Dawn

Dawn

Thursday, June 04, 2009

This is actually last night’s blog, which I couldn’t post because I was occupied with a plumber until almost 11pm. He’d arrived two hours late – well, actually two weeks - but made up for this by working five hours without stopping. Best of all, he did both things that needed doing and didn’t postpone the second until ‘another day’. I’d considered keeping him there by gunpoint but, in the end, this wasn’t necessary. (PS. He came back this morning for another three hours).

Anyway, the worst way to choose a new car is probably to rush the challenge because you live alone at the top of a steep hill with the nearest shops more than half a mile's walk away at the bottom. Meaning you have to prevail on the generosity of friends for loans of alternative transport. But the good news is that Spanish friends are superb in these circumstances. Especially if they live in the city centre and hardly ever use their cars.

The challenge is, of course, a calvario in any country but it’s not helped here by the non-availability of sales personnel at certain hours of the day and on two days of the week. However, there are moments of lightness. Each manufacturer has at least three models in its range and the names of these stretch credulity. Most of them are in English. Which means, of course, you don’t understand what the salesman is saying when he talks about them. As in ‘Train’ for Trend in the case of Ford. Here are a few examples. Incidentally, I suspect it’s effectively impossible to get a car at the lowest end of these ranges:-

Ford
Ambiente
Trend
Sport
Titanium

Toyota
Live
TS
Active

Kia
Concept
Active
Emotion

Hyundai
Classic
Comfort
Style

Skoda
Urban
Young
Style
Sport

The prize for nonsense goes to Kia, who have a car called the Cee’d. This is pronounced sed or thed, depending where in Spain you live. They have a sporty version of this called the Pro_cee’d. Presumably this contrived English word is deliberate. Which makes it ironic that it’s pronounced pro-sed or pro-thed in Spain.

I would give you the alleged derivation of Cee’d but you wouldn’t believe me.

There will be a more serious post this evening . . .

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