I think I get new cars almost as regularly as I get nights in to myself. This is not quite try, but it's not far off. I am rarely at home with nothing to do except do home-type things. I'm almost never at home with no company. I now have two house-mates. I also have a girlfriend who either visits me or invites me round to spend time with her. So time alone with my own agenda at home... it's rare.
Car-wise, the company I work for provides me with a car. This is no secret. Normally, they provide me with a car that's new and I run it until its "turnback mileage" where it then has to be returned. Sadly, owing to a series of changes and things being in flux, I'm being given cars which are already fairly close to their turnback, which means I have to change them relatively quickly. Don't get me wrong. This is not a bad thing. A change is as good as a rest. In February, I was driving "The Space Bus" - a Citroen C4 Grand Picasso. This was broken (and one fo the worst cars I've ever had the misfortune to drive). So I gave it back, borrowed a VW Golf to get to the airport to go to Budapest in March, and then got the loan of a Vauxhall Astra from late March. I drove the Astra to within 100 miles of its absolute top mileage and then swapped it tonight for a VW Golf with a good 40,000 miles between now and the end of its tenure.
It's a good job I rather like the Golf. I've driven a few of them over the years, often as hire cars, and they're good. Straightforward. Stolid. Nippy. Nice car.
It's a shame I couldn't wangle my favourite car of the minute - the Audi A3. I drove one of these while I was on holiday the other week. Lovely lovely lovely. Lovely.
I've harped on about cars for a bit, and this is a distraction. It was similarly a distraction tonight. Even though I left the office a little earlier to get the car side of things sorted out, I wasn't able to avoid it taking up a fair wadge of my evening. I had to drive the old car to Heathrow to pick up the new one (ooh boo hoo pity me... it's a credit crunch and I'm getting a car for nowt... I'm not bemoaning this - just observing it). Then I went to Tesco - that chapel of retail achievement. The goal was to buy cleaning equipment. I bought plenty. I then took it home and, after a little time spent eating, spent a night running up and down stairs with various cleaning tools or materials. In between times I did my best to deep clean the things which needed the most deep cleaning.
It's a load of effort to maintain a house. It's more effort when you only do deep cleans because the place isn't been kept on top of. Or maybe it's less effort in total, but it seems like more, and it's probably degenerative.
So, I got very sweaty, and I got a nose full of cleaning product vapours. Eventually, I was too tired to do anything but get a shower and go to bed to watch Doctor Who. The final two episodes of The Ark In Space were better than the first two. It's not going to be high on my list of favourites, but it passed the time nicely.
And that's how I spend my time when I'm home.
Car-wise, the company I work for provides me with a car. This is no secret. Normally, they provide me with a car that's new and I run it until its "turnback mileage" where it then has to be returned. Sadly, owing to a series of changes and things being in flux, I'm being given cars which are already fairly close to their turnback, which means I have to change them relatively quickly. Don't get me wrong. This is not a bad thing. A change is as good as a rest. In February, I was driving "The Space Bus" - a Citroen C4 Grand Picasso. This was broken (and one fo the worst cars I've ever had the misfortune to drive). So I gave it back, borrowed a VW Golf to get to the airport to go to Budapest in March, and then got the loan of a Vauxhall Astra from late March. I drove the Astra to within 100 miles of its absolute top mileage and then swapped it tonight for a VW Golf with a good 40,000 miles between now and the end of its tenure.
It's a good job I rather like the Golf. I've driven a few of them over the years, often as hire cars, and they're good. Straightforward. Stolid. Nippy. Nice car.
It's a shame I couldn't wangle my favourite car of the minute - the Audi A3. I drove one of these while I was on holiday the other week. Lovely lovely lovely. Lovely.
I've harped on about cars for a bit, and this is a distraction. It was similarly a distraction tonight. Even though I left the office a little earlier to get the car side of things sorted out, I wasn't able to avoid it taking up a fair wadge of my evening. I had to drive the old car to Heathrow to pick up the new one (ooh boo hoo pity me... it's a credit crunch and I'm getting a car for nowt... I'm not bemoaning this - just observing it). Then I went to Tesco - that chapel of retail achievement. The goal was to buy cleaning equipment. I bought plenty. I then took it home and, after a little time spent eating, spent a night running up and down stairs with various cleaning tools or materials. In between times I did my best to deep clean the things which needed the most deep cleaning.
It's a load of effort to maintain a house. It's more effort when you only do deep cleans because the place isn't been kept on top of. Or maybe it's less effort in total, but it seems like more, and it's probably degenerative.
So, I got very sweaty, and I got a nose full of cleaning product vapours. Eventually, I was too tired to do anything but get a shower and go to bed to watch Doctor Who. The final two episodes of The Ark In Space were better than the first two. It's not going to be high on my list of favourites, but it passed the time nicely.
And that's how I spend my time when I'm home.
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