Our new car!

My post today is not about a running thought, but I am writing about important news for Jéssica and me. After several years, we have decided to buy a new car. Our first big buy after our wedding!

For the past years I have been driving a Fiat Punto my aunt Marta gave to me. It was a present and it has been one of the best I ever had. For me that I don’t really mind about cars, it was great. It took me everywhere –we even went to the Basque Country and Cantabria one summer- and it was easy to drive and to park.

My Ferrari, as our friend Miriam named, only had two big faults: not air conditioning and when you passed 100 km/h it was hard to keep it going. However, for me, that I used to go to work and short trips it was great.

Maybe it had another fault: it was too old. Actually, this summer it celebrated its 20th birthday and that meant a few visits to be repaired every year and money spent on fixing things.

For all these reasons we decided to start looking for a new car. We understood it was the best solution. We knew it meant a lot of money, but now we can afford it and we thought that it was the best moment to do it.

We made our decision in one day. We spent a Saturday looking around different cars and, in the end, we chose  a Seal Altea XL. Of course, as you can imagine, nothing to see with our Fiat Punto.

This car is easily driven; it is much bigger and has so many options that I haven’t been able to discover them as yet. It was very sad to get rid of our Fiat Punto but we didn’t really have any other option.

Welcome Barcelona!!!

This morning, as I usually do, I got my car to go to work. It is true that I can also catch the subway but it takes longer (about 40 minutes), there is a long walk from the subway station and, after making some numbers, it costs me the same the petrol than the metro fare. Maybe I would change my point of view if the authorities would build a metro station closer to the Power8 Stadium. I don’t mind catching the public transport, but, in this case, it is not very convenient.

 

By car it takes me about 25 minutes, but today I knew it was going to be different. And all of you will ask why? The answer is easy: the schools are back. After nearly three months of calm, no traffic jams, no horns, today everything has changed.

The last day it took me 20-25 minutes to get to my office. I hardly had to stop in any lights and I didn’t find any traffic jams despite all the works you find in the streets in summer. I was aware that it was a temporary situation, however, and as they say in Spanish, reality exceeds fiction.

I went out early, a few minutes after eight, and for a moment, it looked like nothing changed. But I was totally wrong. Once I got to Diagonal I hit the first problems. Cars stocked in the middle of the street that didn’t let us pass. What happens after summer? People forget how to drive?

After I overcame the first obstacle, I found a new problem. I got stuck for more than five minutes in a light. And all was due because there was this breakdown car causing trouble. Hopefully, this was my last incidence before getting to my office nearly 40 minutes after I got out of my house. The return trip had also a lot of incidences but I am not going to bore you anymore.

Driving is an exercise of patience. People get annoyed and aggressive and many times you have to ignore what happens. Driving takes the worst of people and, specially, in the morning when everybody is in a rush. I hope tomorrow things go better.

Be careful, bicycles!

When I was a kid, I used to hang out with my friends. Every weekend we used to catch our bicycles and ride up and down the Diagonal or climb Montjuïc or Collserola. I remember I had a lot of fun and I really enjoyed riding on my bike. Actually, now that I am 33 years old, I would love to have a bike and ride whenever I could because I think it is a very nice sport and hobby. As you can read, I like bikes. I love cycling and I will watch any race it’s shown on TV. For me, it is a great sport.

However, it is a different thing altogether when people use the bikes to move around the city. The city council in the last few years has developed the so called Bicing, a service which allows you to rent a bike. The people who are supposed to rule our city, think that the bike is a great transport for the citizens. The main problem is that we don’t have the same culture as other countries have and it is dangerous for everybody: pedestrians, bike riders and drivers.

I am tired of seeing bike riders with a helmet that protects their heads, something that should be compulsory for all of them. If they fall off their bikes, they can get really hurt. Besides, the bike drivers don’t follow any rules. They can be in the streets pedalling as if they were running the Tour time trial or they can be in the middle of the road doing what they want.

I understand that the bike is a cheap transport and it is good for the city because it is pollution free. However, I think that our governors should have a look to the actual situation and pass some laws to try to make it easier for everybody. When I am in the car I suffer because I never know what they are going to do, many of them are unconscious and don’t follow their line. When they are in the streets it is similar and very dangerous for pedestrians as you can get run over by a bike if you are not cautios.

To start with, I think that all the bike riders should wear a helmet otherwise they should get fined by the police. Then, they have to decide what are they: a vehicle or pedestrians? As I said from the beginning, I like bikes but I think that now there are a lot of them and it is getting dangerous for everybody. We have to start making decisions.