Tag: Electric Car

MLK Day 2019

Well dear audience I’m back.

There’s been such a huge mental block for me with writing since October. It’s not that there weren’t things to write about, it’s that I just….

Couldn’t do it.

I just could not put pen to paper. Or words on a screen. Every time I tried I felt so anxious it was ridiculous.

And this is my escape from anxiety.

So, I’ve decided to just take the leap.

Today is Martin Luther King Day. So #1 Son is off school, and the hus-creature is off from work 🙀 so we decided to go into Boston and visit the New England Auto Show.

One teeny tiny issue? It’s -15/16C out there at the moment. And there’s a foot of frozen solid snow outside.

However, we have gone native. I merely shrugged it off and we all headed out. And it turns out that there was one more small issue. We had left TT’s stroller on the front porch. There’s been a major snow storm. Yep, it’s full of snow and frozen solid 🤭😒😤

So, may I present TT’s first official free range bus and T ride:

She loves her “bear hat” and it’s so damn cold out that I didn’t have to argue with her at least about bundling up.

#1 Son on the other hand? Well he made it the 10 feet to the bus stop before he was whimpering that his ears hurt from the cold. We had packed his hat because we knew this would happen. So yes, he wore that too.

So we got to the Conference Center and stripped off to ensure we wouldn’t freeze on the way out.

I think you can see that one child was enjoying life significantly more than the other bless them!

So, the Motor Show was… genuinely interesting. It was all about the new cars coming in 2019/2020 – and not all of them either. Kia for example did not have their next generation hybrid available. Which was most disappointing to the hus-creature, as we are looking into future replacements for our trusty Bolt, and Kia/Hyundai have some great options.

But because it was basically a “see what we’ve got coming up and buy buy buy” event, something magical became possible.

You could sit in the vehicles!!!!

Honestly, it was like we had taken TT to the best theme park ever.

Now, she was insisting on dividing her car choices by colour.  Or if they were a truck.  We were forced to sit in/stare at so many trucks.

THE BIGGER THE BETTER MOMMY!!!!

Honest to goodness, the sheer size differential was amazing – I’m still laughing!

Why yes, yes this is my daughter behind the wheel of an orange Camaro! I’ve never seen her so happy!

 

However, she was desperate to get her hands on “a purple one”. Except that there weren’t any.

Well, until we found the “super cars” section anyway:

Say it with me, “hubba hubba” why yes, yes I would very much like to sit in a purple Lamborghini thank you. Sadly both mine and TT’s hopes were cruelly dashed.

It’s sibling is retailing at over half a bar!!!!

But oh so pretty.

There were a few “classics” too:

And from a sheer interest perspective, a hydrogen fuel cell Honda:

Which is fascinating to both myself and the hus-creature, but sadly re-fuelling something like this in Massachusetts is… problematic.

All 38 refuelling Stations are only in California

At this point we had been wandering around for over two hours. #1 Son was bored out of his mind. TT on the other hand? If it wasn’t for the being exhausted due to no stroller? She would have happily kept going.

My girl is a complete petrol head!!!

Sadly, the journey home was not so easy. The Silver Line bus broke down in the tunnel so they had to send a shuttle bus.

However as they kept us waiting over 15 minutes and it was an over 15 minute bus trip to South Station? I lost my train fare. And I was pissed. It doesn’t matter that it’s “only” $2.75. That’s my $2.75 and they shouldn’t get to keep it.

Then we missed the connecting T. Then when we got back to Oak Grove we missed the next bus.

It was a cold wait. So when we got home it was hot chocolate for all – with a large dash of bourbon for the parents!

It was such a long day for TT that she did something she’s not done in over a year:

Passed out. On the T! Poor thing was exhausted. Hopefully she will sleep well tonight!

Stay tuned for the festivus look back. I’m hoping to get my mojo back.

The Thanksgiving Break

It’s taken me a little while to write this as I am missing everyone like crazy so it’s been tough to get things written down.

