Our (unofficial) work car park is small and has no lines printed on it. After living somewhere where the parking spaces were really narrow, I tend to feel that if I can get out of the driver's side easily I've parked too close.

This morning I parked perfectly: I had to get out the passenger side.

I swear there is some sort of conspiracy against me by the god of petrol. If the petrol's going up, then any time I think about getting petrol but don't for some reason, it goes up 1p the next day. If petrol's going down, then any time I get petrol it goes down 1p the next day.

I thought about getting petrol the same day every week to get around it, but I don't need petrol every week. I do try and fill the car up when I'm down to half a tank, but that's mainly on the basis that the pumps aren't designed for people with small hands and any longer holding it really makes my hand hurt.

I've been meaning to buy petrol all week, especially as yesterday it went down to three eighths of a tank (my petrol gauge comes in eight discrete units). I finally managed to buy some this morning, on my way to work. I passed the petrol station on my way home and the petrol's gone down 1p.

There must be some sort of god waiting for me to think about/buy petrol just to change the price, it's the only explanation.

I don't like Wednesdays - although this is generally because nothing interesting happens on a Wednesday. Today turned out to be more interesting than I would have liked.

When I got to my car after work it was horribly hot, so I set off with the windows down - and realised there was a dragging noise somewhere in the vicinity of the left side of my car. I'd just been on that side and hadn't seen anything, but I was just in the right place to pull over into a spare space in a layby. And discovered that my left front tyre was as flat as a pancake.

Since this has never happened to me before, my first instinct was panic. And then ring the RAC. So they said they'd be about 45 minutes. So I cleared the rubbish out of my boot so they could get to the spare wheel. Today would be the day that I'd forgotten my book. But I thought I'd stay with the car while it cooled down. Which it had, quite nicely, by the time they rang me an hour later to tell me it could be another hour...

At which point I went back into work on the basis that I needed food, drink and a toilet. At which point I realised I was carrying a bag containing five cereal bars, two 200g bars of chocolate and two jars of pasta sauce. Not that you can eat pasta sauce on its own, but I certainly wasn't going to starve.

Since I wasn't there, this meant that the RAC man dropped off his last job round the corner and was therefore at my car before I was. In fact, by the time I got there he had the jack under it and was in the process of taking the wheel off.

He couldn't find anything that caused it. And he remembered that he'd just seen a tyre place around the corner that I'd forgotten that existed. So I will be paying them a call tomorrow morning, and doubtless handing over larger sums of cash than I planned to spend this month.

It turns out that the spare wheel is horrible to drive with. I had always just assumed that all five wheels were the same, but not. This one is smaller. You can't go above 50mph, but I wouldn't want to. Apart from the fact that it smells of new tyre, once you go fast it sounds terrible going along the road, and makes the steering wheel and pedals vibrate.

And all that time I spent hanging round the left side of my car (which I rarely go to) made me notice how scratched it was. It took me a while to remember that was caused by Tuesday last week when I drove into a hedge. So at the weekend I'll be taking it to Tescos for a wash and then see about polishing or painting it, depending on what makes it look more cared for...

Considering that I don't like driving and given the option would far rather not, I can't quite believe I'm going to say this but... I really want to be able to drive to work.

I'd be warmer, I could leave later, so get up later, so get more sleep, I could listen to the radio (I haven't heard Chris Evans at breakfast yet and I'm missing the Five Live guys with the news on my way home). It wouldn't matter if I left a few minutes late, I would have to slide over so much snow, I would spend ages waiting for a bus and I could leave work whatever time I liked (well, after 5.30pm obviously).

I can't drive at the moment because although the main roads are fine, I'd have to park down a side road, which aren't so great. My road isn't great and to make it worse, I'd have to turn my car round 180 degrees, it's currently on a slight slope and there's a pile of snow behind it because it's been parked there ever since we had the heavy snow Tuesday night last week. And most importantly, having experienced driving on snow once I'm not desperate to try it again.

It's supposed to be a lot warmer from tomorrow (where a lot warmer means above freezing) so hopefully there'll be lots of melting going on. But I am so sick of the snow.

I was thinking about the differences between my new, two year old car and my old, twenty year old car, and all the things that are now standard that seem new to me.

