Along came a Spider

Well after looking for a car for about... a year now, I finally took the plunge and got one.

Say hello to my 2001 Alfa Romeo Spider 3.0 v6. Not bad for a first car!

It does about 145mph and 0-60 in 6.5s. I reckon I will be taking it a bit easier than that though as the fuel economy is terrible. Sadly I have given up my bike insurance and transferred the NCB to the car policy, so I will probably be getting rid of the bike.

More pics here.

Nice weather for a convertible

I was meant to be picking up my new car today, but it turns out I can't. The garage only received the cheque from the finance company yesterday and they have to wait for it to clear so I will probably have to wait till Tuesday or, more likely, Wednesday.

What a bummer. It is a pretty gorgeous day today and it would have been perfect for picking the car up. Oh well - I just hope the rest of the week is as nice.

Just as well probably as I'm no affy weel today.

Coming soon...

Bike or Car?

It's starting to get cold again and as I ride my bike in to work in the mornings I am reminded why I wanted to get a car so much earlier this year.

My reasons were: sick of getting wet; sick of getting cold; sick of not being able to carry much stuff; sick of not being able to turn up looking smart to work; sick of being confined to Oxford or wherever public transport will take me.

I did try to buy a car last month, but found the credit crunch had closed the doors to all reasonable loans. I tried to apply again to the AA for a £7000 loan - the lowest they will give. Refused! If they won't give that to me who will they give it to?!

So once again I am torn by the car situation. Should I spend a few grand on a car - a depreciating asset that will cost loads to run; or should I spend a few hundred pounds on some new winter bike gear and just keep riding the bike?

Problem with getting a car is that I don't want a crappy small car. Problem with bikes is that riding them in Winter sucks.