It was wonderful.

We stayed for three days in the company of family (on the hus-creature’s side) in their stunning guest apartment.

I got to know a number of my lovely in-laws a lot better, which was really something special.

We had the turkey. And the hus-creature and I most generously offered to save everyone from the dreaded dark meat.

Honestly we truly prefer it.

Let me see if I can list the culinary delights:

  • Turkey – of course
  • Mac and cheese (delicious)
  • Jalapeño cheddar corn bread (I need the recipe for this wonder)
  • Sweet potato bourbon maple mash (oh so good)
  • Green beans
  • Gravy
  • Cranberry sauce

Then there was pie. Oh so much pie.

  • Chocolate peanut butter
  • Apple
  • Pumpkin
  • There were two more but I forgot.

Apart from the apple briefly going missing, it was all delicious.

The kids were remarkably well behaved.

TT ate actual food:

#1 Son… did not. But I didn’t really expect that he would.

They had loads of fun outside in the gorgeous grounds of the main house.

TT made daddy take her for a ride in the cart:

There was much happy shouting of “wheee” and “MORE” 💕💗💕💗

#1 Son just ran about a LOT.

There was a brief moment of panic. Do you see the large body of water? There was a moment when Daddy could not find him. He had wandered in to tell me about his “club house” and wandered off again. He meant the guest apartment, which is where he had gone.

Without telling us that he was going there!!!

So no, he had not drowned himself, but we all panicked. He was most confused as to why.

On Friday, almost everyone else took the train to visit New York and do the tour of Lady Liberty.

We opted not to attempt to drag the offspring up 200+ steps. Granddad also decided not to go. So there was brief discussion on how to entertain said childer-beasts, and we decided to go to the nearby aquarium, and leave granddad to rest.

However he decided that he would like to join, which was lovely. However there wasn’t room for five people in our car, lovely though it is.

Therefore, rather than take a Lyft on a very busy day, I selflessly (honestly, see the halo 😇😇😇) opted to stay behind in the guesthouse with my knitting, tea and leftover turkey.

Totally generous of me wasn’t it? 😂🤣

They had a lot of fun:

Right until they found a soft play area. Whereupon #1 Son had a full on meltdown, including trying to escape from granddad, because other children wanted to play with the things he was building an invention out of.

How very dare they 🙄😐🙄😐

And so the trip was cut short and they all came home.

All in all it was a lovely visit with family with many moments of happy.

The drive home was much less eventful than the trek up, we managed it on a full ‘tank’.

However upon our return we discovered that when, in his haste, the hus-creature had dropped the car charger to the ground before we embarked, it had gone kaput.

Which, in my humble opinion, makes it entirely unfit for purpose. Sadly it is still busted over a week later but the company are working on it. Stand by for that update.

So yes, that was our Thanksgiving Break. Many thanks are extended to Domi et al for putting us up and for inviting us up for Christmas.

We are very much looking forward to it 👍🏻😘

Happy Veterans’ Day

Or otherwise entitled happy enforced bring your children into work day.

At least as far as the hus-creature’s colleagues are concerned.

For you see, there is no school today. And actually there was no school on Tuesday either as it was an election day. Don’t ask me why, no idea, couldn’t vote anyway but the kids had a day off school.

We declared it a pyjama day today as it’s suddenly really cold, and the electrician is in the middle of digging a trench to run cables to allow us to plug in the car – and it has to be done quick before this cold snap turns more permanent.

And also because neither child wanted to get dressed and I couldn’t be bothered to have an argument when we didn’t need to – it’s not like we had to go anywhere.

Today’s attempt at feeding children part the first:

TT ate barely anything, but #1 Son ate everything apart from the banana (and he at least bit that).

This was dinner:

#1 Son has decided this is evil, but TT cleared her plate.

I give up.

