{"id":3376,"date":"2013-12-16T06:36:42","date_gmt":"2013-12-15T20:36:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.privatefleet.com.au\/?p=3376"},"modified":"2020-06-20T01:30:18","modified_gmt":"2020-06-19T15:30:18","slug":"the-part-time-drivers-respond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/home\/the-part-time-drivers-respond\/","title":{"rendered":"The Part-Time Drivers Respond\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

My fellow-blogger Lewis has written eloquently on the war between what he calls Full-Time Drivers and Part-Time Drivers.\u00a0 If you haven\u2019t read his post, http:\/\/blog.privatefleet.com.au\/home\/part-time-drivers\/<\/a>, please do so.\u00a0 But in a nutshell, he seems to state that Part-Time Drivers (those who consider their car primarily as a means of getting from A to B and only drive when they have to) have a tendency to drive and park like idiots.\u00a0 Well, I happen to fit the basic definition of a part-time driver who considers driving a means to an end, and I am moved to speak up on the behalf of those like me.<\/p>\n

At the outset, I thoroughly agree with Lewis about the irritation of drivers who seem to live in a little bubble that co-exists with the bodyframe of the car.\u00a0 I also see red when somebody takes up multiple car parks, double-parks outside the school, drives slowly in the fast lane and texts while driving.\u00a0 However, not all part-timers drive like this.\u00a0 I will, however, freely admit that I am not a perfect parker, but this leads me to search for a spot I can get the car in and out of easily even if this means I have to walk a bit further.\u00a0 As an aside, it does seem that the civil engineers who designed some parking areas drive little hatchbacks, as even the full-time driver I am married to thinks that they\u2019re a bit narrow for the family Ford Fairlane<\/a> even when parked with pinpoint precision. If there\u2019s an SUV in the next space that\u2019s even slightly off-centre, considerable care is needed to avoid damaging its paintwork while getting out of the car.<\/p>\n

Part-time drivers may be part-time for a number of reasons.\u00a0 We may be concerned for our own health and thus walk or bike for a bit of extra exercise. We may want to cut down on our environmental footprints. Or we may have a look at the price of petrol and wince. Or we may be quite happy to surrender the wheel to the full-time drivers in our lives.\u00a0 And \u2013 contrary to what the label \u201cSunday Driver\u201d suggests \u2013 we have other hobbies in our lives and would rather not spend our spare time sitting on our backsides.\u00a0 Alternatively, if we cruise around just for the fun of it, we may prefer to do so on two wheels.<\/p>\n

However, part-time drivers do not hate their cars. Nor is it the case that we don\u2019t give a tinker\u2019s cuss about what we drive.\u00a0 We select our cars with great care \u2013 good looks and raw power alone won\u2019t impress us. \u00a0We also look at practicality (Will the surfboard fit in the boot? Will this car be able to tow the caravan?), safety, economy and our creature comforts.\u00a0 We are not totally devoid of aesthetics and will shun a vehicle that is plug-ugly.\u00a0 Some of us also use a vehicle as an expression of our social status\/pay packet (although we\u2019ve all heard about the multi-millionaires who get about in second-hand Toyota Corollas<\/a>).\u00a0 And yes, we will personalise our cars with seat covers, bumper stickers and so forth.\u00a0 In fact, there is little to distinguish us \u00a0from the full-time driver in this respect, except that the full-timer is more likely to be attracted to a little sports car. Although not always \u2013 some take the attitude that even if you only use a car to get from A to B, you may as well do it in style.<\/p>\n

Part-time drivers also get a bit annoyed at some of the things full-time drivers do.\u00a0 It is the full-timer, rather than the part-time driver, who will charge from lane to lane, trying to overtake everything that moves as if the simplest trip to the supermarket was a race.\u00a0 It\u2019s the full-timer who is more likely to speed \u201cbecause this car is built for it and needs to go fast\u201d and give you the heebie-jeebies when they barrel around corners just to put the handling through its paces.\u00a0 And could you call those annoying boy racers (and girl racers) who keep certain neighbourhoods awake at night with screeching tyres and amplified exhausts anything other than full-time drivers?<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A full-time driver woz ‘ere wiv his mates.<\/p><\/div>\n

And, on the human side of things, we part-timers get rather annoyed at the way emotion and attachment is lavished by full-timers on something that is, fundamentally, a machine that cannot love you back or even recognise you.\u00a0 And we sympathise with Shania Twain\u2019s sentiments:<\/p>\n

You’re one of those guys who likes to shine his machine<\/i><\/p>\n

You make me take off my shoes before you let me get in<\/i><\/p>\n

I can’t believe you kiss your car good night<\/i><\/p>\n

C’mon baby tell me \u2013 you must be jokin’, right!<\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

Oh, you think you’re special<\/i><\/p>\n

Oh, you think you’re something else<\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

Okay, so you’ve got a car<\/i><\/p>\n

That don’t impress me much<\/i><\/p>\n

So you got the moves but have you got the touch<\/i><\/p>\n

Don’t get me wrong, yeah I think you’re alright<\/i><\/p>\n

But that won’t keep me warm in the middle of the night<\/i><\/p>\n

http:\/\/credit-n.ru\/vklady.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My fellow-blogger Lewis has written eloquently on the war between what he calls Full-Time Drivers and Part-Time Drivers.\u00a0 If you haven\u2019t read his post, http:\/\/blog.privatefleet.com.au\/home\/part-time-drivers\/, please do so.\u00a0 But in a nutshell, he seems to state that Part-Time Drivers (those who consider their car primarily as a means of getting from A to B and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-home"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3376"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12057,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3376\/revisions\/12057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}