interrobang (‽)

So, further to my last missive, this car accident I was involved in turned into as much fun and games as I thought it would be.
Because it was clearly the fault of the other guy - one Taylor Osborne - my insurance company (Geico) bounced it to the other driver’s insurance company (Farmers). Farmers then spent a good month trying to, in their words, “establish coverage”. Which means that they weren’t entirely convinced that the guy was insured at all. As I suspected, he was actually claiming insurance under his father’s policy. The way it works over here is that […]

I guess it had to happen sooner or later, but I was finally involved in a car accident on the I-10. And no, it wasn’t my fault. I was driving home after a particularly stressful day at work (where I had to berate one of my direct reports for falling asleep at his desk - and I’m not really one for confrontation, so that was really tough for me), pootling along in the fast lane at just around the speed limit, when my car got hit from behind.
I pulled over onto the shoulder (thankfully they have one on the outside […]

I’ve been having a couple of issues with my car, recently.  For some reason, when you turn the ignition, if it doesn’t start the first time, it won’t the second, or third, or fourth…you basically have to sit back for half an hour and then try again.  If I’d had the time and money I would have taken it into the dealership and had it looked at, but I’m nothing if not a procrastinator (I think - I’ll have to give it some more thought later), so I just left it.  As a workaround, I just developed a specific combination of […]

Last weekend I bought myself a new car (well, new to me - not brand new - it’s a 2003 model).  It’s a small 2-door Chevrolet Cavalier LS Sport (see picture on the MobLog).  I used to have a Vauxhall Cavalier last time I lived in England (14 years ago…) and this is nothing like that.  This is actually a good-looking car, although the ‘Sport’ side of things only really extends as far as the spoilers, and it coming in a rather fetching ”Sporting Yellow”.  It’s a 2.2 liter engine, which sounds a lot in a small car by European standards (my […]

Further to my last missive, I finally succeeded in biking to/from work.  Although (much like Finn learning to ride his bike without stabilizers) I didn’t really have much choice, as my car is in for repair.  The windscreen wipers stopped wiping, opting to emit a burning plastic smell instead, and when I took it to the garage on Wednesday they noticed that the shock absorbers were shot (that would explain the clunking every time I take a speed-bump, then) and also needed replacing, and announced that I wouldn’t get my car back until Friday.  So having cycled from the garage to […]

My car sprang a fairly serious oil leak (to the point where it was getting through oil faster than petrol, and I was leaving a trail all down the road).  I’d noticed the oil light flashing on and off when I drove into work on Friday morning.  So I topped it up with a gallon of Esso Superlube (company man to the last!) before I left work, but the oil light was flashing again before I was halfway home.  I was just wondering where I’d find a garage open on a Saturday (this is Belgium, after all…), when the police […]

Nowadays, a car is pretty much a necessity.  And just about everyone here in Belgium has one.  So why do the Belgians make getting a car on the road such a difficult, lengthy, and truly exasperating process?  Here’s what I had to go through…
When you buy a car (even a second hand one - and even from a private sale) in Belgium you don’t get the number plates with it.  These are actually issued by the local authorities (it’s another way of getting tax).   We bought a couple of cars from a dealership, paid the money, and asked for the […]

OK, I’ve had my first taste of country living. I was driving home from work in my tiny little 1.0 liter Opel Corsa, and decided to take what looked like a nice shortcut. I started hacking down this road that rapidly narrowed to only one (very narrow) lane wide, with trees on either side, clipping the wing mirrors. It was night, the road was very winding and I had about 10 yards visibility, but I gave it a go anyway.
After about a mile, the tarmac gave way to gravel, so I slowed down to about 60mph and kept going. The […]