I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the electric car and why I couldn’t start it on Saturday night. So yesterday I booked it just for an hour so that I could figure out how to use it. I unplugged the charging cable from both the car and the charging point first go and the car also started first go. All I did was press the start button while my foot was on the brake. That’s exactly what I did on Saturday and so I don’t know why it didn’t work then. I have a swipe card which unlocks the car and I have a suspicion that if I don’t use the car within a certain time after unlocking it that I need to swipe again. On Saturday I wasted about 10 minutes faffing around trying to unplug it and so maybe I needed to re-swipe? I’m not sure. In any case, I started the car first go and drove around the block. It’s very nice to drive and has a nice interior with a touch screen on the Dashboard with a map. Although I am partial to my Busby and will always prefer bicycles and trains to cars, cars are useful from time to time.
A friend sent me this funny article about test driving a petrol car – Test Drive of a Petrol Car.
After writing about my issues with the electric car I was thinking about how easy I find petrol cars to use, even though they’re not all that straight forward. Imagine stepping into a petrol car without ever having driven one before. There’s no way you could just figure out the clutch and gears or even how to start it without lessons. By comparison an electric car is pretty easy.
As much as I love cycling, it’s tough cycling in most cities. Bicycles are not welcome on the road or the footpath so there’s not really any place to cycle. I cycle on a mix of both and in some ways it’s more exhausting mentally than physically. I love it though and I know it’s good for me. When I cycle to get from one place to another as part of my daily routine, I don’t have to make a special effort to exercise that day. It just happens as a consequence of getting from A to B. People who don’t have this option need to make a special effort to exercise everyday and this is where we fail. It’s hard to persist with daily trips to the gym or regular runs when you have to make a special effort. If you live somewhere where you need to cycle to go to the shops or to schools or to work then you get exercise for free.
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You are so right when you talk about how difficult it would be to drive a petrol car without lessons. That was a good idea to hire the electric car to find your way around it.
There seems to be an ongoing war between car drivers and cyclists in my city. I’m always happy to make way for cyclists but some car drivers seem to have an overblown sense of entitlement to use the road without having to watch out for anyone else but themselves. Because of this bloody-minded attitude, a lot of cyclists have put cameras on their bikes.
Yes, there’s an ongoing war between cyclists and motor vehicles in many cities. What we need are dedicated cycle paths so that bicycles have their own space.
Even though I enjoy driving my car around, I do wish we had better public transit that would allow us to rely on our vehicles less.
I’m a big fan of public transport, especially trains and trams. Cities that still have a trams are so lucky.
Cycling as a means of transport is excellent, as you say. You’ve got your exercise for the day without really noticing. I think as people age they need to keep up the exercise, but you often find somewhere you’d have happily walked to when younger, you now take the car! (This is why dogs are a good pet; whatever the weather, and however tired you are, you gotta walk them!)
Weird about the electric car – and typical – starts when you don’t need it! But most likely what you said about the ‘pass’ key timing out.
I agree about having dogs. My dogs used to be my daily exercise as they always need to be walked regardless of the weather.
This made me chuckle. You sound like me. I have been commuting to the office for years, and consider my ride home as an opportunity for a work out, searching out longer, more circuitous routes up longer, steeper climbs, faster flats, and thrill seeking descents. I still have a gym membership but seldom use it in the warmer months.
I am pleased to see you jumped back on the electric horse.
Nice post 🙂
I do half an hour of exercise a day so it’s not all that much but from what I understand, this is what we all need to be doing. When I go out on my bike that counts as my exercise. When I don’t cycle then I have to make a special effort to go for a run instead.
Good for you. I certainly need it. It puts me in a better frame of mind making it easier to cope the rest of the day.
Thanks. I liked the article about the petrol car so well that I seeded it to Newsvine for comments http://que2646.newsvine.com/_news/2015/05/06/32791884-test-drive-of-a-petrol-car .
That’s great. It is a very funny article. I especially liked the bit about how shocked they are having to pay for petrol.