AWOL For 10 Days

We have got fed up with the lousy UK weather and I authorised management to find flights and accommodation ASAP to somewhere warm and dry.

So this afternoon I found myself getting off a Monarch flight in Faro, Portugal,  for a 10 day stay in an apartment in the grounds of a 5 star hotel in Olhao (pronounced Oil-How by the way).

Late last evening I booked with Sixt a Golf auto, but when we arrived this evening they did not have one. Mucho apologies – please take an Audi A6 auto in lieu at no extra cost. No thanks says I, management would not be happy driving it – it’s too big.

So the lady scanned her computer and offers me a Renaullt Megane auto – sorry says I, I refuse to have anything to do with French stuff. This didn’t go down too well but she had another go and offered me a big cost reduction if I took a Toyota Yaris auto.  Thanks, but not possible – have you seen the amount of luggage management has brought with her. She got up from her seat to look over the counter at the luggage trolley and gave me a look of sympathy. She then said the only other auto car she could offer was a BMW 1 series SE diesel auto - which I accepted.

I soon wished I hadn’t – management had great difficulty getting into the car and even greater difficulty getting out. Its too low and the bucket seats hold you in place. It was dark when we picked up the car and it must have taken me at least 30 minutes to discover where all the controls are and how to negotiate the stupid menu system via a rotary knob in front of the gear lever. I am used to auto systems with P R N D positions. But this bloody car has got a lever that you toggle forward for R, toggle back for D and press a button on the top for P.  The N position appears to  be when you leave it alone. It took me a few minutes to get it to accept my instruction to engage D until I discovered you had to hold in a well hidden button set into the side of the lever to assure the computer that you really did want forward gear. Meanwhile, management was banging on about how I should swallow my pride and walk 500 metres back to the office to obtain help from what might have been a cocky teenager.

Once on the road I was quite impressed by how quiet and smooth the car was. It has only 6700 km on the clock so is relatively new. A major niggle is that Libby noticed a message come up on the media screen warning that one or more of the tyres was low in pressure and should be attended to as soon as possible. THe message went on to remind me that this requires you to rest the TPM system after inflating the tyres.
 
Libby is all for me taking the car back tomorrow – I’m all for spending the day blowing up the tyres and tinkering with the menus until I sort it out.

More anon.

Faro! Takes me back to 1962!

We have not been into Faro yet - but I expect it may have changed slightly.

Nice pics - I wish I had kept all my old black and white photos now

If you see any of those kids, Alan, give them my regards!  :-)

Great photos! 

Enjoy your holiday, Alan! 

Nice pics Ciders---have a nice time Alan-looking forward to some Portuguese jokes

See separate post Jimmy


https://murgatroyds.forumotion.net/t666-response-to-jimmys-special-request-blame-google-not-me

I’m a happy hoppy – in fact I have been singing to myself for most of the day

What a difference a day made,
Twenty four little hours
Brought the sun and the flowers
Where there used to be rain
My BMW made me scream
TPM warnings on the screen
Close to being my worse dream
Not familiar with the car
Wife a chuntering a bit too far
But there's a rainbow before me
The car’s now behaving 
Since that moment of pleasure
When I pumped up the tyres
Etc,,……………………..

I defied management and at the crack of dawn today, whilst she was still snoring for England, sorted the TPM problem. I had to visit 3 service stations before I found one that had a half decent tyre inflation station. I then found my way through the menu system and was able to reset the TPM system and the warning message vanished.

The difference in the feel of the car after I blew the tyres up was marked – the steering much lighter, the ride more composed and the ability to feel the thud in your arse when you ran over a match stick.

Yesterday I was critical of the knob controlled menus and the way the gear change is configured – but there is method in the madness of yer kraut and I now appreciate how informative it is and how easy it is to operate after a two hour browse.

Having the full owners manual available on the screen enabled me to work out how to control pretty well everything.

I have also been able to get management’s seat into a higher position and she is now more able to get in and out of the car.

The BMW will be OK for the holiday – but this is not a car at all suitable for us to use long term.  We will be glad to get back to our KIA.

Have a great time Alan.

Thank you kind cur sir................

AlanHo wrote:

Thank you kind cur sir................

Hope it rains now.

Well it did when me and my missus was there andsome. The water was running down the Hotel walls to meet the rising damp comeing up. We had a terrible three weeks. Apart from three or four days when the wind dropped and the rain stopped and the sun got through. Mind you we went in January 1994. Not a good time so we where told. 

Some rain would be welcome andsome - the breeze has dropped and I'm rather hot

AlanHo wrote:

Some rain would be welcome andsome - the breeze has dropped and I'm rather hot

Really? What kind of Hot is that then Alan. 

I've just got a Jaguar XE .... and it was a nightmare at first, everything electronic it took a lot of getting used to.
Sometimes I wonder just who is driving whom.