So there's automatic choke, 5 gears, back windscreen wiper, electric windows, electric wing mirrors, central locking, point and click key.

But there are other things you can get too, if you spend more money, like air conditioning, parking sensors, heated wing mirrors, 6 gears, sat nav, buttons on the steering wheel to control the radio. Basically a whole load of things you'll never use but will go wrong and beep at you.

I vaguely remembering hearing on Top Gear years ago about an S type Mercedes, I think it was, that knows how close you are to the car in front and essentially drives for you.

So that makes me think. In twenty (or more) years time, what's going to be standard in all cars? All of the above, plus not running on petrol. And probably ability to plug your ipod in directly and control it from the radio. Can anyone think of anything else?

I have a new car. It is mostly better than the old one: Read more...

Because I haven't got the energy for anything more substantial.
Read more...

I have a car! Well, I don’t have it exactly, there’s still boring admin and money-type of things to do, but once that’s all sorted, then I’ll have my car in my sticky little mitts. Figuratively speaking, because it’s quite big. It’s a Toyota Yaris, it has exciting things like power steering and a light in the boot, but most importantly, it’s red. Very red. Exactly the right sort of red, whereas Honda do three reds: two are too dark to be of any use and one is quite pinky, which is a horrid colour for a car. Although I did choose the Yaris because I liked it more, not just because it came in a better colour. I mean, I’d have lived with bright blue if I’d had to.

I am definitely still ill - after I’d gone out and chosen a car all I could do was lie around watching All Creatures Great and Small. According to the NHS Direct website it should last for one to three weeks, which was right for the last time I had it. But it’ll be four weeks tomorrow, and the website I found that says it lasts for three to eight weeks is probably more accurate in this case. Which means I could be ill till nearly the end of April. Which I could live with, as long as I knew I’d definitely be better by then. The only good thing is I don’t think I have the variety of labyrinthitis where you’re ill for years because I’m not ill enough.

I am freezing. But then I am only wearing one jumper. I have stupid heating that comes in on or off and as it's so warm during the day I have it off, otherwise I wake up boiling. Because it's still really cold at night, it means it's quite cold in the mornings and evenings, plus my body clock seems to have decided it's BST a bit early.

I'm definitely still ill. I put on a New Who episode and the beginning credits are the worst thing ever. Definitely not recommended if you're dizzy. I have until Wednesday to get better, then I go back to the doctors, who are pretty much incapable of diagnosing anything I can't work out for myself, so I'm not hopeful, but I just want to get better. I want my life back again.

I am going to decide what car I want this weekend, which'll probably knock me out for the weekend with the half hour drive each way. But I definitely need a car that's less effort to drive, because part of the reason I didn't for so long while I was ill was because I didn't have the energy to turn the wheel. The trouble is that they don't make custom cars and what I really want is a Toyota Yaris at the front and a Honda Jazz at the back. And no, I don't want James May to make me one.

I have discovered the source of one of the funny noises my car makes! I currently have four: one is something rattling in the dashboard, one is a squeaking noise when I break, two are squeaking noises when I'm going along. The squeaking noises are all louder with the window open, which hasn't really been improving my drive home in a stuffy car with the sun right in my eyes. But while I was backing my car up after I'd turned it off, by the method of sticking my foot out of the door and giving it a push, as it's on a slight slope, I discovered that when I move the car, it creaks. I'm quite looking forward to owning a quieter car.

I thought I'd try out a DVD in my computer this evening. It took me ages to work out which program it had installed as the DVD playing program and then I found I hate it with a passion. It's rubbish. It takes over so much that you can hardly run any other program at the same time, and it takes the taskbar away so you can't get to any other program (alt+tab refused to work). I couldn't work out how to fast forward in any useful way and there's no right click menu to tell it that actually you want subtitles/commentary. I was looking forward to getting an upgrade from WinDVD, but it turns out WinDVD was the pinnacle of DVD playing programs (and to be fair, I loved it, it's far better than a DVD player). Am I right in thinking it's the free version and PowerDVD is the paid for one that lets you take screenshots? Can I get it somewhere? Can I go back to Windows 98? (actually, since I have it on a virtual machine on this computer, the answer to the last one is yes, technically).

I thought deciding which car to buy would be simple. I thought I'd go and test drive a few, hate them all and then buy a Toyota Yaris.

