21st May 25. Day off?

This was a spare day, I had planned to stay home and work on the website, among other things.

But yesterday time ran away. Probably due to the weather, which was so good, I decided to walk the 25 minutes from the station to the collection point of the car. My customer in Oxford was happy enough to get the car first thing this morning, so no issues.

I decided on an early start to get there for opening time. This meant I was home early enough to get some work done.

So off to Oxford around 7.30am. Factoring in the rush hour traffic, which in Oxford is always heavy.

It says 45 minutes but at this time of the morning. It's well over an hour.

Arriving at the dealership at around 8.40am was perfect. It meant I would have time to do my appraisal properly. Have a quick chat with Steve the Sales Manager about life. Then stroll outside and catch the next bus into Oxford centre.

The buses in Oxford are actually very good. Along Iffley Road they are only ever a few minutes away. Modern, quiet and Mostly Electric powered. Which for the city centre is perfect and very sensible.

I'm a petrol head. Old school. And used to love a good petrol engined car. I still have a my 1996 328i for god's sake. I love driving it. But the world moves on. People my age, all I hear is that Electric Vehicles are the devils work. Social media is full of grumpy old men. Moaning about the state of the country and bemoaning anything modern. I actually feel sorry for them. They are missing out on some amazing technology. And Electric Vehicles are actually very good now. Ok, you can't drive them like a racing car. But think about it. You can't drive anything like that now anyway. So why not indulge in the technology offered.

These same people don't go out in the cold to use phone boxes to make telephone calls. So why do they actually think that the older the cars, the better. Don't get me wrong some older cars are fantastic. I had a 355 Spyder in 1999. An incredible machine in it's day. It had 380BHP,

was incredibly quick and handled amazingly...

However for less than £30,000 now I can buy a Mercedes A class with 421BHP and a four wheel drive system that would make that car run rings around the Ferrari. And the technology, comfort, audio system and many other things make the former car look prehistoric. I know, I know. Motoring isn't about just one thing.

I have fond memories of that Ferrari and stories about driving it. You would find hard to believe.

And not about it's speed and handling That's all I can say.

The other side of driving that Ferrari was the huge amount of negative attention it attracted.

I was once punched by a taxi driver who took exception to the nose of the car being just on the white line of his taxi rank.

Can you imagine the stupidity of a person with his phone number and taxi licence on the car. Showing his name and photo. In a relatively small city. He wasn't hard to find again.

Sorry, back to Electric Vehicles.

Not having that ability to drive like an idiot anymore. Having the ability to sit comfortably in a car brimming with great technology. And relatively silently. Makes for amazing motoring. The economy of it is only a positive too.

Don't let these old moaning people put you off. Leave them behind and crack on and enjoy what we have now. It's a great time to be alive. Whatever the noise tells you.

I was talking about the Oxford buses. Sorry.

So on Iffley Road then. The buses come every few minutes. Tap on and tap off job done.

Jump off at Queen's college stop. Cross the road and every thirty minutes or so the X20 to Aylesbury comes along.

As a complete juxtaposition to the Oxford buses. With their brand new electric buses all clean and quiet. Comes the Redline X20.

Small single decker short buses of about 35 seats. Noisy old diesel affairs that rattle and crash along the hour and twenty minutes it takes to head out to Headington road, where a lot of people get off, and on.

Then round the ring road and A40 towards Haddenham and Thame parkway station for a a stop there. Before heading off towards Thame.

This detour into the town of Thame seems to take ages. I've never been to this place and while it looks like a typical small town. Im happy, well not actually happy to only have passed through, slowly and noisily on an uncomfortable bus.

We eventually, just as I'm giving up the will to live, arrive in Aylesbury. And the 15 minutes walk is a relief after the bus.

Glad to be home and able to get some work done.

Kia Sportage delivered