Conquering car illiteracy, almost

I took the plunge yesterday and bought a car!

In the space of 2 months, I went from being car illiterate to now being semi-illiterate. If someone had said then that I would now be able to identify the make of a car by looking at the symbol on the front I would have laughed out loud. I'd been in my flatmate's car dozens of times and all I knew was that she drove a Honda, without paying any attention to the finer details like the size of its engine, or the make of the car. The fact that it was red made a better impression on me than anything else. You're probably rolling your eyes thinking ' typical female' now.

I decided on buying a Honda after hearing about its legendary reliability and relative affordability. The initial decision was between a Jazz or a Civic. Both the Jazz and the older Civic are fairly boring looking cars, but then I discovered the new British Civic circa 2006-. The space age looks and functionality of its dashboard as well as roomy boot space cemented the decision for me. It also has a red start button to start the engine as opposed to the conventional turn in the lock. How cool is that? Toyota also makes reliable cars, but being a typical female, I opted for the stylish Civic compared to an Agyo or Yaris.

I bombarded my instructor with questions as we did the usual drill of roundabouts, junctions, manouvres and emergency stops. What did PAS stand for? Power assisted steering. What size engine would be suitable for my needs? What was an immobiliser? Did all cars have trackers? What're the pros and cons of buying a diesel/petrol car? What was the difference between buying from a franchised dealer/ non-franchised dealer or a private seller?

My instructor was kind enough to accompany me to the nearest Honda dealer to check cars out. I'd decided on a 1.4L petrol engine which would both be cheap to insure and to run. A low insurance group is significantly more important for someone with a new driving license as insurance costs are usually most expensive in the first year. An insurance quote of anything less than 1000 pounds for the first year would be considered cheap. Unfortunately, it turned out that 1.4L Civics were thin on the ground. Most tend to be 1.8 or 2.2L. There was only a black version available which was actually a decent car with a low mileage and in very good condition. The only problem was the colour. I felt that black was boring. I'd have plumped for red, silver or dark blue over black anytime.

Most people that I asked seemed to think that black was a good colour, though, and that it would be easier to resell compared to, canary yellow, for instance. A quick look at news articles outlining the highest selling colours established silver and black as the colours most buyers would opt for. There could be a bias though, as companies buying fleet cars are also more likely to opt for black. White seemed to be especially popular in the Far East, like Japan for instance.

I checked the dealer website again just before I went in to seal the deal. A new 1.4L in grey had arrived. There was also a silver available in a dealership across in Edinburgh. Unfortunately the latter was in the process of being sold when I phoned to arrange a test drive.
CY happened to be on MSN at the time so I started chatting to him about car colours. Both he and CH thought that black would be better than grey. He suggested that I put a poll up on my blog but I figured it would be pretty useless since the traffic on my blog is not the heaviest. I also needed a car pretty soonish. HS panned black in favour of grey. A couple of other friends thought black was fine and were surprised that colour mattered so much to me.

1.4L in Cosmic Grey Pearl

The 1.4L in Nighthawk Black Pearl

Which do you think looks better? There are also the following colours, which were only available in 1.8L or above:

Bluish silver metallic. I personally quite like this colour. It gives an air of tranquillity

Milano Red. Striking, isn't it? This is a head-turner, for sure.

Alabaster Silver Metallic. Very practical as dust doesn't show up as much.

Royal Blue Pearl

Let's just hope now it doesn't get vandalised in the grounds of Monklands Hospital.....

License to drive

I passed my driving test today!! Thanks to my driving instructor who I get along quite well with. I had to change instructors as the first one I took my first 2 lessons with pointed out all sorts of things that were wrong with my driving in a not so nice way and then said I would need about 40 1 hour lessons before I was ready for the test. After saying this, he then said he was fully booked for the next 2 months!! Grr.. I did not have the time or the money for 40 lessons! I looked for another instructor on the internet and managed to find my current one who had plenty of experience, was more patient, gave constructive criticism instead of destructive criticism and also charged less! Or maybe I just like him more because he felt that I should be able to take the test after less than 20 hours of driving..hehe

I passed the Malaysian driving test about 10 yrs ago and have rarely driven in the last 7 years that I've been in the UK mainly because public transportation here is so reliable and also because I'd never had to commute to work. My workplaces have usually been within walking distance.

But starting in Aug this year it would be preferable to have a car as my new workplace is about 20 miles away from where I stay which means I would either have to commute by train or grow up and start driving! Unfortunately the Malaysian driving license cannot be converted into a UK license unlike some other countries like Singapore for instance. The test here is also stricter with different manouvres. So I had to take lessons to get to know the roads as well as get used to being behind a wheel again.

Thank God the weather was fair without being overly bright today. My examiner seemed content to allow me to concentrate on the road rather than distracting me with chatting as some examiners are wont to do. And luckily, the roundabouts were all clear!! I have a fear of roundabouts. Cars coming around don't usually signal accurately so I tend to slow down and wait until the roundabout is clear before emerging which is not what they want to see on the test. He made me pull over about 4 times which made me nervous as each time I thought he'd say 'that's enough, we should swap seats' which would be a sign that i'd failed!

So now it's time to buy a car, which unfortunately will be a major expenditure.

Losing things

I invariably lose belongings when I go on trips. I'm a klutz that way.

For instance, on my way back to New York from Boston two years ago, I managed to misplace an entire carrier bag. Items inside - my prescription glasses, one Boston cream pie, one pretty purple tank top, my mobile phone charger and one change of underwear. I hope whoever took it enjoyed the cream pie. I certainly did not have a chance to buy another pie. I also had to get my glasses replaced at a hefty USD price. I had to haggle with a street seller for a dubious looking replacement phone charger but it was worth it at less than one-fourth the price I would have to pay in a shop.



In Washington DC, I left a white scarf behind on the subway. Luckily I managed to get a new one for only 5 usd.



In Brisbane back in 2004, I was almost mugged on the train as I had engrossed myself in a book and left my shoulder bag on the seat next to me. A six-foot tall white man grabbed it and rushed out the train doors at one of the stops. Things got a bit messy therafter. I had to sprint for over 100m to retrieve it and knew for the first time what it meant to be charged with adrenaline.



During my recent trip to London I lost my favourite cocktail ring set with green stones.



And last but not least, when my sister and I were trapped on the Eiffel Tower for 2 hours due to heavy rain, someone took my umbrella!! It was only worth 1 GBP and I can understand the attraction of an umbrella under those circumstances but boy was I annoyed. Fortunately the weather never deteriorated beyond a drizzle thereafter.