h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It's been a while since I last wrote anything, mainly because nothing's really happened. Apart from me getting the Seat Arosa diesel mentioned above, mostly for financial reasons.

As I am still paying the government for the privilege of having gone to university, I still have to watch the pennies, so I indulged in a post-Christmas "Arrrgh! Where has all my money gone?!?!?" and did a proper look at my finances with the aid of my ever-financially-sensible bloke (he does have some uses!).

To cut a long story short, I emerged from the shock and decided to buy something smaller before I got bankrupted. Hence the Seat Arosa.

Yes, it's tiny. Yes, the boot holds no more than a snotty hanky. Yes, it's girly. Yes, it has the acceleration of ... err ... something not that quick. But it's half (yes, really) the running costs of the Saab, and I can park it with ease, and zip round town like a nutter. Bigger cars have tried to intimidate me, but fortunately I'm kamikaze enough to aim at them and make them back down first ;o)

Of course, the money I'm saving every month is going into a car fund ... although I think first I need a garage fund so I have somewhere to put the car when I buy it.

Welcome to Coventry - by the sounds of things I'd better look out for you on the roads.

Thank you - I take it from the fact that you're a Coventry City fan that you also live in Coventry?

I'm easy to spot - the car's bright blue! Plus with the recently fitted CD changer, I can be traced by listening out for the sounds of Foo Fighters.....

You'll find me whizzing between Coundon, where I live, Canley, where my kids are at school, and Solihull, where I work.

I drive a Fiat Ulysse - Thats a Peugot 806 MPV with a Fiat badge - Its the only thing big enough to get the family in.

What possessed your parents to move to Coventry ? Was it my entry on Coventry on H2G2 ?

Not as far as I know - my dad still has trouble using email....

It's a long and complex story how we ended up here. The shortened version is my dad wanted a new job in a place where the shops weren't 30 miles away, and as I was looking for somewhere to live in Coventry as it was cheaper, they decided to move down here so I could live at home again.

We're on the edge of Little Heath and Foleshill. Some people tell us its Foleshill, and others Little Heath, but we're not that bothered by it! I tend to be either there, Leamington (where the other half lives) or Gaydon, where I work.

One of the men I work with told me that MPVs, not sports cars, should become symbols of masculinity. After all, you can't fit kids in a Ferrari!

Plus of course, as we all know, the size of a man's car is directly proportional to the size of his manhood.

Do you know if they still have that childs farm at The Blue Lias ? I've not been there for about 10 years. (I'm assuming you know it.)

Reminds me of a joke from the Red Dwarf book where Rimmer has a limo, and Lister has an old Model T.......

No, I don't know it - but I'm still relatively new to the area. Sounds very interesting though! I thought child farming was outlawed.

Its out at Napton * youknow what these yokels are like.

Ah ha! No, I didn't get out much at Napton; I was bankrupted by furnishing the place myself :o(

And I also spent a lot of time at the neighbours after being invited in for tea and biscuits and the usual alchemical rituals called "hospitality". I had a suspicion they were just making sure I wasn't bringing any diseases or hooligans with me...