Kids, cars and gadgets

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With holidays and houses on the horizon, the subject of a new car is one that’s been put firmly on the backburner for now. Our long suffering Hyundai i30, with its finger smeared windows and footwells full of crumbs is going to have to go on suffering quite a while longer.

That hasn’t stopped me dreaming about what I’d like in a new family car. Individual microcosms would be good – I’m always cold, the Other Half gets hot, the kids are noisy and I want quiet. Is there such a thing as a car filled with individually heated soundproof boxes? I’m guessing not.

So then I started thinking about what I could do to make our existing car a happier place to be instead.

As luck would have it, one of my friends was obviously thinking along the same lines, because a bluetooth adapter recently arrived in the post. It has revolutionised my musical car life! Previously we have had the option of Radio X (good, as long as we don’t want to drive anywhere outside the M25), listening to music through a portable bluetooth speaker (quiet, and involves remembering the speaker and a way of charging it), or singing to ourselves (singing happens whatever actually. D does a good rendition of Teenage Dirtbag). Although using the adapter does mean I have to trail the dashcam lead right to the back of the car – yes, another gadget that has changed our driving life – it also means that I can stream whatever I want from my phone to the stereo, and out via the speakers we can actually hear. Not since the days when the car CD player worked (before the kids poked 2p’s into it) have we had such luxury. ‘I want to be in charge of the toothpaste’* is now the most commonly uttered thing as we all cram ourselves in to drive to our intended destinations.

Now all I need is the handheld vacuum (GTech AirRam Multi is charged and ready) and a couple of blankets to create the microcosm thing, and we’re all set.

Although I would still like a new car at some point. Please?

*for some reason, the kids just can’t remember the word bluetooth in this context. I don’t know why. Or maybe they do have some kind of horrible car destroying toothpaste plan I’m not aware of. I wouldn’t put it past them.