busy weekend – and test drives…

Current work: revisions for Med
Listening to: Melody Gardot, My One and Only Thrill (thanks to lovely Donna Alward for suggesting this one to me)
Reading: various research stuff

Wonderful bank holiday weekend. As DH was off, did a bit of skiving, i.e. spent time with the family rather than working. (Bad me. Lots to catch up on. But it was nice to spend time with them.)

Saturday, moseyed into town as Madam needed new shoes. I finally cracked after much nagging and bought DH’s birthday pressie early, so he’s happy. (Satnav. Sigh. Think kid with new toy.)

And then we looked at cars. Even though I hadn’t intended to change mine until next year, I’ve been muttering since the spark plug issue reared its head again. I’d promised DH that I would look at other cars as well as Clios this time round, so we went to several dealerships. Did NOT like the new Fiesta (feels cramped, and I don’t like the dash – bright red LED). Looked at the Merc A-class (DH’s idea) but it didn’t feel right. Neither did the Polo (and DH said that wouldn't be a good buy anyway as a new version is coming out soon, so the about-to-be-old-shape one would depreciate mega-quickly).

However, I did like the new Corsa: it’s roomy, with a comfortable driving position.

My benchmark car was my Clio (despite more mutters from DH about Renault, because his Megane was a nightmare car). Renault had sent me a leaflet telling me that they’d love me to change my car as they want quality used cars, and they’d give me an extra-good price for it as I’m a valued customer.

Yeah, right. The salesman offered me quite a bit less than the Glass’s guide price and then tried to sell me the next spec up. It was nowhere near as good a deal as the pre-reg Corsa. And even less of a good deal than a 6-month-old Corsa from a dealer we’ve used before – which had low mileage and a much higher spec. And the dealer offered me what I wanted for mine. Said we’d think about it over the weekend.

Sunday, went to Thursford for research trip. Saw the fairground organs playing (this is a Marenghi)

and also rode the ‘scenic railway’ (aka Venetian gondola/switchback - NB this wasn't taken with a fisheye lens: there are valleys and hills). You really do feel as if you're going to fall out as you go up the hill (if you're sitting backwards, as I was - arrgh!).

It was perfect for research purposes, especially as I could see the man feeding the cards into the organ so I understood exactly how it worked. However, that was the only ride working (and it only had three rides scheduled for the whole day) and there was no steam; we had expected to see a little more. Apparently some of the collection had gone off to Strumpshaw for the steam rally – pity we didn’t realise that at the time or we would’ve gone there instead. But at least my book is taking shape. (Hero is Felix. Thanks again to those who helped crystallise my thoughts earlier.)

Next stop, the beach. From the cliffs at Hunstanton, we could see loads of kites – looked very pretty.

When we were right next to the sea, we realised why there were so many – this is what they were doing.

Looked like hard work but great fun, especially when they jumped out of the water and glided through the air.

Monday – typical Bank Holiday weather, cold and cloudy, so we stayed fairly close to home. DH had been reading reviews and said that if we decided on a Corsa, a 1.2 was underpowered – which was one of the problems with his Megane, so he offered to pony up the difference in cost for a 1.4 (bless him). Went back to the dealer’s for a test-drive.

And yes, I did wuss out of driving it myself. As did all the other women there buying a car – and they had the same reason as me, i.e. test-driving feels like doing a driving test and you just know you’re going to crunch gears and make an idiot of yourself over parking it. (All the dealers said the same thing on Saturday: in their experience, women always get their husband to do the test-drive.)

Am sure there are people out there who would lambast me for this; so, to avoid them wasting their time typing (nice hint, hmm?), I'd like to point out that this was MY choice to ask him to do the testing for me. Not because either of us think I'm incapable, but I hate doing test-drives and DH enjoys them. He knows exactly what I want/expect from a car and I trust his judgement. Besides, I can’t hear engine noises (even with sound on), so I need someone with decent hearing to check that side of things for me. And he does drive mine occasionally, so it'd be stupid to get a car that had a really uncomfortable driving position for him. QED. Made sense for him to do it.

Drive was good; kids were happy with the amount of passenger space; there was a choice of colours, and all four of us liked the same colour (Star Silver – it’s the colour of new matte silver jewellery and really suits the car). The dealer is sorting out the registration plate transfer, too, so I don’t have to spend ages sitting in the DVLA office (I am aware of approaching deadlines and could do without the hassle!).

And I pick it up in three weeks’ time, yippee.