The Joys of Motoring

Footnote on the rented vehicle.  I'm getting used to its bulk, but hate the sloppy handling, which is not helped by seats that are out of tune with the suspension, and lack lateral support.  The gearbox is a bore: despite selecting the setting that supposedly changes gears and locks up the slush pump at lower revs, it seems really fussy, so that the wheels seem only loosely connected to the engine, and there is none of the mechanical harmony that I'm used to with the people's cart back home. For a big, butch-looking vehicle, it sounds distinctly limp-wristed.  It's not without its good points: it steps off the mark briskly, thanks to a low bottom gear (but so did my 1995 Laguna). The large load bay allowed us to schlepp the firewood home in fewer layers, so that there was no fallout over the sides of the tarpaulin - so often we bring home the firewood and stack it, then have to hoover out the car.  Talk about damning with faint praise, though: I'm reminded of a friend of my father who said of a certain Ford 'It's got doors like a Daimler: but I look for more in a car than doors'.  Oh, and by the way, the key fob defines the colour as noir foncé.  That's good: I can't stand pale black.