So #1 Son has only had a three day week. Surprisingly he has handled it far better than I expected. I choose to infer nothing from this as it could mean absolutely anything. So yesterday we had to walk home from school as our lovely J had another appointment. So we went and got our usual ice creams.

The irony of buying ice cream when the temperature has dropped significantly is not lost on me but a mile and a half walk is tiring for him and it’s a nice little treat and it’s something that both children eat and enjoy.

Actually as we were walking to school we walked past our usual ice cream shop and the Tiny Tyrant pointed at it and said “Hello ice cream yay bye-bye” as I had told her we were getting ice cream after picking up #1 Son.

Her comprehension and vocabulary appear to be expanding by the day. I’m doomed!!!!

On Wednesday (yes I know I’m jumping around a bit) I had my (now becoming usual) “Sit ‘N Knit” class and as this one is from 7 to 9 PM I miss children bedtime so I make sure that I say goodnight to them before I leave. When I said goodbye to TT she said “no mummy no out not yet. Cuddle”

Which is a bloody good sentence, shows incredible comprehension and is manipulative as all get out.

Yep doomed.

So I sat and knitted my sock I have managed to start on the heel! Huzzah! Yes yes I am very well aware that a sock needs a friend but let’s just go one at a time shall we?

And the long-memoried in the audience may recall that last week I was obsessing over a certain skein of yarn…

Well the precious is mine:

Wonder. Woman. Socks.

I think it might have been the final skein from the current batch. I had to rummage to find it.

I will knit them. I will stroke them. I will love them. I will wear them.

I so rarely make things for me.

Oh and I got my first knitting friend cell number 😊😊😊

Yesterday I popped downstairs to give H another bag of outgrown TT clothes (thankfully she seems happy to have them – I always worry in case it’s seen negatively somehow) and we finally managed to exchange numbers.

I also met her twin grandsons – very sweet boys 😊

It also seems she’s as keen on Christmas as she is on Halloween – so I’ve happily handed over outside decorating to her.

I can handle a tree (and finally a real tree – the cat will be a bastard with whatever we get, and after all, she is a forest cat) and maybe some indoor decorations, but I’m not ready to tackle outside yet…

The Tesla Saga

There is some background required here:

 

We begin, dear readers, with a car accident in 2016. An accident wherein our hero, the wonderful hus-creature and his faithful steed the Chevy Volt were stationary waiting to turn into the local rubbish dump, and got rear ended by a stupid (woman) driver in a very old Skoda.

Cue the exchanging of insurance details and immediate admission of fault from other stupid driver.

Addendum: I am completely convinced she was on her phone somehow at the time, as she never quibbled once.

But you see, our beloved steed was no longer road safe. Bits were hanging off the front, but fortunately the battery cage protected the car’s vital organs.

 

So the insurance company provided us with a courtesy car.

A VW diesel Passat. Which was apparently Car of the Year in 2013.

But it is Diesel. When we are used to a true hybrid.

It handled like a cow. And not a graceful one. Nico Bellic was feather light in comparison.

Your courageous author merely had a provisional licence at this time, and so was unable to drive it, and so I am therefore only able to repeat what the usual driver told me of his experience.

He drove it three.miles.

 

Came home, declared that we were never having a dinosaur powered car again. And how did I fancy a Tesla?

I fancied one very much thank you. But never, for a moment did I imagine that he was serious.

The next moment I am handed proof of a reservation for the upcoming Tesla Model 3.

Which is due for release in the UK late 2019.

 

Please note that this is for the UK.

 

The observant amongst you will have noted that we are no longer in the UK.

 

As soon as we moved, back in July, we headed to the Central Boston Tesla Store (it is not a dealership) to see if we were able to transfer our current Model 3 reservation cross-continent.

 

We were-assured that as production had not yet begun, and the hus-creaturehad already switched the address of the reservation to a USA based one, that there would be no problem.

 

He even checked with the high ups.

Their website also confirmed this in their FAQ Section*

So we muddled along under the assumption that our reservation would be brought forward to Spring 2018.