Yesterday I drove a Ford Ka and continually failed to get first to second. This morning I drove a Toyota Yaris (where I continually failed to get the handbrake off because I was trying too hard), a Vauxhall Corsa (where the handbrake was too far back and the indicators were so quiet I couldn't work out if I'd turn them on or not), a Volkswagon Polo (which I hated on the basis that it had indicator lights on the wind mirror, when there is no need and it is annoying) and a Honda Jazz (in which I can move the seat too far forwards - I never knew such a thing was possible).

I liked the Corsa because it's like my car, I like the Yaris, except for the stupidly tiny boot space, and I like the Jazz for it's ridiculously big boot space. I liked the Toyota dealer because they found me a red one to drive.

It was only when I got back in my car that I realised how uncomfortable it is to sit in, how hard it is to drive, and how many ratting/squeaking noises it has (three rattles, two squeaking). So I definitely want a new car, I just don't know which one.

It doesn't help that I had a late lunch by the time I'd driven all these, so now I'm really sleepy. And my arms and legs ache from all the driving.

As the snow has now gone (except for a tiny snowman down my road) I drove to work today. And my car annoyed me so much I have finally got round to requesting some test drives. I think I want a Toyota Yaris, as my parents and sister have them and if my sister only had a white, not a grey one, we could do The Italian Job with Yarises. But I am going to also try a Ford Ka and Vauxhall Corsa and I might see about some other Fords too as the garage is only two minutes walk away. I wanted to try a Renault Clio too, but they didn't have any of those at any places nearby.

I might not actually get to drive them for a while, but it would be handy to have a car that goes in the rain once spring comes.

I have looked at a few reviews on Top Gear and the What Car websites, but does anyone have a subscription to Which? they can use to look up superminis for me? What I want in a car is quite simple:

• Ability to reach the pedals
• No choke
• No having to go under the bonnet twice a year to tell it what season it is
• Goes in the rain
• Goes uphill
• Goes in the cold
• Warms up sometime during my journey to and from work
• Red

I suspect those requirements won't be hard to fill. Everything else comes in the 'quite like' category (power steering, electric windows, air conditioning, USB port, no fifth gear (I suspect that might be a bit impossible), everything in a similar sort of place so I can find it).

On a different subject, I did like Terry Pratchett's answer to why he has six screens: because he doesn't have space for eight.

I realised today that there's a flaw in the way I parked my car outside the house on Friday (I haven't driven it since).

Pretty much the closest space to my block is much easier to back into and then just drive straight out of, especially in the morning when the car is prone to stalling anyway due to the cold. Often when I back it in there there's a car in the space next to it, so it's just a case of getting it between that car and the hedge without hitting anything.

I'm getting better at it, but on Friday there wasn't a car there, which made it harder to work out where to aim for. But I gave it a go and did it absolutely perfectly the first time. Except for one small problem: I was too close to the hedge to be able to open my door. But since I'd done it so well I didn't want to have to go through the complicated manoeuvre of moving the car sideways, since they don't naturally go that way. So I just got out the passenger side.

Only today when I got back from work and looked at it did I realise there's an additional problem: there's not even enough space between the car and the hedge to get to the driver's side windows to scrape them.

In my defence, where I last lived my car parking space was a really narrow space next to a wall, so I'm used to parking really close to things. Parking in car parks confuses me completely because the spaces are so wide.

But I might well just get the bus all this week anyway - I'm liking not having to drive to work and I'm certainly not doing it in the snow.

When I moved further away from work, so I had a ten minute drive rather than a ten minute walk, I thought that one of the effects it would have would be that I'd get more confident at driving. Which I have, I just hate it even more.

My car doesn't help. This morning it refused to go up a hill at 30mph in fourth gear because it was raining. This evening it did its thing where because I'd stopped it didn't want to go and sort of stalled and sort of moved a bit and there's nothing you can do about it (although I discovered putting the clutch back to the floor helped no end). That's what the mechanic called 'lumpy'. That was because it had rained all day.

At the weekend I drove home and back on roads full of lorries (one of the motorways had the whole left lane and half the middle lane full of them) and mostly I got stuck behind them because I can't pass lorries going uphill because I can't go faster than them.

