Ain Sokhna

Yesterday we took off with the i10 to Ain Sukhna. The round trip was 305 km. I went with a friend and his cousin.

I drove most of the time or at least a long part of the way. I reached 120 km/hour on the highway yet mostly was on 105 km/hour or below. I really enjoyed the drive. Gave me more experience too. I highway had very low traffic. We left Cairo before 6 AM and returned before noon.

On our way from Cairo, we checked the tire pressure. Was a nice experience since we did it ourselves at the gas station because the guy responsible for it at the station was not present yet at that early time in the morning.

Although we stayed just under an hour at Sukhna, yet we have managed to accomplish the main goals of the trips which were:

1. To increase the car millage towards the first 1000 km in order to make the mandatory maintenance for the first 1000 km of the new car.
2. For me to have extra practice on driving by driving on highways.
3. To enjoy, if just briefly, the atmosphere and scenery at Ain El Sokhna.

Upon arriving to Sokhna, we went to Porto Sokhna which my friend and his cousin (we lives in Canada and was on a trip to Egypt) have marveled at. I did reckon the lush hotel but I actually aimed at something more simple and local. Anyway, we found the restaurants (Chili's and the others) all closed and were told they open up at noon. We stayed for a while then moved on to some sea food restaurant not far from Porto Sokhna which again was closed and we were told it also opens up at noon. We sat for a short while in front of the beach which was really nice, though slightly hot. We then headed back to Cairo because my friend had things to do back there and so had to return early. Was quite a nice experience.

Second Accident

Busy Streets

Today was my fourth day in a 5-day driving course. I've finally managed to go for a longer trip, with my driving trainer, around 1 PM when the streets are fairly busy.

Scratch

Apart from the minor scratches I had caused by the end of our trip back home today, I was driving fairly OK. The problem was that he was on the cell phone at the time of this accident which did not give him a chance to provide me with early warning to avoid bumping into the car on my left side having gotten too close to it.

Damage

The external bumpers of the car on my left were detached from the car from the right side all the way till the other side except for a part that was hanging from the far left. This caused the bump or friction to make a great sound. I was a bit shocked and wanted to stop on the right side of the road having though I caused the guy on my left great damage. The trainer told me not to stop and that it was the mistake of the one on my left because he came to close to me from the back. I was relieved, yet perhaps not completely convinced, that it was the other drivers mistake and not mine. Perhaps I should learn and practice defensive driving in the future to avoid accidents in such situations.

Trainer

Despite what happened, I believe that this has been the best driving trainer I had ever had and I did have many (maybe 7 or more, at least 5 of which were paid driving trainers). He is highly experienced in both driving and in teaching others how to drive. I have learnt a lot from him and I'm glad I got to know about him and actually took the course. He is a bit more expensive than the other driving schools but he's worth every penny. Just considering that proper driving training could help you avoid some serious accident in the future which would have costed you a lot of money will make you realize the value of investing in such driving lessons.

Lesson

Thank God today's 'accident' was nothing but a minor scratch at the back left side of the car. Perhaps I can take today's incident as a further learning lesson to avoid serious accidents in the future. I should practice more to avoid the mistakes of others and to maintain a distance at all times from cars at my left and at my right sides at the same time. Yes I should have learnt from my first accident, yet I still do believe today was a considerable improvement. I just need to work on it a bit further and be a bit more careful when driving.

My First Accident!

Thank God only minor scratches at the front right-side bumper were the results of this minor bumping accident the day before yesterday.

False Start

I took the car for a short ride early in the morning as usual for driving practice. As usual, I confined myself to the close by streets which are relatively empty in the early morning (around 6 AM). There were a few cars however on that day since students have been back to school.

Right Side Mirror Closed

Oh, sorry, the above paragraph was not correct. It seems my memory has been failing me ever since this minor accident. Now I remember. I went out at noon the other day and was in a big hurry. I forgot to open the side mirrors because of my haste. After starting to move I realized the mirror were closed. I opened the left-side mirror while I was driving. I did not open the right side mirror however as the trip was short (less than 1 km) and I thought I'd never need them so why stop the car and open them when I was already late and in a hurry plus the trip was a short one. I discovered later that I was wrong later on and that I should have indeed opened the right side mirror.

The Accident

Upon turning right and moving for a short distance I found a few cars coming from behind me. I wanted to turn left. Instead of actually continuing my way forward and turning left I decided to play it 'safe' and make room for the cars behind me to bypass me. My plan was to wait until the pool of cars has finished then turn to the left safely having the street all for myself. That was not exactly what took place. While trying to move to the right in order to make way for the cars behind me to overtake me from the left I actually moved way too much to the right side. A few seconds after hearing the car right behind me honking I bumped into one of the cars parked on my right side. I quickly turned left to lessen the impact of the bump. I heard it well and clear. I still hoped that perhaps nothing happened to the car and moved in my way normally. Having reached my destination, which was not far from the place of the accident, I got out of the car still hoping that nothing has happened. I inspected the car from the right to find, to my dismay, a few minor scratches on the front right-side bumper which had taken the thin blue polish away exposing the grayish color beneath. I was horrified. Well, not actually horrified but was very sad, not that the scratches were severe, but it was because the car was new, only two weeks have passed since I bought it.

