Tuesday, October 20, 2009

It's a man thing

The car we hired in Corsica had automatic windscreen wipers; the van we hired the other week had them too. I suppose all new cars do.

What I want to know is: are there male and female settings?

When Husband is driving and I'm in the passenger seat, and it starts to rain, I can become almost hysterical before Husband will switch on the wipers. Apparently I'm not alone in this: it's a woman thing. Men have better visio-spatial aptitude, Husband says. I think it's just that men want to look cool. 'Hey, I'm superhuman; I can see through raindrops.'

* * * * * * * * *

We will need a new car soon. Our black car is gradually falling to bits so Husband has been browsing through the Autotrader website. In fact, he does that most Sunday mornings but now he can say he's doing something useful rather than dreaming of the classic Bentley or land rover he'd like to buy.

My mind has gone blank: I can't remember where I was going with this post ... oh, yes, I know.

Last Sunday he was looking at a Ford something or other diesel. He said, 'It's the same as the one we hired when we went to France last year; do you remember?'

I have trouble remembering where I've parked the car in Sainsburys car park; most times it's only chance that I come home in the right car. So, no, I don't remember the car we hired in France eighteen months ago. As if.

6 comments:

Rose said...

My husband does the same thing, too; we'll will be driving through a downpour, and he'll wait for 5 minutes before turning on the wipers. If I can't see the road on my side, how can he??

Your last few posts remind me of going to see a musical last week with some friends--"Menopause the Musical." I don't know if they have a touring company in the UK, but if they do, go see it--it's hysterical!

mdmhvonpa said...

Wait ... it rains? I thought that was just humidity. Huh, go figure.

nick said...

I must admit I'm typically male in that respect. I don't turn on the wipers until it's raining quite hard but Jenny is terrified I won't see something and crash the car. I haven't crashed the car in over 40 years....

Manchester Lass, Now and Then said...

Snap, many times I have to lean over and turn the wipers on myself. I am so not a car person. Hope you manage to buy a new car that you are both happy with!

Furtheron said...

To be honest I'd prefer old style ones you could set the frequency on yourself. I often find either - light drizzle, switch on auto and they go bonkers as though there is a monsoon coming down. Or it's raining like Noah is needed and the things stedfastly refuse to move!

To be honest they vary in the same journey.

But before I get into the cars used to be better debate - they didn't! My latest car is thumping on the miles, never misses a beat and apart from one busted windscreen washer and one blown bulb hasn't missed a beat.

Liz Hinds said...

I think I heard something about that musical before, rose. I don't think it's reached these shores yet though.

Maybe where you are, mdm.

seems to confirm the theories, nick.

I'm sure we will, linda.

Can you over-ride the modern ones though, furtheron?