Slow Thaw, Vehicle Shopping

It's snowing again today. . .blargh!  I'm not posting any more entries after this one about this ugly, freakish season, nor shall I bemoan the fact any longer that there is such a ridiculous amount of snow that has yet to thaw away, bringing on a subsequent heightened flood risk. If we have snow around here on April 20th, we will then be heading into a full six months, exactly half a year, of winter. Any further complaining about the weather is just a waste of time and energy; the point has been made: Mother Nature just really doesn't give a shit. Even the non-humans are revoltingly depressed. I came home last Thursday night, and began to walk the dog, and I heard an enormous flock of migrating geese returning; creating an uproar of honking and squabbling near the river a couple of blocks from me. It was like there was aggression and desperation in their tones; landing and crowding, and fighting for space around the only bit of open water they've probably found at this latitude on their course northward, when instinct is telling them that all this amount of extra ice and snow should definitely not be here. They probably were nagging and bickering at each other; trying to find the culprit leader in the group responsible for this gross "navigation error".




My Dad watching the last of the ice shacks being hauled
away for the season's end 

The really depressing ass-kick into reality about how late spring will arrive came to me on Easter weekend. Some of Good Friday was spent at the closest southern lake to my childhood home, to try out some ice fishing. I didn't have any great expectations to catch many fish (which was good, because none were caught). I went more to inspect the conditions of the lake, to note and estimate when off shore casting could be done from the marina in late spring, where my luck is the best. As it is was, the auger was sank down right to the shaft head on the engine, a full 125 centimeters (a little over four feet) before we bit into water. That's the thickest I've ever seen it for this time of the year. This was about 300 metres from the closest point from the shore. Even with a radical meltdown, I realistically don't expect to be able to come back there, to cast off of the marina, until the first week of June at the earliest.

Currently, I'm reflecting about last year at this time. Within the first week of April, I was running outside on a regular basis, in shorts, and even shirtless, and the streets were all clear for cycling to work. I'm especially bitter about not having ideal conditions for cycling.* Now, at the same time of the month, there are still ice ruts as deep as 20 cm along some neglected and unkempt backstreets, and pot holes that could easily snap off wheels from axles and wreck suspensions while trying to turn out of them. I'm bothered even more that I'm also now pressed into the sordid business of finding another vehicle. Listening to my car bottoming out now, and having its undercarriage scraped off and filed away by rock hard ice while trapped in ruts doesn't inspire me to run out and find another car if there is even one more day of this hazard around.

Generally, I hate shopping for vehicles, or for any other big ticket items where financing plans are necessary. It becomes a stressful responsibility; and I make it a point of not suffering from bull-shitters; so being exposed to so many at once in wheeling and dealing (more like dickering and bickering) with salesmen/private sellers is not in anyway a pleasurable pastime for me. This snowy day, with nothing else to do, pretty much forces me to spend some of the day doing research for one; and I just have no heart to do it right now. I'll never get a new one (unless I won it in a charity raffle or lottery**), the degree of depreciation makes it illogical and impractical. Such a purchase really taxes the over-analytical side of me. I don't make such a big deal about making a vehicle a big part of my personal identity. I'm just realistic and practical. Sure, I have some standards for quality, but I'm not some idiotic gearhead either: the kind who thinks that driving an overpowered or luxury vehicle will somehow automatically make him cool, powerful, or will magically add a few extra inches to his cock***. I choose plain-Jane vehicles more so because I'm not deluding myself away from the fact that nothing around this country and climate will stay pretty, and whatever I get has to be mechanically tough enough to withstand the worst (winter) driving conditions that are thrown at it.

There are enough different cars out there that do appeal to me though that I would like to experience driving in my lifetime. Some aren't considered the best in their particular class, or practical for this region, but I don't care. These are the ones, for now, that I like and my weird reasons for liking them.

• Sport Coupe: Audi (A series) or BMW Z4 - Ahhh, German engineering. . . Vorsprung durch Technik. It's a toss up between the two for me. 
  
• Classics: MGB - This one appeals to the romantic in me. It would be the car to drive a girlfriend to a do picnic in the country or something. Just to be special, my MGB be authentically British, and would have the right-hand steering on it, all the better to cruise and cuddle at the same time.
  
• Compact: Mini Cooper - I loved this little car ever since I saw it perform in The Italian Job. It also appeals to my inner Mr. Bean. It's definitely a vehicle to have if I ever wanted to prove to everyone that I was having a mid-life crisis.
  
• Sedan: Volvo s60 - I have great respect for the Swedes. It's because they are fellow northern climate dwellers who would know how to build a car that could endure bitterly cold weather. That, plus their reputation for rigorous safety standards for all their models. The only time I ever saw a wrecked Volvo was when I watched a documentary about military vehicles on TV, and one was purposely drove over, and crushed by a 60 tonne Swedish Army Leopard tank, to demonstrate the power of the tank. Even then, the damage that was inflicted on the Volvo wasn't as bad as I thought it could have been. I don't need a luxury sedan, but if I ever wanted one that could take the punishment from this region, and not depreciate so rapidly in value, this is what I'd have.
  
• SUV: Toyota Landrover (old school) This to me says "tough, rugged, and cheeky" It looks like it could plow through a herd of gnus in Africa, or burn across the worst of the Australian outback. I look at it and it screams out to me: "Adventure!" It would be a fun little summer vehicle to have (if summer ever friggin' comes here, that is).
  
• Mini Van: VW - I suppose it's because there is this inner hippie that dwells within me. The one below is my preferred model. However, if this winter continues making this place feel like the ice planet Hoth, it may more be practical to use the one below that.
  

 

*-Used the stationary bike at the Field House today. It's the like the same sort of hell as using a treadmill: moving around yet going nowhere. . . like the bloody snow around here.
** - Even then, I'd most likely swap it for a cash prize, or sell it outright, and buy a quality used car and re-invest the rest of the remaining money that otherwise would have been wasted on depreciation.
***- Sadly, I've seen and known too many of these dummies. Speeding around in a muscle car or mega-truck sure didn't/doesn't help them get any smarter either. Such a type of vehicle can indeed be personality magnifiers, but 9 times out of 10 it only exposes just how much of an asshole the driver really is.