CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR!

I have an old and long since proper bald mate we used to call ‘˜Scary Steve’. He was editor of Fast Car magazine back then, (long since the demesne of Jules Truss) and now is group editor of the motor yachting titles of a publishing group in Dubai. His magazines’ demographics make our UK PFA footballers’ ‘dream demographic’(that is, group of lovely rich people to advertise to) look like fricking paupers! Their top end magazine has readers that go vacationing four or five times a year on their floating palaces and spend around forty grand a time, on fuel, and mooring and eateries and stuff. I do not know if Steve ever suffers the feelings of inarticulate longing for the things he sees and plays with but cannot own, as I do. I know he gets to play with more than I.
But I really truly am one lucky sod. I have a deep need to carve out that reputation in OEM, that I had in aftermarket and the time is finally right to do so. That means relationships with the stalwarts in the Society Of Motor Manufacturers & Traders PR and press guide. And that seems to be going nicely. I just had the use of a brand spanking new Kia Sportage in KX-5 equip-level.
And that’s where the problems kick in for me. For while I could somehow forgive the awesome Volvo V90XC I also recently had a weeks’-long drive of, too, for having two powered seats in the front where mine has just the driver’s side, the latest car was distressing me. For it kept on revealing features I would adore
The first was revealing what the funny symbol was in the oddments tray, as my phone – a Samsung Galaxy S7, went automatically into cordless charging mode! The tiny LED went green and my phone showed it was charging! I boggled.
And then spotting the car, a full £20,000 odd less than the Volvo, had a similar full glass roof with full length powered curtain and sunroof. Before finally, and this really distressed me, discovering that the Kia Sportage KX-5 comes with all four main seats heated AND the two in the front come with powered forced cooled air ventilation as well as a three-level heating system like in mine. DAMNNNNNNNNN I want this.
So the day comes and a person comes and takes the car away..sigh
Like I say, careful what you wish for! And look out for the old BOOMPHtinkle. I failed to at the weekend away we just had in the New Forest. I do not know if it was the trying different cars and being stupid getting back into mine, the slight tiredness of the first night in an unfamiliar bed or the GRADE FIVE coffee from Waitrose that I had OD’d on that morning. Perhaps all of the above. I didn’t break the wall but I scratched the bumper and reflector-plus-trim-eyebrow-piece within it, as well as driving over a log on my OMIGHODWATHAVEIDONE? moment immediately after that and ripping up a fibrous under-tray! Funny enough, of the 26 only of the same T6 XC70s out there, none else have the aluminium sump guard I had fitted! Looks like I could use alloy under-plates to replace the one I ripped and its counterpart on the other side of the car as well. Still a bit upset about it. A sign of later age, that
Adam Rayner On Line Editor