Blog | Newsletter | Personal
AJ’s Weekly News: 2 June 2023
My son’s first car. Plus health concerns, money worries, and a pleasant bike ride
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Contents
1. Personal Notes
2. This Week’s Medium Stories
1. Personal Notes
Son’s first car
A week ago, my youngest son and I viewed a car for sale around the corner from us. I asked why the address was across town, and the seller said it was his business address. The test drive went okay and we returned the following day and bought it.
I was a little concerned we’d never been in the man’s house — we first met at the roadside next to the car. I hoped we would do the deal indoors, just to confirm that he lived there. But he returned from work in the car at 11:30 am and said he’d forgotten his house keys!
It sounded like a classic scam, but I did HPI checks on it and I don’t think it’s stolen. The paperwork for the car included an invoice for repairs done 12 months ago at the seller’s garage across town — the same address as the V5 registration document. And he had owned it for a couple of years.
The following day, when I was feeling more comfortable about it, a different car appeared for sale in the same spot. Perhaps he’s just getting rid of his old cars, or perhaps he’s a motor trader in disguise.
Either way, the car seems okay for now, especially for an 18-year-old car that was only £1200.
Cleaning and driving
We spent many hours cleaning the interior — it was very dirty. Finally, in the evening, I drove us to a quiet area, we put the L plates on, and my son drove it for half an hour.
He did well and I was surprised by how much he has already learnt after about four driving lessons.
Time to change driving instructors?
I was shocked by something my son’s instructor taught him to do.
Like most people here in the UK, our cars have manual gearboxes. When pulling away, he was told not to press the accelerator pedal until the car is doing…