So it's just as well really that the car industry is desperate for people to buy cars because I really want one that goes uphill, in the rain, in the cold, doesn't have choke and I can reach the pedals without needing extra cushions. Everything else optional (but I'd quite like power steering and air conditioning and electric windows, so I don't have to decide how hot it's going to be before I start driving).

I just have to get over this fear of driving strange cars that'll be so different from my nineteen and a half year old car.

I actually had some time at work today where I wasn't trying to do a million things at once by the end of the day. I almost didn't know what to do with myself! So when I got home I had plenty of time to listen to the six o'clock news on Radio 5 for once, make muffins and watch Chuck. And then my TV guide (aka my dad) told me there was a programme on about time, which put paid to my plan to actually do some writing tonight. And as interesting as the programme was it featured quite a few physicists, none of whom were fat or bearded. One of them was even female. What is the world coming to?

For the next couple of days everything gets put on hold for Rotaract. Tomorrow I am not looking forward to venturing out into the cold (not that it's that warm in here) and breaking my car out from under a load of ice, while the car only gets even colder than the outside air. But I am driving far enough that not only will it warm up before I get there, but I might also be able to get warm air on my feet too! It's very hard to drive when you can't feel your feet, your hands and you're shivering.

Thursday I get to spend several hours outside in the evening selling chestnuts (bonus: I like chestnuts). I discovered last year that two pairs of trousers keeps you warm, but it looks like this year will be colder than last year...

But on the plus side, because I have a long weekend to do moving things, this is my last five day week before Christmas!

I went swimming on Friday night. It was nice and quiet at 9pm - I had a lane to myself. However, on the way I went over the bridge into the town and realised what looked like a big cloud in front of me was actually smoke and there were firemen around. I'd forgotten about it until I went home and found the police had blocked the bridge off. It turns out it was a fire in a restaurant that they think started in a chip pan and involved four fire crews to put it out.

Thankfully, I knew an alternative way home, but that did involve going on a dual carriageway. I haven't been on them that often in the dark, so it was scary just going up the sliproad, that was up a hill, and I could see nothing at all in front of me. It was also the first time I'd gone on a dual carriageway/motorway without my sat nav so I had nothing to tell me when to get off, except I was fairly sure I only had to go one junction. I alternated between watching the traffic, the road, looking out for road signs and panic with a bit of fear.

I then got completely confused coming off it because I was on the other side of the roundabout to when I'm used to coming off that road, as I'm usually coming up it from the south. It was slightly surreal being able to go my own way and not having to ignore the sat nav, which doesn't pick the best way home.

Then I went swimming again last night, forgetting that the carnival was in town. Once I got over the bridge I was then off around the town following diversion signs, and ones for the town centre when there were no diversion signs. Most of the time I had no idea where I was or where I was going. So that was scary too. Fortunately, I had noticed on the way in that I could go the usual way home.

There was a point tonight when I turned left at a set of crossroads, having congratulated myself for timing it so I didn't have to stop for the lights, and then the car stalled. That was the point where I decided I need a new car.

Mine's nineteen next month and I keep telling people that there's nothing wrong with it, except what I, the people who broke into it, and the pheasant did to it. Except when the petrol hose sprang a leak.

It would be nice to have a car that starts immediately when I turn the key and has pedals I can reach. Everything else is optional except I'd really like to not have a fifth gear, except I don't think you get a choice on that. Although I'd quite like power steering or a less heavy wheel because I don't think it's doing much for my right wrist.

Except the car doesn't like the rain. In normal dry conditions there's a certain speed you can lift the clutch up after you've stopped and beyond that it'll stall. In the wet it'll stall a when you do it a lot slower. So I'd worked that much out and thought I'd be fine tonight. I already knew that if you go along in first gear without a foot on the gas or clutch it's not happy, but that's only really applicable in queues. Tonight I turned at the crossroads at a speed that was quite slow for second but would have been fine in the dry. Not in the wet.

Since I'm taxing it this month and MOTing it next month that's what I'll be saving up for for next year. Maybe I'll hate driving a bit less with a car that goes better, you never know. I won't hold my breath though.

I've been on a first aid refresher course the past two days and because it's work-related driving insurance means you have to have a hire car. Since I went with someone else she drove, as I'm not convinced at all I can drive any other car but mine, especially as we had to drive at rush hour time.

