Cars

[prepare4trouble]

 I had to drive my mum's car to work today.  It was... nerve-wracking is probably the best description.  It's an automatic, and I've never really driven one before.  In fact the only times I've driven one are the few times I've driven her car on the motorway on a long trip when she's there too, and that's not the same thing at all!

My car was in for it's MOT.  It passed, eventually, so I have it back now, but while it was in I still needed to get to work.  I spent the whole trip trying to press the clutch and stomping hard on the bit of floor where it should be.  Also, trying to put the lever thing that decides whether it's in drive or park or whatever in the right place, which I couldn't do without looking.  In my car I can switch between gears without even thinking about it.  This, I had to think about, and that was weird, it was like learning to drive again.

I survived it though, and the car did too.  I think mu mum expected me to come home determined to get an automatic.  Nope.  It honestly doesn't feel like driving to me.  it's like dodgems, one pedal for go, one for stop!  apparent;y she took to it really quickly though, when she hired one on holiday in Australia, and didn't want to go back to gears.  Maybe I needed a longer run to get the hang of it.  I'm glad I don't want one though, they are super expensive!  Plus my little car still has a lot of life left in it.  I hope.

So the MOT is don't, the renewal quote for the insurance was reasonable, and in fact not much more than the next cheapest I can find online and without the faff of switching, so Im going to leave it, and I did the tax as soon at the MOT was done, so I'm good to go for another year.  What a relief, I hate this time of year when I end up paying for everything again.

In unrelated news, KCOM, our usually fairly useless broadband provider with whom we are stuck because they have a monopoly in the area, have finally made the ultrafast broadband available in our street.  We got it upgraded today, and it works.  260 Mbps!  Yesterday we were lucky to get 5.  I've been celebrating by downloading a bunch of free movies from Sky and marveling at the time it takes to get them!

Comments

[stardreamed]

OMG. That's happened to me. I learned to drive using standard. (My Dad's car was standard, and he received a company car, so his car ended up becoming my car.) I had to use Mom's automatic to take the test for my driver's license. You can guess what I did on the way there. ^_^;; Brake with my right when my instinct was to shift and move that lever where it shouldn't go. LOL. I've driven standard most of my life, but my current car is automatic - if it wasn't a Subaru all-wheel drive, I'd have to insist on standard. In the winter, not being able to down-shift, not having the same control over the car, it would drive me crazy. (I can't shift with the Subaru, but it doesn't slide on the ice much, if ever, either.) It must feel good to have your car back! Congrats on the high speed internet!

[prepare4trouble]

Yeah I imagine there would be times when not being able to change gears in winter would be really annoying. My mums last car was automatic too, but had a manual override on it so she could change bear if she wanted. This one doesn't though. I doubt I'll ever get one, driving it just felt alien! They're pretty rare here though, and more expensive. The only people with automatics I know are my mum and the husband of someone I work with who has to use one because he can't use one of his arms. If you take your test in an automatic you also can't drive standard on that license, so not many people do it.

[stardreamed]

Weird. I had no idea. In the US, most people drive automatic and as far as I know, you don't need any special test in standard to start driving one. (At least in CT - can't speak for all 50 states, but they're usually pretty similar.) Most people I know have no idea how to drive standard. It's one of the reasons I bought an automatic, actually. Nik doesn't know how and I didn't want him damaging my car learning, and you know how it is when couples sometimes need to drive each other's cars... For my generation, it's actually a little unsual that I do know how. I try to explain things like downshifting in weather and people look at me like I have two heads. LOL. If people do learn, it's usually because they want to drive something sporty.

[prepare4trouble]

So sportier cars tend to not be automatic?

I dunno why it's that way here, but I suspect it's the British tendency to get stuck in our ways. If something works, don't go for something else even if it is easier, it's different, it's probably some kind of a conspiracy... run away. ;-D

[stardreamed]

Yeah. With sports cars, a lot of people are doing it for the thrill of driving. Some people think it's religious to drive an automatic sports car. I think one of the big draws is that standard shift lets you control when you shift - automatic doesn't always mean that the car shifts at the most optimal time. So, if you're looking to buy standard/manual transmission, dealerships are more likely to have that in the sportier cars.

The great car conspiracy? LOL :)