Blat

Got my Green Machine back again Monday. I think I might have kept the Stream a weeee bit too long this time, it was a bit of a jolt at first, though after the first trip and stop, I was once again converted.

The Green Machine being a 660cc 3-door (plus rear door/boot/vertical hatchback), high roofed, high seated tin can on wheels with seat covers like something of one of Air New Zealand's cheaper plane seats circa 1987, and doors that go 'clangggg' when you shut them; but with powerful, light steering and a wheel base so tight you feel like you could do a 360 on the spot. It's a Mitsubishi Toppo, and I think it's called that because it can spin like a top. Obviously it's a much better vehicle for driving and parking in the narrow streets and tiny spaces in our old part of town, the old castle town. Issues include a missing passenger side visor, a driver's side visor hanging by one screw and often falling down obscuring my view, and sticky doors that threaten to not open at all (that's happened in the past). The automatic door lock button on the key is broken too, but I think that if I unscrewed it and replaced the battery it would work again. It's just that a little job like that is not a priority, in fact it's so far down on the priority list that it comes after 'blob on sofa wondering what to do next'.

And the Stream is a long, sleek, 5-door, 7-seater with all leather interiors, fully automatic with doors that make a comforting 'whump' when you shut them, and hard, fast, COLD air conditioning, a feature which is going to have me back at Jiichan and Baachan's several times over the summer I think, begging to borrow it again! You blat around town in the Green Machine, while you glide around in the Beige Beauty. But it's looooong, and heavy to turn, and while it has a backing camera, the front bonnet is so fashionably sloped that I can't see where the car ends (and the concrete wall begins).  Its size also means I have to turn around to do up Erica's seat belt, whereas with the Toppo, I can reach behind with my left hand and do it! So despite all the comforts of streaming along in the Beige Beauty, I am keen to quickly switch back to my little Green Machine.