Thursday 11 August 2016

Espana car hire perils police bikes and end of the pier cafes


In general I thought retirement would mean doing what I want when I want . Not quite true at the moment as I have a schedule and deadlines for future travels so I cant just grab a deal and go ,thus far. Arrival in Tasmania is when and where we have no plans and will freefall , however on the off chance and with only hours before departure I checked out cheap car hire.


I got a good deal through Doyouspain.com , smallest class which is all I want and 23 days at £282 , grabbed it. Normally I don’t pay till I collect, it means if anything goes wrong I don’t have to frig around trying to get my money back and I can  if I see a better offer grab it. In this case the website only offered the option to book it if you paid (maybe because of the timescale to be fair). I didn’t take out the insurance. Its cheaper than the car hire company charge but the car hire company’s don’t like it and wont on some occasion accept it. If you argue they often suddenly cant speak English.

At the airport I got the transit van to the car hire depot where there was a he queue. There were a lot of exasperated people a lot of mumbling and raised voices, arms being waved in exasperation and threats followed by demands for refunds. English being, whatever anyone says , the common language the conversations were being carried out in accented English. I could not make out what the problem was but nobody was moving. When people rent a car the driver normally does the paperwork and the rest of the company stand around checking watches and complaing about the time its taking. people were throwing keys in the office saying I will miss my flight I am going., the sign said drop off takes 30 minutes, nobody was moving.  90 minutes I waited. A French party were arguing with all the passion the French keep for such occasions . The women in the party who had been pacing out side suddenly pushed her way through the queue inserted herself between her companions and demanded to know what was going on? She then  demanded a refund promising to go the airport and hire a car there ‘from a decent company’. Her refund came up short. She demanded all her money back. The car hire rep apologised. He did not have it. She had booked through a broker and she had paid insurance at the same time. He could not give back the insurance as the broker had it. All became clear, either the company wanted them to take out their own insurance and did not accept the insurance they had ,or, they wanted an indemnity, a further problem appeared to be that the people having all the problems and there were three parties involved were French and none (Non)of their cards were acceptable. “But I paid with diss!” exclaimed the women in a heavy French accent “Yes” replied the car hire rep in a heavy Spanish accent , “the broker , they take it , we do not!” Mind you they both shrugged in the same language.



When I finally got there I paid the extra insurance , got the keys and left leaving them still arguing , “this is bloody stupid “ seems to be a standard phrase no matter what the nationality.



One further thing I never get the car I hire. The car that is on the website is always the most desirable in the class, the car I get is always something else , the car advertised was a Fiat 500, I rather kike them , I can hear derisory snorts of “Its a ladies car”. I being content in my masculinity rather like them they being stylish and the only retro car (apart from the Beetle) where the manufacture has captured the spirit of the original whilst updating it to produce the next generation. Evolution not revolution.  . Suffice to say I din’t get the 500 I got the ‘or similar’  a Toyota Picanto.









boardwalks protect  endangered areas

 b



seagrass conservation






a member of the sideways hat club

the resy of the club


the café at the end of the walk



police bikes

Each morning I have gone to the pool for a quick swim. Today I went for a walk along the beach. How different to the early days. It was, in the beginning just a beach , no amenities ,now it is alive with bars , rows od for hire sun loungers, under tropical parasols water fountains to wash sand from your feet and endless types of flotation and boating item known to man all for hire. They have these very thick surfboard things you stand on and paddle . In my youth I would have a go but as I now struggle toget up from an armchair I think my chances of standing up on a floating buoyancy aide bobbing about on the briny as nil. The coast here is great for swimmers and the one leg on the











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