Learning Lesson

Although I was unhappy yet I instantly thanked God considering I was lucky to have the accident be a minor one with only minor surface scratches and no real harm to the car. It was just a psychological thing since that car was new and I was, I believed, taking extra care not to bump or scratch it. I looked at the positive point however and took it as a strong learning lesson. Now I need to practice and take extra care not to bump my car from the right side (or the left side for that matter). Perhaps that learning lesson would help me avoid a major accident in the future. I tried to think positively to reduce my deep negative feelings.

Right Side Mirror Open

During the week before the accident I did have this problem of getting too close to the cars parked on the right while I was trying to make way for the cars behind me to overtake me from the left. The thing was that I did have my right side mirror open during those times which acted as a sort of early warning system preventing me to bump the car itself onto the parked cars on the right-side as the back of the mirror did the bumping effectively half closing during the first incident and completely closing during the second one. Perhaps I should take care to open the right side mirror before starting to drive in the future. Better yet, I should practice keeping a distance from the parked cars on the right when trying to make room to the left for cars behind me. I have already started to practice this since yesterday.

Mirror Bumping Again!

Today I was trying to park not far away from the bakery to buy some bread in the morning. Finding a school bus coming towards me I kept to my extreme right while moving slowly forward with the i10. The right side mirror bumped (again) against the car parked on my right side almost completely closing the mirror inwards. Seems I still had not learnt the lesson well. Seems I only to consideration for the right side dimension of the car and do not take into consideration the extra space needed for the mirror (when it's open).

The other repeated mistake I had also done today was parking backwards and not observing the street from behind me during the parking process. I guess I only looked backwards before starting to reverse and park but not during the parking process itself. I was alerted to this mistake (again) upon hearing the slight honking coming from behind.

Although I have repeated those two mistakes today yet I'm still glad since today I drove at the time when school buses and cars were moving around even if I was only confined to the small streets around the house. The second win I had today was buying bread. I almost gave it up not finding a place to park near their and failing to park at a rather small (but not very) space in front of the bakery. Yet at the end and after several 'rounds' I finally decided to park at a place not so far from the bakery. I came back home with a plastic bag with six loafs of bread in it.

Ghabbour Called Me

I just received a phone call from Ghabbour, Hyundai agent in Egypt, moments ago. I had bought my Hyundai i10 from one of the Ghabbour distributors. During the phone call, she asked me if I had any issues with my new i10. I informed her about the steering locking that had taken place the other day. She listened attentively then asked me if I had informed the service engineer about that issue when I did the car maintenance. I informed her that I had not done my first month/1000 km service check yet (included in the warranty). She told me that when I go do my first service check I will sit down with the service engineer and that I should tell him all the issues I have faced with my car.

She then proceeded to ask me about my buying experience. She was evaluating the particular distributor I had bought the car from. She asked me whether I had received the car on time or not and if I had faced any problems other than the issues in the car (which the service maintenance should be dealing with). She also asked me to rate the distributor as well as the car and giving each a score from 1 to 10. I thought for a moment, then told her I give the distributor 8 out of 10 and the car ... 9 out of 10.

Such checking up on customers, regardless of it enhancing your product usage experience or not, makes one feel cared for. It makes you feel they are doing their homework and that you are not left alone. I felt an increased sense of relief and comfort having had this call from Ghabbour Auto.

Going Uphill from a Standstill

I've been practicing going uphill from a standstill during the past few days after last Friday's incident of having the car stopping in front of a growing, and continually honking, pool of cars. The day before yesterday and the day before that I practiced moving forward uphill from a standstill and became better at it yet had not perfected it still. I was not using the hand brake while attempting to press the gas to move forward.

Today I tried going up hill again but used a different technique. I pulled up the hand brake a little (two clicks or so out a maximum of seven) then started releasing the clutch till the catch point then and only then have I released the hand brake and continued the release the clutch. I then pressed the gas gently. The care moved forward and uphill with relative ease.

I also tried the previous procedure but attempted to press the gas before completely releasing the clutch. I tried this method several times but the car always stopped (the engine died) and it proved unsuccessful. The successful process I found was the one I have mentioned above.

As a side note, I noticed that as I pressed the brakes, no matter how gently, on my way uphill, I heard a bit louder-than-usual sound of the brakes engaging down the car. I am not sure if that is normal when in an uphill position. I hope this is not a result of my earlier mistake of driving with the hand brakes on for a few kilometers.

Moving Uphill from Rest

1. Pull up the hand brake for 3 or 4 clicks.
2. Release the clutch till the catch point.
3. Release the hand brake.
4. Continue releasing the clutch (after the catch point).
5. Press the gas.

Perpendicular Parking

Sure it was not my first time to perpendicular park my car today, but day marked my first perpendicular parking bump. Having found my parking place taken, I scanned the sidewalks quickly with my eyes for an empty space without success. Upon a deeper look, I found a single perpendicular slot empty not far away. It was a bit narrow but thanks to the small size of the i10 I was able to delve into it very slowly and smoothly. Yet it seems I just went forward too much that I hit the pavement with the bottom tip of the car front. I heard its sound scratching against the pavement. I backed a little and everything was okay. I came out of the car to have a look and no real damage took place, I guess.

Let me take this as one additional learning lesson: Never move forward too much when parking perpendicular to the pavement, specially when the pavement is high enough to scratch against the front of your car.