123 by CiaranG | No comments

In the absence of anything else to write about, I thought I’d chart the progress of my latest in a long series of Mercedes W123′s. This one is a 280CE, which is my first coupe – previously they’ve all been saloons. I think by anyone’s standards she’s a real beauty, especially for a 22-year old banger.

As of now the mileage reads 130565, but before lunch it said 124544. This isn’t the result of a long journey, but of me replacing the instrument cluster with the one out of my spares car. The original featured two classic W123 faults, a stuck odometer and a bouncing speedo needle. Normally, the needle bounces at low speeds only, and this indicates a worn cable. This one bounced at all speeds though, and it turned out to be the unit itself, which I’ll now (i.e. ‘someday’) repair with the help of this.

I can only guess how long it’s read 124544, but it isn’t really important with a car of this age anyway. What matters is that any major faults have so far managed to keep themselves hidden, although I haven’t really had time to look very hard yet.

I estimate I’ve done about 200 miles in it so far. Hopefully the car will do the counting from now on.

Bloody Museum

March 18, 2007 in Transport, W123 by CiaranG | No comments

“We’re not running a bloody museum” apparently. This could easily be a complaint about the large collection of 1980′s home computers, but they stay far enough out of sight to avoid this kind of misguided wrath. They’re also relatively small compared to the real target, which is cars. Unless you’re a rock star or a car dealer, it must be a rare event in anyone’s life to own three examples of their favourite model of car. That’s the temporary situation I find myself in though, so I thought I would celebrate with a picture that I can look back on when the excess motors have been reluctantly sold off.

Shit On Road

November 18, 2006 in Transport by CiaranG | No comments

They don’t mince their words around here. This sign appeared just round the bend from our house the other morning. Naturally I’ve been itching to get a picture of it since then, and the opportunity presented itself on the way to Morrissons this morning. I’m not sure why the sign is necessary, since there’s always copious amounts of shit on the roads around here, mostly due to the horses. Perhaps the sign isn’t a warning to drivers, but an instruction from the farmer to the riders to keep it off his field.

In Morrisons, we bumped into my uncle, which was great because we haven’t seen him for over a year despite the fact that he’s headmaster of a school two miles away, and lives almost as close. Could do better. See me. (He didn’t say that, but I’m sure he made a mental note in red pen).

On leaving we very nearly literally bumped into a very unpleasant someone we really didn’t want to have to speak to, and upon seeing that her car was parked very near to ours, had to hide behind a concrete pillar with the trolley, waiting for her to drive off. It was freezing cold, but if you knew her, and you were on her list of people she might talk to, you would have done the same thing.

The Cardboard Child

September 21, 2006 in Transport by CiaranG | No comments

Today I’m going to explain my surefire road safety scheme, which I think should be implemented with immediate effect. It all centres around those lifesize cardboard cutout things which will be issued to the traffic police who are empowered to place them on the road anywhere they like – typically this will be just round a blind corner. The penalty for hitting one is a 5 year driving ban, during which the offender must spend every weekend on cardboard child placement duty.

I don’t think this is unreasonable, and in fact over the years I’ve never heard a single valid argument against it. Thinking about it, when challenged, people tend to just smile nervously and look for someone else to talk to.

Pointless

September 19, 2006 in Nuts, Transport by CiaranG | No comments

Everything here is pointless, so to warrant the title the post must be about pointless things.

I passed my favourite pointless road sign today – it’s a massive white-on-blue motorway job, which reads “No services on M1″. It’s located about a minute (traffic permitting) before you reach the northern end of the M1!? If anyone can offer an explanation for that I’m all ears.

Not much further on, an even more gigantic sign reads “Wide hard shoulder for 2 miles”. It’s true, since you could easily park coaches side-on all the way along it, but do we need a warning? I can’t imagine why, but then I can’t explain the disturbing number of people that drive along it. The excessive width makes it look less like a lane, not more.

And then tonight, and this is what brought the subject to mind, I saw a real gem on the A59 near Knaresborough. This is one of those temporary yellow signs, like the ones that make sure that battered old Saabs and Volvos can find their way to stamp fairs and steam engine rallys. “For Wetherby, follow existing signs”. Uhuh. Hope nobody steals it, or there’ll be chaos. I suppose it could be a way of ending a diversion though.

Switching to shopping, I’ve long been amused by both Sainsburys and Morrisons who have evidently issued a directive that all customers must be asked “Do you want any help with your packing?” and also a straight face must be kept when they only have 3 items. Actually, thinking about it, the less items you have, the more likely it is that they’ll ask. What brought this to mind is that guy in the garage in Manchester today delivered, unsolicited, the same observation about Asda, while I tried to pay him for my petrol and some provisions for the motorway.

Eight Trains

September 11, 2006 in Transport by CiaranG | No comments

I’ve been on eight trains today, which is more than the rest of 2006 so far put together, as follows: Weeton to Leeds, Leeds to Kings Cross, Kings Cross to Vauxhall, Vauxhall to New Malden, and then the same again but in reverse.

Last time I did the same journey, I drove down the night before and stayed in hotel. That was cheaper, as well as more pleasant. While it doesn’t seem to bother most people to be riding around like cattle and herded through tunnels and gates, it’s something I always try my best to avoid unless absolutely necessary, and today has reinforced that.

Fortunately, the cattle trucks got me to the meeting early, and it was definitely a worthwhile trip.

Back home, baby Mia, who was in bed asleep when I got up at 5am, is in bed asleep. It’s probably only the third or fourth time that’s happened in eleven months, which is too many for my liking but it could be a lot worse.

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