But when we got back today I drove it around the close a little bit. It was very nice having a lighter steering wheel and when I turned the car round I was surprised when all of a sudden I'd got a full lock on the steering wheel, as it had power steering. I didn't have to have the seat all the way forward, but it's actually a bit hard to tell because it was an automatic.

I dislike automatics anyway because I don't understand them and also because I want to decide when to change gears - I want to be in control of that. But I was terribly confused by it going all on its own unless you put your foot on the brake. So you have to have your foot on the brake before you take the handbrake off and put it into D, I think it was. Then you could swap your foot to the other pedal. Although I did that, it would have been a lot simpler to have used my left foot on the brake. After all, you have two pedals and two feet so you might as well use both legs.

So I'd quite like a car that requires less effort to drive (ie power steering and automatic choke) but not an automatic. Anyway, I'm an intelligent person, I am perfectly capable of driving a manual car. And with fuel prices the way they are, an automatic is going to cost more in fuel (as well as costing more to buy in the first place).

I did look at the manual on my car. Helpfully, it's for four different cars, so I assumed mine was first on the list and found it does about 40-50 miles per gallon. Which is a completely useless measurement when you buy petrol by the litre and I only know that my petrol tank holds 42l. But it does give metric too (the car's not quite that old not too!) and it does 5-7 litres per 100km. My journey home is about 150km and that takes 2 hours. So it's an inefficient measuring system because it all depends on how fast you drive and what gear you do it in, but it means 42l should last for about 9 hours (that calculation really wasn't helped by me dividing 42 by 6 and thinking it's 9...). Which is a long way and explains why I only fill my tank up once a month.

My car also has, I think, 43bhp. So if it loses 5 horses per year then... my stables aren't looking too good. 19x5=a number far bigger than even the biggest number on the page.

I had a test drive tonight to see if I was well enough to drive. I can't quite tell whether I'm 100% better any more because I've been so tired due to working hard at work and not sleeping, so that makes me a bit dizzy anyway. I am definitely looking forward to doing very little this weekend, and going to selenay936's to spend money at the local bookshop (and tell my satnav where it is) will force me to do that. Apart from the driving through Wycombe part...

The trouble was that I haven't driven for two and a half weeks, I think. So I was scared of just about everything going wrong, but I just had to open the car door and it smelt of dad's car, and that made me feel better. I quite liked, when dad first brought it up and I was scared to drive it at all, to see it outside the house because it reminded me of home. So I slid in the car (I parked it really close to the wall last time I drove) and then had to wipe away the cobwebs and use the windscreen wash twice because it was so dusty...

I made it round the block - well, round the town since the town's so small and I live on a tiny estate so there isn't a block. The only trouble I had was getting the car started - something with automatic choke would be very nice. Also I now know the tank is three-quarters full, which is good given I noticed the other day that petrol's gone up to 114p! Depending on who drives to what events coming up, that may or may not last me till mid-June. It certainly won't last till the end of June, but then I last filled up at the end of April, so as long as a tank of petrol lasts a month, that's good (just doesn't always happen).

I discovered the use of the iPlayer tonight. I love how they have it just on the website now. I don't need to start up the software at all. I got a bit restless and thought I'd like to watch something interesting but mind-numbing on TV. This was at 9.30 and when I looked at the TV guide I found something on at 7pm... So I went to the iPlayer and watched, well, not that exact program, but another episode from earlier in the week. And now my lounge is much tidier.

Interestingly, they've changed the speed limit on half the road to Tesco so it's now 40mph instead of 50mph. Which means you can't go round the corner and down the hill feeling like you're on a rollercoaster. I discovered the new speed limit just after the bends, as I was wondering when it was going to be in force because the new signs had been up for a while, just covered up. On the way back was even more interesting because when the 40mph limit ended they chose to put up a national speed limit sign. I didn't make 60mph before the bends and it was 50mph after. So the road has gone from being 50mph to half 40mph apart from 50m where it's 60mph...

This morning I went to the hospital about the wisdom tooth they're going to take out. Usually I get up at 8am, but since my appointment was at 9.30am, I caught a bus at 8am. I was very glad I hadn't tried to drive any of the journey because as we got near to town it was stupidly busy. I got off one bus and straight onto another and made it to the hospital at 9.10am.

