Thursday, May 16, 2013

red

So, I guess I have no excuse for hanging on to my old cassettes, since my new car does not have a tape deck. I am only mildly disappointed by this. They have been whittled down to a few of my most favourites and even then I barely remember what is in the box. Until I open it and get an emotional rush. I still have a stereo that has a tape player and a turntable which is in perfectly good working order. Or at least it was about five years ago when I last tested it. Perhaps if I had an ipod, I could transfer some of the music from the tapes and records onto it. If I had any idea how to do that. The new car has an ipod thing.

During one of my recent de-cluttering events, I came across a portable cd player I had bought for my father when he was in hospital. He died seven years ago and I had forgotten I still had it. There was a  Louis Armstrong cd inside. It was in a different drawer from the walkman I have had since godknowswhen. There was a Pat Metheny tape inside that one. (I have occasionally wondered what happened to it.)  There may have been a tape inside my car that is now gone, I just realize....... I forgot to check.

Anyway, there came a day a few weeks ago when suddenly I realized I had had enough of my old car that needed more repairs - some important, some minor enough to ignore as I had been doing already. Once I had made that decision, I couldn't get rid of it fast enough. After doing some research, I thought I would give Kia a try. Reviewers who test drive these things seemed to have been pleasantly surprised at their performance.  I've never had a brand new car before, but I figured if I could find a new one I liked within my budget, then great, otherwise it would be a harder job to find a used one. New cars are much easier - you go to the dealership and test drive, then decide. Used means going to several places and trying out every car you might consider a contender, perhaps a couple of times. And it may involve more negotiating. And I didn't really want to do all that. These guys were all over themselves offering me little extras (and I mean little: a gas card, a points card, keychain, a car wash bucket with stuff in it, even an ice scraper) which were nice gestures. And I like the idea of a 5-year warranty. Never had that before!

I now have to get used to driving something smaller and a little less luxurious than previous, but also that at least does not leak or make strange sounds and has all its interior lights functioning (as mine burned out, I never bothered replacing the bulbs. I spent a lot of time sitting in brightly lit gas station bays to do my paperwork and find stuff that had dropped...) And it is red. For the first time in about a dozen years I have something that is not silver. I was getting a little bored with the silver anyway. Though, one of the guys who delivers a different newspaper to the same apartment buildings as me also drives a red car and I have already come outside and thought it was his car, until I realized that this one was shinier, and, dare I say, nicer looking. And all mine.

6 comments:

  1. Ooooh...I sense a road trip coming up. Congrats on the new car. Such a luxury. I think it makes sense to buy new....especially if your yearly mileasge is low. Five years on a warranty is a good thing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I need to take this baby out on the highway and see how it really goes!

      Delete
  2. Congratulations on getting a new car. I am sure you will enjoy it very much. As to the turntable, it is now very common to buy vinyl LP's again and there are probably shops near to you where you can get them. I'd say, go for it and enjoy the sound of them. xox

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. actually, last Christmas I was looking for a cd of a local band without much luck, though there were copies of the album in vinyl and I almost bought it. I have a box of old records in the storage locker, but have no idea what is in it. Most of them went with a garage sale before I moved here.

      Delete
  3. There's nothing quite like getting a brand new car - especially the smell! Mmmmmmmmm. Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. yeah, my other car had an odour of rubber bands and old newspapers.

      Delete

Glad you stopped by. For anyone who stumbled here, don't be shy to say 'hi' and let me know you've visited!