Brian's World

Driving the Volvo

Writing a blog in the middle of the day is a bit strange for me. I tend to write at night or early in the morning after the day comes to a close and I can “reflect” (if you call it that), on whats happened that day. Today is a little different because I know I won’t want to reflect in the middle of a Friday night, and the weekend tends to be filled with scrambling around to do x,y, and z.

This morning we had to bring the Volvo in for an oil change and another attempt at shutting off the check engine light. I was to drive the volvo and follow my mom, driving her car, to the place and then she would give me a ride back. I got in the car, backed out of the driveway, and let my mom take the lead. She knows where we’re suppose to be going, and I have like an 80% idea of where we’re going. I would know it when I get there, but I might not be able to locate it on a map (unless that map had Google StreetView enabled).

We started off driving away, and very quickly I noticed my mom was going moderately fast for our neighborhood. No, we don’t have any speed bumps, but I rarely go above 30 just because. Mom was zooming away and I, driving the volvo, started to get very frustrated. If you’ve driven the volvo (you probably haven’t), you’d know the volvo doesn’t accelerate like a race car, it accelerates much more like… hrm… idk… the little train that could. It will accelerate yes, but you have to be patient with it. I like this feature, it prevents me from zooming too fast without trying, and the time it takes to accelerate gives me time to think “should I actually be going this speed? Is it worth it?”

Regardless, the drive continued on, and I continued to get frustrated at my moms persistance at accelerating to a speed above the speed limit immediately after a light turned green, or after stopping at a stop sign. Maybe we were running late, I’m not sure. I am not a professional car driver, nor do I pretend to be, but I think its more efficient to accelerate slowly until you reach your desired speed. Just because you can go very fast doesn’t mean you should? I guess there is a little evidence to back me up, after driving the volvo for something like 2 years I’ve seen the MPG average go slightly. I’m not one to care about every drop of gasoline like its liquid gold, but I do think that you shouldn’t be wasting it because you feel some strange need for speed. My maximum speed is very simple to define: speed limit + 5. If there is something strange requiring urgent attention I reserve the right to add an additional +4 miles per hour.

When I drive late at night I tend to go the speed limit, its late and I’m in no rush to get anywhere. Since I cannot see as clearly as I can during the day, extra precautions need to be taken. I don’t like it when people get right up behind me when I’m going 30 in a 35, or maybe a 30.. whatever Newton Street is. Being behind me does not increase my likely hood of speeding up, especially if you start to poke your car out on the left side to peer into the other lane to see if you can get around me. Now that you are behind me I am going to try extra hard to maintain my speed, for the sole purpose of annoying you and your philosophy. There is a strong chance I’ll get flipped off during this process, or some strange sign language that would translate to “you’re going to slow for me because I clearly have somewhere more important to be at 12:15am.” I guess if I saw like a pregnant lady in the passenger seat I would consider pulling over or speeding up, but just a teenager or person doesn’t trigger any special cases.

Its now 11:19pm. I wonder what thrilling adventures I’ll go on this weekend, and more importantly.. whats for lunch?