Sadly, though, it was the wrong part of the hospital. I'm not used to somewhere so big and the letter helpfully said it was Level 2 which doesn't tell you the building. Fortunately, it was only five minutes walk away. Once inside the main building I found a map that told me the oral surgery department was in the blue outpatients area.

There weren't any signs that said oral surgery at the door to the blue area, but since there weren't any signs saying it was anywhere else either I went in. Reception told me it was actually in the green area - which you can only get to from the blue area.

Once I found the green area it was about 9.20. I passed the corridor with a few chairs and a couple sitting in them and sat in the big waiting area. By 9.35 nearly everyone but me had been called and I decided to investigate the corridor. It turned out that was the oral surgery department. In the big waiting area it had said to report to reception, but it didn't say that in the corridor. It was academic anyway, because there wasn't a reception.

After a while a nurse came out and checked who I was. A while later she asked me if I'd been to reception, which I obviously hadn't. So she gave me directions to where it was (round the corner and down a corridor and through a door - obviously). Then I had to go for an x-ray: back out into the main corridor and not that close either.

So I sat in x-ray for a while and had one of those done - and the machine hit me in the shoulder. Back in the oral surgery corridor it was busier and I sat and waited again. At 10.35 I got called in and spent less than five minutes in the room where they decided to tell me what they were going to do and what it would feel like afterwards. I wasn't worried before I went in.

Then I had to go to pre-assessment where I waited for ages, then they took my height and weight and blood pressure, which really hurt this time. And the nurse established I couldn't fill in the form correctly (funnily enough).

I finally managed to leave the hospital at 11.15 and got back to work about 12.30. So I spent two hours travelling and two hours sitting around doing bugger all for five minutes establishing that yes, they are going to take my tooth out (sometime in the next three months) and they are going to do it under general anaesthetic.

So well worth going (although I did get wished happy birthday twice by people looking at the date of birth on my form).

On Saturday I saw Potted Potter, which is all Harry Potter books in an hour and a bit. It was really funny and well worth going to. Interestingly, although it was definitely aimed at kids, there were a few jokes in there that only adults would get.

Sunday I bought a new mattress. After first negotiating some roadworks. They're on a short, busy piece of road between two roundabouts and for some inexplicable reason, the traffic lights are set not to change very often. This means that the traffic builds up on the roundabouts. I wanted go turn right once I'd got past the roadworks, but discovered they'd blocked the roundabout. So I had to sit on it and wait until the lights had changed - and then the people from my left decided they weren't going to let me go despite the fact I had right of way.

The woman showing me beds was insistent that memory foam was great. So I tried some, just to see, but in fact they are really soft. I don't care how good they may or may not be, I just can't sleep on something that soft. I ended up buying the only mattress I liked - which is what I did a year and a bit ago, so I hope I can't feel the springs in it in six months time.

Then I went swimming. The leisure centre has a circular car park so it feels like you park at a slightly funny angle. For some inexplicable reason, instead of painting white lines to show you where the spaces are, they have different coloured bricks. Because it was sunny when I left I had my sunglasses on, but it wasn't sunny when I got there, so I couldn't see the markings for the spaces at all. Fortunately, the car park was only busy close to the leisure centre, because people are incapable of walking, so I abandoned it at the other end of the car park and no one parked anywhere near.

Yesterday evening I updated WordPress to 2.5. Since the one I was using was 2.3.something that sounds like a big change. But they haven't fiddled with anything that affects themes or plugins (apart from the LJ crossposter), so it was really easy. I haven't investigated any of their changes yet, but the biggest thing they've done is changed the admin interface.... to make the text too small to read. And I can't find anything. That I definitely have to play around with at some point. Even this text I'm typing now is slightly too small to see comfortably.

Tonight I went to Tesco, who have car parking spaces that are far too wide, so I open the car door to work out where I am in the space and it looks like I'm miles away. Except I get out and find I'm miles away on the other side too. They completely failed to have the apples I wanted, so it's handy there's a Sainsburys nearby. They also changed the orange squash I have. They definitely changed the packaging, I can't tell about the contents, but the packaging says that it's double concentrate so you only need half as much. Which confused me completely, so I bought Sainsburys' own instead. The moral of this story is don't change things!