Bad Luck Bumper Sticker?

This morning I found myself walking towards a car with a bumper sticker that said "I'm so gay I can't drive straight."  When I walked alongside it I found that it had a large dent in the passenger side fender, and the hood was bent.  So I have to wonder if that bumper sticker was on the car before or after the accident.  If before it would seem to have been bad luck for the driver.

Tom And Jennifer Would Approve.

I had a nice surprise this morning.  I had to brave the icy streets that resulted from last night's snow and freezing rain.  As I was about to turn onto McKercher Drive I stopped behind a car that had the custom Saskatchewan license plate 6teen.  It probably had some other meaning, but I couldn't help but speculate the driver might be a fan of the cartoon series 6teen.  Hopefully I'll see it again at some point.

It Definitely Could Have Been Worse.

It must be a bit worrying living by a major intersection.  The thought must regularly come to mind that your building will be hit by an idiot driver.  This morning there was an example of this at Saskatoon's Acadia Drive and 14th Street intersection.  The apartment building there was hit by a minivan about 7 AM.  As you can see by the pictures the van ended up wedged into the building.  Amazingly the driver got out and ran away.  He was followed by a bystander, who tracked him all the way to the Centre Mall several blocks away, where the driver was apprehended by mall security.  Several charges have been laid, and Saskatoon Police say speed and alcohol were involved.

The accident could have been worse.  The basement apartment located where the van hit was empty.  The driver was alone in the vehicle.  And he managed not to hit any other vehicle passing through.  Potential targets could have included Saskatoon Transit buses 3 and 5, which pass through that intersection around that time, depending on how on schedule they are.(I was riding 3 several winters ago when it was t-boned there by a car unable to stop on ice in the intersection.)

This is not the first time this building has been hit.  An accident years ago led to damage to another basement suite.  Perhaps the owners are going to have to consider installing some sort of posts or other barriers so it doesn't happen again.

VROOM!

I saw someone driving a motorcycle this morning.  Definitely not the kind of thing you normally see during the first half of March in Saskatoon.

A Foolish Machine.

I was just out running a couple of errands.  At one point I ended up parked by a Harley Davidson model Ford F150 truck.  I didn't know there had been such a thing.  On the other hand I can easily imagine who'd buy one, someone with more money than sense, as I'm sure they paid a premium to buy it over a similar normally branded F150. 

Is Your Car Running?

You might want to go check.  My dad went out this afternoon, and forgot to turn off his car when he got home.  It ran for a couple of hours before he realised it.  Fortunately no one came along and took advantage, but conversely apparently no one else on the street noticed it running and warned him.  In a way it might actually be a good thing given how cold it is in Saskatoon today.

When I Rule The World 8.

When I rule the world SUVs will be banned.  As for pickup trucks you will actually have to provide a good reason why you should be allowed to own one.  And pickup trucks that have designs that make them nothing more than overgrown sports cars will also be prohibited.

The Van.

As a followup to this post here's a shot of the dear old soon to be departed van. This is the good side of the old thing, the driver's side being the side that is beat up, including a lot of rust on the lower edge of the door.

The Future Of The RV.

It seems not a day goes by that the media has some new report on the future of SUVs and pickup trucks as the price of gas goes ever higher. But I haven't run across predictions about the future of the RV. Filling up your SUV for regular driving is bad enough, but filling up to tow your fifth wheel trailer someplace is even worse. The same thing goes for large motorhomes, which consume a lot of gas just to go a few miles. It would seem a reasonable guess the rising price of gas will put the future of such vehicles in jeopardy. Smaller motorhomes based on a van chassis, and smaller camper trailers may have more of a future, while tent trailers and compact hard side trailers may actually see an increase in interest as other formats become less appealing. Perhaps large camper trailers will still have a niche for semipermanent uses, where they are moved only once or twice a year to a fixed location for an extended period. But the decline of more casual camping use of such units is sure to hit the makers hard.

Last Days Of An Old Companion.

It seems a vehicle I've long driven is about to leave the stage. It's a 1994 Chrysler Caravan minivan my father purchased new as part of his job at the time, which was doing repair work for cash registers and related equipment at various Hudson Bay stores in Saskatchewan. (Ironically he was hired on to do exactly the same job he had been doing as an employee of the Bay before they decided to contract out the service in the early '90s.) Over the years we've put more than 277,600 kilometers on it, or 177,500 miles, if you prefer. But it's finally gotten to the point where it probably needs to go. It has a banged up front driver's side from an accident I had with it a few years back. The hinges of the driver's side door, which had to be rewelded even before the accident, have come loose again, and the door itself doesn't close properly without some force. The paint is peeling on the hood, roof, and elsewhere, and there is more and more rust appearing in various places. But most importantly the engine, the heart of any vehicle, is sounding more and more like it's about to give up the ghost, and repairing it wouldn't be worth the money given the general decay of the rest of the van. And frankly like the SUVs on the road it's making less and less sense economically to keep driving it. We have made use of its cargo capacity over the years, but even that really isn't enough reason for us to keep using it. So within the next month or two we will likely look for some way of disposing of it. I"ll miss it, as it's served us well.

And speaking of anti SUV material, what should I stumble across a few minutes after my last entery but this page(they use naughty words, so reader discretion advised). These folks have got a real mean on for the Hummer H2. I'm not sure how many of these are floating around Saskatoon if any. There are a couple of Hummer H1s in the area, the most frequently seen one being a yellow model owned by Jerry's Food Emporium, a locally owned fast food place. There definitely something you wouldn't see me driving, if only because I have enough trouble parking a normal car or minivan, let alone an overgrown hunk of metal like a Hummer.

Ever wonder what kind of car modding they do in Japan? Well, take a look at this. They've been getting a lot of hits apparently, so I don't know how long it will stay up. I love that purple van with the mural of a tanuki(a raccoon-ish creature native to Japan)doing his laundry on the back.