Driving

I like driving. Although it can be frustrating in today’s crowded roads it is generally both a satisfying experience and an efficient means of travel. Like many I started on two wheels with a Lambretta motor scooter. As a step up from cycling I found this very liberating. It was also very dangerous; I had more accidents in the couple of years I owned it than in all my motoring life since. Thankfully I was uninjured but it gave me a healthy awareness of tyres and road grip.

Only on one occasion was Annette on the pillion when I had an accident, skidding on ice. It was at a low speed and other than slight bruising ( and embarrassment ) little damage was done. Her parents were understandably horrified. The only time her father read me a lecture was just before we went on a scootering holiday.  I think ( hope ) he thought I was trustworthy as I had known him for a few years but he was unhappy about two wheeling.

It was my future father-in-law who sold me my first car for a token sum. In truth it was clapped out and we only ever practiced driving on private roads. During my year in industry I took driving lessons. My instructor, recommended by the girls at work, was David O’Brien ( he had charmed them ). It would be fair to say he was rather idiosyncratic. He would comment on attractive girls or unusual cars as we drove around.

Even so I passed my driving test ( in a strange car new to David and in a strange place ) and soon started work and graduated to a Hillman Imp. Bought second hand in Liverpool it was troublesome but took us overseas to France on holiday. Serious motoring in France came with an Austin Maxi which managed several trips to the south later groaning under the weight of three children and all our camping gear. Not too long afterwards I briefly had a company owned Ford Cortina which I subsequently bought. It was a very satisfactory car which went “round the clock” at over 100,000 miles.

Again for a while I had company cars including a Volvo , Rover 820( until a tree fell on it ) another Rover 820 and finally an Audi 80. The latter I bought when I retired from Castrol. I replaced it with a Volvo V70 estate. This was a splendid car, big carrying capacity but still a mid-sized exterior..

The V70 made a big round trip in France in my last motoring holiday about 15 years ago. I felt that at last I had a car worthy of the autoroute. This feeling was nearly punctured along with a tyre. The car had just a speed limited emergency spare. Limping along at 50 mph was not a happy experience. Otherwise we travelled nearly 3000 miles in style.

I was sufficiently impressed by Volvo to replace the V70 with the slightly smaller V60. The performance is ample for my rather staid approach to driving although I’m disappointed the economy is only about the same as the V70. There are a number of advances, including stop/start, which were supposed to improve economy but it doesn’t seem so. At least the very high gearing makes for relaxing motorway cruising. After my stroke in 1993 I’ve always driven automatic’s, less fuel efficient but much easier.

I took to heart the comment of a former boss when I complained about traffic congestion. Timing is the key he said and he was absolutely right. I always try to avoid rush hour. Experience has also taught peak times on our fewer long journeys so I always try to time driving for the best. Leaving Whitby on a Sunday demands an early start to get past York before it gets too busy. Similarly I aim to get past Nottingham on the M1 either before or after the weekday rushhour.