The Verdict: Good!

"Good?" You say "Not great?". "What the heck" I say "Great then!"

My first Streetcar trip was this evening and it all worked perfectly. The only difficulty was trying to find the car in the rather large Hammersmith NCP car park. Having finally located it, tucked away behind something else in the far corner the fun really began.

I haven't driven anything other than a second-hand (sorry, that's "preloved") automatic Micra for the last 3 years and to be honest I wasn't much good at that. So a manual and spanking new 1300 miles on the clock Golf took a bit of getting used to. After a few false starts I managed to get the car into gear (woo!) and out of the carpark (yay!). The brakes were a bit lively but I only stalled once and I hardly hit anything. A result.

Total cost for 3.5 hours and about 19 miles = £17.33. On its own that looks a bit steep but then that's all I'm going to pay for running a car this month (once I've disposed of the Micra) so I think it will work out well.

Outside the driving it was great to be back on the ice. The team were pleased to see me and I was pleased to see them - there are some very funny characters around the Westminster Statesmen. Also a lot of new faces so numbers are definitely up. Typically my first time back on the ice after a long lay off goes rather well as I don't try and think too much. Not this time though - I was RUBBISH! But the joy of playing and skating around was undiminished. I'm still a better skater than I am driver and that's the way I like it.