Be Excellent To Each Other

My car's wider than Belgium.

I just switched to petrol after many years on disesel. So now, not only do have to remember what side the cap is on, but I have to chant 'petrol petrol petrol' the whole time.

As for other annoyances - would someone please design a switch to turn off the back windscreen wiper? Once it starts, the blasted thing never stops.

We've always had petrol cars and yet the wife managed to put diesel into her 8 month old car which made me super happy at the time. Actually I was quite calm until we got the bill for the car getting towed away and emptied and cleaned and the cost of the wasted diesel (filled the tank before she realised)

I'd rather she bought super expensive cables.

In Mrs A's fiesta there's an arrow on the petrol gauge, so i were wrong.

sorry.

I wouldn't be, that's the first UK car I've ever heard of having one.

What I hate is cretins at the petrol station who don't realise that with correct parking, the fuel squirty thing can be made to reach the other side of your car so it doesn't matter a jot which pump is free.

So they all queue up waiting for the pumps they want when in reality they could use any pump and make things move faster.

This is a fallacy.[/quote]

Yes, I always thought it looked like a penis.

Indeed, but it means there's usually a free pump for me to go straight to.

Yes, except where the queue means you can't leap straight in. This happened during the fuel shortages a few years back where half the problem with the queues was stupid people.

That thing with the fuel pump on the dash is actually sort of correct. It's not actually the position of the hose on the fuel indicator that tells you the side the cap's on, it's the side of the dash that it's on.

For example, if the fuel indicator is on the left-hand side of the dash (i.e. if your speedo is in the middle, you might have the tachometer on the right and the fuel/temp displays on the left) then chances are the petrol cap is on the left-hand side of the car, and vice versa.

There are exceptions, but for the most part this is correct.

My Celica has an arrow on the dashboard underneath the fuel indicator telling me that the cap is on the left-hand side.

As a former petrol station attendant, I can assure you that 100% of the problem with the queues was stupid people.

"Do you have any reserves for the ambulances?"
"Yes."
"Can I have some?"
"Fuck you, you ignorant shit."

That's what I'd have liked to have said, anyway.

To be fair, it was an ambulance driver that was asking you.

Yeah, bloody ambulance drivers. Always out for what they can get.

My 06 Focus has an arrow next to the fuel gauge too. I'd not seen it in a car before, and thought it was a very nice touch.

Both Fords I notice. Maybe something inherited from the American arm.

My 3-series BMW has the gauge on the left but cap on the right. I think it's the normal cluster apart from having an oil temperature gauge instead of one for fuel economy (it not understanding the concept).

I don't think my old Mondeo had an arrow, but then I don't notice that sort of thing.

My transit van has an arrow, as do the newer (Ford-engined) Land Rover Defenders.

I need a Defender to transport my sheepdog to and from the fields to herd the sheep up. Mrs A does not seem to understand this.

My Honda Civic (current version) has an arrow on the fuel gauge. Just in case any of you were interested, like.

TEH TRIANGOOLAR EXHAUST PYPES!!!11!!!!

Or rather the totally standard, round exhaust pipes behind a triangular bezel. Yes.

That's what I meant, yes.

Still - TRIAGYOOLAR! ZOMG>!?!

Or.. skipping the whole queue on your motorbike as no one but you can get to the front pump, filling up, paying with a card at the pump and roaring off before anyone gets shouty like someone did once when I couldn't pay at the pump and had to queue to pay, the silly shouty man.

I was going to mention that, but couldn't find a way without sounding smug.

Also: silly shouty man. If you can't get to the pump, it isn't reserved for you; if someone on a bike wants it, it's theirs for the taking. As long as the biker doesn't cut you up as you're making your way, though.

Smugs, cool. It's all about opportunism, and if it isn't turning anyone over, it ain't a problem.

DISAGREE.
If people are queuing, you should get in the queue too.

I bet you think that motorbikes shouldn't form their own lane in traffic, too.

You are far too english.

If it doesn't inconvenience anyone, it ain't a problem and is acceptable behavior.

Even if the queuing people can't possibly get to the pump? You're just adding to the problem then if you queue yourself.

Don't get me wrong, I'd never purposefully inconvenience someone, but I see this in exactly the same light as filtering. If you can get through, and nobody else can, go for it. Just don't cut people up, block people, or steal their opportunities while doing so.

Sort of a bit but if you push in and then the blocking car in front soon leaves as the chances are that it will then what you've done is simply just nicked someone's place in the queue. Saying that most of the time if the other drivers weren't so thick they'd be able to get to the front pump by driving round and reversing up.

Bike tanks are considerably smaller than car tanks, though, ER5 tank is 15 litres, which isn't too long at all to fill.

Thus making the guy behind block the pump he was using because he can't get out past the guy who's just driven round in front of him.....

Yes indeed.

Traffic light waddling is fine, of couse - as long as your bike is faster than my car, ffs.

Yeah true but it still takes just as long to queue up and pay.

I tend to avoid all this simply by filling up the tank when I know it's going to be fairly quiet.

If there are only one or two cars waiting I wouldn't reeally be too bothered if a biker got in where they could. If there was a massive queue and they whipped in in front of everybody I would be a lot more bothered (but unlikely to do anything more than mutter and swear).

Hence 'Pay at Pump' option.

On a related note, did the law change yet to make self-defense the killing of people who honk at you to get out the fucking way, slow-arse! the very moment your door is shut?