I got a new car

A red one. A Holden one.

It has more frippery than I can list, including a trip computer, Leather (Heated Seats) and a connector for a MP3 player.

It also apparently has a fuel consumption guide listed as 8.5 Litres per 100 Kms.

HA! I laugh at you. I've managed a 9.4 so far. And I'm not exactly Schumacher - and I'll tell you why.

The OCD part of me wants to (needs to) have some clarity and objective. So when the tip computer says my fuel consumption is 10.2 I need it to be 10.1. Then I need it to be 10.0 and then 9.9 and so on. Currently it is 8.9, and it's also saying I have enough go juice to go 648Kms.

I drive 30-odd kms to work and the same 30-odd kms home. Mostly in heavy traffic on the motorway. Alarmingly the fuel consumption at idle is horrific (I base this on the way the L per 100km figure keeps getting bigger, not on any scientific basis.

As I get nearer empty the chances of me getting the current 8.9 figure down -as an average to 8.5 diminishes - woe is me - this is stressful.

Still as I ponder this whilst sitting in my comfy warm heated leather seats I wonder how in earth they get to an urban cycle figure of 8.5 which seems improbable. Short journeys - such as I take on the weekend - seem to be very punishing, lots of stop signs and car-parks.

The only thing I can think of then is to go the long way to get the magic 8.5 figure - which means leaving earlier and spending more on petrol overall.

I may just give up.

BUT on the other hand it does have a connector for my MP3 - just a simple thing not a flash usb one, but I'm working on it. This has allowed me to listen again to some goodly music in the car. Which in the last week has included things like Gary Numan, Siouxie and the Banshees, Joy Division, Stranglers, Sex Pistols and other stuff like Massive Attack, Gorillaz, Pheonix Foundation and Fat Freddy's Drop.

Not all of this music is memorable or indeed much good, but I remember a goodly amount of the words so that must make them classics right ?

So there I am comfy in the aforementioned heated leather seats singing away - which is awesome but not as legendary as singing on the bus. I must be a sight to behold to the travellers - but I figured out if you wear a blue-tooth ear thingy you can at least pretend you're on the phone :-)