mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
So I noticed a headlight had failed, so I fitted the spare. The car promptly rewarded me by blowing the *other* headlight bulb. So now I need to go get new spare bulbs because that was my last but I shouldn't really use the car with defective lights to get there. Not that I use it for local shopping anyway.
At least all three local car spares shops are reasonably accessible by bike because they also sell cycle spares - and our car is one where you simply open the bonnet, peel off the rubber boot, twist and remove the bulb holder and unclip the bulb. Some cars make you reach into the wheel well past the filthy wheel or remove the bumper - I'm surprised that's legal. And why are we still on energy-inefficient short-life halogens? Bicycles have good legal LED headlights but they're not available for most cars yet, as far as I can tell. No wonder motorists are jealous of good bike lights, eh?
Then the head-up display says it needs servicing within a few miles. Cars are flipping big and complicated now so I don't have the tools to do it myself, plus it needs a computer interface to reset the servicing countdown so the display goes away.
And don't get me started on the expensive oil it wants. 10W40 isn't good enough for these modern cars! It's more expensive than the oil for some of my bikes and it wants a lot more of it, although thankfully it doesn't seem to use it up any faster.
But anyway... until I get new bulbs, I've a multi-thousand-pound snow protector for the driveway it stands on!
Cars - you just can't trust them to work properly when you need them! Do so many of us keep them around mainly because the public transport system is generally messed-up in this country, such as shutting down at 6pm outside of major towns?
At least all three local car spares shops are reasonably accessible by bike because they also sell cycle spares - and our car is one where you simply open the bonnet, peel off the rubber boot, twist and remove the bulb holder and unclip the bulb. Some cars make you reach into the wheel well past the filthy wheel or remove the bumper - I'm surprised that's legal. And why are we still on energy-inefficient short-life halogens? Bicycles have good legal LED headlights but they're not available for most cars yet, as far as I can tell. No wonder motorists are jealous of good bike lights, eh?
Then the head-up display says it needs servicing within a few miles. Cars are flipping big and complicated now so I don't have the tools to do it myself, plus it needs a computer interface to reset the servicing countdown so the display goes away.
And don't get me started on the expensive oil it wants. 10W40 isn't good enough for these modern cars! It's more expensive than the oil for some of my bikes and it wants a lot more of it, although thankfully it doesn't seem to use it up any faster.
But anyway... until I get new bulbs, I've a multi-thousand-pound snow protector for the driveway it stands on!
Cars - you just can't trust them to work properly when you need them! Do so many of us keep them around mainly because the public transport system is generally messed-up in this country, such as shutting down at 6pm outside of major towns?