Nina's Blog - Thursday 12th June 2025

@ninalanyon Why do a simple thing simply, eh, Herr Mercedes?


This reminds me of a friend's experience many years ago, as she related to me:.

Anne and her husband needed a car each because they worked quite a long way apart, and about twenty miles from their home village that is nowhere near any public transport. So they needed save to buy something new, replacing their faithful but ageing BMC Minis.

So off trots Anne to a Vauxhall dealer, having decided the basic model Nova would suit her commuting and her bank-balance. Radios were among the optional extras...

"May I have a cassette-player instead, please?"

"Sorry ma'am", the dealer replied. "That's not on the Approved List of Extras for the Nova L."

Approved by whom and why, thinks I... Anne stuck to her guns. "I know perfectly well a cassette-player will fit the same space and wiring - and doesn't need an aeriel!"

Sensing he was losing the sale, the dealer magically found you could fit a cassette-player in a Nova L.


Anne now owns a Honda (I think) hybrid... The worst thing about it, she said, is its frightening side-guard system that grabs the steering if it "thinks" you are about to hit the wall, but the margin is quite wide and not always welcome when you live in a rural area with some narrow roads and wide vehicles. You can switch it off, but like a cookie-filter, have to do so for every new journey.

@ArishMell Such driver assistance features will soon be compulsory on new cars in the EU and presumably in the UK in effect. And from what I have read the feature of requiring the setting to revert to on each time the car is started will also be compulsory.

@ninalanyon That does not surprise me, and I would not be surprised either if such rules are by intense lobbying from the manfacturers.

@turbineman40 Yes, it was one of the reasons for buying it. A European petrol car of this weight and power probably uses at least a litre for ten kilometres. I've driven it over 150 thousand kilometres so the equivalent of at least 15 thousand litres. At current prices that's about 20 kGBP, getting on for half what I paid for the car.

But of course the actual saving should be expressed in electrical terms. The car gets about four kilometres per kWh and Tesla charges 0.64 GBP/kWh at the charger I'm at now. That works out to 24 kGBP but of course most people charge at home most of the time which cuts it in half. Still free charging is worth a quarter of what I paid.

:-)

@ninalanyon I've heards of elephants in the room, but on the stairs, well...

Is there something about elephants? There has been a number of elephant statues in places in West Dorset - I have no idea why!

I like those windows.

@ArishMell I think elephants are just a popular theme. There was one in the foyer of the Maidstone Museum too