Matt’s Journal

Motoring

Posted by Matt under Car

This morning I drove up to Colchester to where I bought my Hyundai Coupe from. It was due in for a service after owning it for a year, coinciding with the fact that Katie’s father was picking up his new car.

The visit was to also enquire as to a new car. After renewing my car tax which weighed in at a hefty £400 for the year, I was after a motor that would be a third of that cost and a lot more economical than my current vehicle.

The service took an hour and the car came out driving like a dream. I didn’t leave with the idea of getting a new one after my car was only worth half it’s initial value after just one year. I have the wedding and most probably a house purchase looming, so it’s time to knuckle down.

Car Tax

Posted by Matt under Car, Rant, Spendage, Wedding

I have had my Hyundai Coupe for a year now and this month my car tax has come up for renewal. Last week our Home Secretary announced his budget, punishing the more “polluting” vehicles. Guess what I was labelled…….a pollutant!

My car tax was quoted as being £300 on the renewal form for a year, very high but doable. The budget last week changed all that though, it went up to £400 for the year! A smack in the face for me, I will be doing my utmost to get a good deal for my car, trade it for a very economical smaller car……just what the government wants.

After declaring war on smoking, the amount of money they get from the tax concessions has considerably lowered. If we can’t tax smokers, lets tax the road users and pretend we are doing our bit for the environment!

It’s been an expensive weekend. I also bought our wedding rings ready for July and bought currency for our holiday. I need to win the lottery……..fast.

Driving Home For Christmas Sleepies

Posted by Matt under Car, Family, General

“Driving 500 miles in a day isn’t a problem, I’ll be fine.”

Yeah, bloody right.

Yesterday Katie and I jumped in her motor and drove over to my Nan’s, some 235 odd miles across the country. It had been planned for weeks and we had planned to leave the house by about half past five in the AM, but with us dawdling we only managed to hit the road at six.

Looking at the map above, it shows quite a distance (well, for the UK), one that we had decided we would undertake both to Hereford and back in one day. That meant that we would have the Sunday to do the bits we couldn’t do yesterday and have a somewhat lazy day before heading to Church that evening.

As Katie slept, I hit 80mph and stayed there for 80% of the journey. The roads were all motorways until you got nearer my Nan’s place. We didn’t stop, we didn’t pass Go and we didn’t collect £200, we just sat at 80 and we ate up the miles. About halfway through the journey, I got into a pickle when my Sat Nav was telling me one road to take and my head the other, only when I joined the right side instead of the left side of the slip road, I realised I had taken the wrong lane and set our journey back….what for it……fifteen minutes. Katie took great delight in reminding me of my mistake which I must admit amused me, it certainly broke the monotony of the journey.

We arrived just after ten in the morning and we were treated with a light breakfast. Then it was into the front room where you make some smalltalk about what you have been upto recently and how my Nan and Step Granddad have been. Something about Nan’s is that they always like to remind you about how old they are, how things are different these days and how they always stumble upon the nicest pubs and restaurants.

In this case it was how my Nan can’t do her flying and cruises anymore:

“At my age I am at the stage where I cant abide flying anymore, it just takes it out of me”.

“What about the cruises you liked to go on?” I said. (My nan had met my grandad on a cruise some fourteen years ago).

“Well, we could but we have been to all the places we want to visit, you see we have visited America, Europe, Australia, Asia, Margate and Lemington Spa (I made the last two cruise locations up, one is a seaside town and the other is known for it’s natural springs), the only place we could go would be the Mediterranean and I don’t want to go there”.

“Well”, I said, “there’s always Greenland”.

I don’t think it went down well, she proceeded to tell me how they now drive everywhere and stop every hour or so, so they can take in the local food, drink and plublic restrooms.

Hours passed, we discussed the rest of the family and our upcoming nutpuals and after a lovely meal, we decided to venture back, it was going to be a long slog for home. The return journey was error free except when the car alerted me it only had 20miles left of petrol and there was 22miles to the nearest petrol station. Luckily we limped into a service stop where the highly inflated price of petrol meant we only filled up a thimbleful of juice before getting back on our merry way.

We got home, ordered some food from the local takeaway and we slumped into bed. Lovely.

Updated Car Pictures

Posted by Matt under Car

I posted a while back about my new car but I didnt post many photos, here are some of the new ones I took this evening:

I’ll get some of the interior soon.