Tag: cars

I descaled the coffee machine yesterday. We live in an exceptionally hard-water area and this maintenance was long overdue.

This morning I turned the machine on and something felt unfamiliar and wrong. I couldn't put my finger on what, until I realised...

...I'd gotten so-used to seeing the "descaling needed" light illuminated that I'd subconsciously forgotten that it wasn't supposed to be always-lit! Turns out that a warning left long enough becomes not just invisible but normalised!

(Next, maybe I should do something about the 'check engine' light in the car. It's been on for a while too...)

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Close-up of the buttons on an automatic/beans-to-cup coffee machine.

Why, when I change the temperature on the thermostat of my Renault Zoe does it change the fan direction, too? Is this a UI affordance for people who want their faces colder but their feet warmer? I don't understand!

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A white hand turns the thermostat knob in a car from 19℃ to 20℃ in 0.5℃ increments; the untouched nearby fan direction control seems to change of its own accord. Initially blowing towards the user's face it switches on 'towards feet' at 19.5℃ and switches off 'towards face' at 20℃, and reverses the process when the temperature is turned down again.

Tonight I learned that when my electric car gets down to 5% battery, it sounds an alarm.
And that when it gets down to 4% battery, it sounds a louder alarm.
And that when it gets down to 3% battery, it engages 'limited performance' mode and shows a picture of a tortoise.
And that when it gets down to 2%, and you've already turned off the heating and the radio and you're wondering how much power the windscreen wipers are using... that's when it stops showing you it's estimated range.
Fortunately, I then only had half a mile left to go. But for a while there it felt a little bit hairy!

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Electronic car dashboard showing 3% battery, a 'limited performance' warning, and an icon of a turtle in a yellow circle.

I know how I'm SUPPOSED to read it, but when I see this I can't help but imagine a conversation like...

"What shall we call our car wash?"

/waves hand/ "I dunno."

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Google Maps screenshot showing the location of a business seemingly called Waves Hand Car Wash Cheltenham.

Off to Pembrokeshire on holiday I've had to stop near Cardiff to put some more charge into the car... which provides the perfect opportunity for the doggo and I to explore a nearby sports field and take in All. The. Smells. 🐶

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Standing in a green park space, Dan gestures to his dog, a Frenchie, who's sniffing a nearby tree.

Sometimes the kids need to leave your pub dinner before you finish your drink, and you need to take a "to-go" pint.

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Dan, grinning, holding a quarter pint of beer in few rear passenger seat of a moving car.

When you love Jesus but you're sick of Him blocking your driveway.

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Orange garage on a tropical hillside, on the front of which are painted the words: 'Jesus is Lord. I love him.' And then below and between those lines: 'No parking'.

This is funny, but I'm confident Wrexham's potholes have nothing on the Trinbagonian ones I've been experiencing all week, which have sometimes spanned most of the width of a road or been deep enough that dipping a wheel into them would strike the road with your underchassis!

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Humorous handmade road sign welcoming visitors to Wrexham as 'Pothole Land', stating that there are 'two kilometres of award-winning potholes with very little actual road to spoil your fun' and guaranteeing 'the deepest, longest, vs widest potholes in Wales'.

I've only been driving in Ireland for several days, so less than 100% of the iconography of the signage makes sense to me instantly, for now. But this one's a complete mystery to me.

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Photograph showing a road sign; it's yellow, diamond-shaped, and depicts in black the silhouette of a person running from left to right. Above them is the silhouette of a car, much smaller than them and twisted anticlockwise by about 20 degrees. Impact/movement marks eminate from the lower of the car's wheels, as if it's a thrown object that's just bounced off the head of the runner.

Is this warning joggers than tiny cars might bounce off their heads? Or is it exhorting distant swerving motorists to put on their right indicator to tell people which way to run to avoid being hit by them? Or maybe it's advising that down this road is a football pitch for giants and they'll play "headers" with you in your car if you're not careful? I honestly haven't a clue.