Comments (3)

By Gareth, December 9, 2008 22:39

It’s taken me a while to get round to writing about our trip to see the MPH Car Show and Top Gear Live show at the NEC in Birmingham.

We made the trip for Gemma’s brother Shaun’s 21st birthday, and we all had a great time, with the highlight being the “Top Gear Live” show.

Continue reading 'Top Gear Live'»

Comments (2)

By Gareth, December 2, 2008 22:15

Cars in the Snow

…causes so much chaos!

This morning was the journey from hell to work. Not that I got there!

It all started when we were woken at around 5am by Liam who was asking for a feed. As I got up to see to him, I had a quick look out of the window to see how bad the overnight frost had been. It didn’t seem too bad. I went into Liam’s room and changed his nappy, while Gemma went downstairs to prepare his bottle. Continue reading 'A Little Bit of Snow…'»

Comments (4)

By Gareth, November 13, 2008 23:01

I’ll say it again!

“PUT YOUR DAMN* LIGHTS ON”

*Language toned down for public consumption

This time of year really shows how many idiots there are on the roads. I don’t know about you but it has been driving me mad lately as the days are getting shorter, that some drivers are being so dense that they don’t turn their headlights on.

It really annoys me! (Could you tell?)

This is really stupid and just plain dangerous. Especially with the speeds on the motorways. It is hard enough to see cars approaching behind you in the dark, without these idiots driving without their headlights on.

Just because they can see everyone else with their lights on, it doesn’t mean that we can see them. I don’t understand why seeing other cars with lights on doesn’t serve as a reminder for them to do the same.

You can imagine the thought processes going through these drivers minds:

Oh, look at all those drivers with their lights on.

That’s really good of them. It helps me to see them.

And, because they’ve got their lights on that must mean that they can see me!

No, it doesn’t quite work like that.

In fact, its not just driving at night that drivers “forget” to put their lights on. Even when its raining they should be putting their lights on so that other road users can see them through all the spray.

Another point, sidelights do not qualify as having your lights on when visibility is at a premium. You might as well not have any on, for all the good they do! It is very hard to see the dim glow of sidelights in amongst bright headlights, or mountains of spray being thrown up from the road surface.

I think that it should be made compulsory for all cars to have their lights on at all times. It won’t cost you anything and it will save these brain dead idiots from having to bother to turn their lights on.

Comments (0)

By Gareth, October 17, 2008 20:00

(Well, Gemma’s to be exact! )

Today was a happy day for Gemma. She has finally got her new car!

And, she is VERY happy!!!

It is a Vauxhall Astra 1.8i SRi (XP). And here it is in all its glory:

Our New Astra

Our New Astra

First impressions of the car are very good. Only time will tell how good a car it is, but I don’t think that anything will change Gemma’s mind about how much she loves her ‘little’ car.

Comments (0)

By Gareth, April 25, 2008 09:21

Gemma had a bit of an exciting day on Monday. Having been out in the morning with Ellie they were on their way home when they were stopped by the police.

The police were out in force doing their usual vehicle checks. Gemma was spotted by the lead police car, who radioed his mate to stop her to check the tinted windows in the car.

Gemma stopped as requested and the nice policeman (he was genuinely nice according to Gemma!) He checked the windows to see how much light was being let in, and it was found that the windows were letting in a lot less than they should be.

The policeman was quite surprised that we’d not been stopped about it before. We’ve had the car for 3 years now and its never been an issue before.

The limit for the front side windows is min 70% light, but they were actually only letting in 40% light. He also checked the windscreen which has a limit of 75%, and it scraped in at 77%.

Because of that he had to issue Gemma with a ticket. Luckily it was only a non-endorsable fixed penalty, which meant no points for Gemma, but a £30 fine. We’ve got 28 days to cough up.

There was a little bit of humour from Ellie as the policeman gave Gemma the ticket:

“Look Mum, a ticket” said Ellie.

“Yes darling it is a ticket,” replied Gemma. “But not one that we want!”

So when I got home I had the job of taking the film off the inside of the windows. This was not an easy job. Getting the film to start peeling off was the hardest part, but once it got started it pretty much came off in one go. Once the film was off, the next job was to get all of the adhesive off.

A lot of elbow grease and white spirit was required, but eventually most of it has come off.

So all we’ve got to do now is to send off a cheque

Comments (0)

By Gareth, October 8, 2007 13:33

As of this afternoon, Gemma’s first car is going off to the scrap yard

Her little Corsa has served her well, getting her through her test, and nearly 2 years of motoring.

It just wasn’t worth paying out to get it fixed after it failed its MOT a while ago. Thankfully, the firm that is collecting it will take it away for free and will even give us £50 for it. Better than nothing I suppose. And it takes all the hassle away from trying to get rid of it ourselves.

Plus, we’ll be getting a new car on Saturday. We’re buying my sister’s Clio from her. So it’s not all bad.