Well, that still left us car-less. So we began to consider our options.

Front runner was to use house sale profits to buy a second hand Tesla Model S.

Yes, a luxury car, with no tax breaks or state benefits, because not new, but we would be entitled to free fast charging as that was a service transferred with the vehicle and not its owner.

And, frankly the S is sexy as heck.

Then we would use the S as collateral for our new Model 3 and get some tax breaks.

But lo and behold our “easy” house sale drags on. And on. And on.

And in the meantime the resell price is used Tesla’s increases. Which means that by end of September, they are way out of budget by over $10K

😱😭🙀😰

And Tesla have not backdated our reservation. At all.

And when husband type person contacts them directly to enquire as to why this might be, is told “oh no, that cannot happen. You will need to re-reserve” But have to put down another $1,000 deposit, and lose our place in the queue.

He points out that this contravenes both the information given in person in July and what is stated on their own website FAQs. They hem and haw and bugger off for over a week. Then tell us that if we cancel our UK reservation and make a new Stateside one, they will refund the second money (as refunding £1000 into dollars will cost more) and backdate the reservation date.

Except that was over four weeks ago and none of this has been done.

Our USA reservation still shows our UK delivery date. No sign of the money.

And their customer service has been shocking. Totally non-existent.

So we started looking at options. And, frankly, I was (and am) so grumpy with Tesla that even with it being a dream car I had gone off the idea.

The Chevy Bolt is new. It is shiny. I know how to drive it. It has all the shiny gadgets, and Chevy has excellent customer service.

And we can knock $10,000 off the initial cost due to federal and state incentives.

Ok some of that money won’t be returned until tax season, but it was a big carrot.

So, I have put on my big girl grown up pants and said goodbye to Tesla for now.

We haven’t cancelled our second reservation – yet – since it may prove useful longer term. But I’m just going to forget about it for now.

And stroke our new shiny:

*And in fact it still does

Pray excuse my absence

Gentle readers, for it has been a hectic week.

First, we come to you live from what appears to be the Tiny Tyrant’s first night terror:

We have been curled up together since about 21:00. She has been crying pitifully since 20:00.

She’s woken up enough to demand “tabbit” (her tablet – which I had foolishly left upon the duvet) and then pathetically “more fish”

I am not sure if she meant Skin Wars or Finding Dory.

¿Porque no los dos?!?!?

Neither of which is she allowed at over two hours past her bedtime.

Man she’s wriggly though. And currently snoring, so I write a post and lie here.

The landlord came two weekends ago and helped us install our former Bennos (IKEA* storage units) and so I have been able to make dents in the remaining boxes. Not literally (though both TT and #1 Son are making a spirited attempt at this!) and we think we are down to the last seven!!!!

W00t w00t. Dear god, I might be able to begin sorting and finalising next month.

I am bloody well not doing this again, I can tell you that for free.

Now, as you know dear readers, our hose sale concluded on Friday 13 October.

However. Due to the vagaries of international money transfer, it was not available to us until last Friday. 20 October.

So yesterday a new shiny thing of wondrousness was purchased:

Now the observant amongst you may notice something fundamental.

THIS IS NOT A TESLA

 

No, it is not.

It is a brand new, all mod cons Chevy** Bolt. In blue. Because goddammit. If I had to give up (at least temporarily) my dream of owning a Tesla, I was bloody well getting the car I wanted in the colour I wanted.

I have sat in it. It is lovely. It has new car smell. It has swishy blue lights in the dashboard trim. It has heated seats. Front and back. But it is not my Model 3 😐

But, you see, Tesla cocked up. They cocked up big time and if you piss me off enough, well, let us just say, I hold grudges. For a long, long time.

I feel that The Tesla Saga ™ should be covered in its own post.

À bientôt mes amies.

*This post is not sponsored in any way by IKEA 😂🤣🙃

**This post is also not sponsored in any way by Chevy