fionamw

I was going to post a basic question along the lines of:
Right I'm sitting in a bar having a coffee & pitufo & there are guys all round, up at the bar, landlord included, smoking; did I miss something or are there actually places this is still allowed

- and I realised my instinct was to embellish so here goes
I'm sitting in a bar (surrounded by guys smoking, see above) waiting to have two tyres changed on my car within 7 minutes of needing to be at my Spanish class having left home at 8 am, got 15km, realised there was an issue on the A45, checked with Guardia Civil Trafico officer who said si, esta bien ref going on the motorway & not having to take the detours he'd also mentioned ----- only to find about 20mins sitting in a jam later that we were being routed off the motorway just before the tunel, around a roundabout and back up to where we first started AAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHH
I remained (relatively) calm, 9yo stoically writing a note to teacher in both English and Spanish in best handwriting (handwriting being first class he was BOUND to miss by this point) thought about ditching school for the day then having seen the 300m queue to get back on to the road to the road to home, took a wing at going the 'back mountain way' - which of course was populated by the slowest vehicle known to man holding up the biggest queue that road's seen since the last smash on the motorway
Ho hum 1h 59 mins after leaving home, a phone call to chit chat to Granny en route and by now bursting bladder on my part, I got 9yo to school
Set about going home to have tyres changed
Got 5km
Motorway N-bound jammed AAAARGH it's the aftermath now contramano on my side --- got here eventually- and alive

Have to say, though, there's always the other side of the story; I can't imagine there's not some poor family either traumatised or grieving as a result of whatever carnage was in the tunel

cricketman

On the plus side I see the works on the A7 started up again last month, so hopefully it will get better. And am I right in thinking they are finishing a motorway extension to Colmenar? And another to Alhaurin El Grande?

Two things I've noticed from driving to Malaga from Benalmadena a lot over the past few months
1. Everyone is driving much more slowly! Are they trying to save fuel!? Weird. Average speed seems to be about 90-100km/h now, except for the odd person in the fast lane
2. There is loads of traffic, especially at peak times. When I arrived in this part of Spain I thought the motorways would be worse in the summer, but it actually gets better in the summer. It is worse when everything is driving to and from Malaga for work and when children at school

I can't complain though, it usually takes only 20 mins for me to get to Malaga although somethimes there can be a 10 min delay as the entrances to the city get blocked up.

bil

Can't speak for eveey other car out there, but I tend to pootle along at 100 on the autovia as there is such a HUGE difference in fuel costs between that and zipping along at 120.

fionamw

Well I don't know the state of the driver, unfortunately, but I do now know it was a lorry in the tunnel and judging from a curtainsider I saw being offloaded of what remained from its skeleton at the next junction down, there's not a lot left of it
The m-way was still one lane only at 2pm and I learned of more bungling - accident 7-30, radio announcement gave the incident as on the wrong carriageway so probably lots of people got on thinking everything was hunky dory; on top of that they didn't resume using the m-way with two-way on one carriageway until about 10-15, when I was returning (into the ensuing chaos, as I said earlier) from dropping 9yo
major incident, not third world country, one of Spain's largest cities, one of major approach roads, why 2h30 when turfing us all on more minor roads was a nightmare for all concerned & the barriers are obviously made to accommodate lego-style direction changes

Not finished yet!
Then made my 2nd or third error of judgement and figured there wasn't time to go home so pootled down to do some Ikea shopping only to find an incident in the E-bound of the (never can remember name of it) tunnel e-side of the University turn so on the way back I avoided that by (next error coming up) heading for the coast road - meanwhile encountering police directing traffic for some reason near the Carrefour Los Patios snarlup
- coastroad, it transpired, was logjam
Not a good day
My Spanish teacher said 'dia de perro' - think I'll use it again knowingly before long if this rain continues!

(oh, and cruise control is good for reducing fuel consumption; I set it for about 95-97 so theoretically it's just below 2000revs which is around where the turbo's supposedly going to kick in!

jackytoo

I once popped out via the A-7 for milk and was gone 2 hours Usuallt about a 6 min drive.

Video here of this morning

http://www.diariosur.es/videos/malag...sabermeja.html

VFR

BTW raise the RPM a little as you need the turbo spinning at a nice rate to assist the economy.

Dick Dasterdly

A lot of new cars now have a sixth gear which should help fuel economy on long motorway drives.
A far cry from the three gears that many cars had back in the 1950s.

fionamw

Mine has (not that new, 4ish years!) it's difficult being a 'back seat driver' when your OH is only just getting to grips with driving in Spain & isn't really using 6th very much - *you've another gear you know* I say for the nth time then realise it isn't what men like to hear LOL

nb the other peaje is from N of casabermeja to somewhere at the back of Fuengirola I think - they must have had some new EU cash because there are renewed signs of work!!!!!!

agoreira

Mine has six, (wife has only ever found five!) and yes it's great on the open road, trouble is with all the ever increasing number of speed limits, 30mph, 20mph, speed bumps, chicane type thingies, you never get out of third gear around towns!

fionamw

Ref spouse-five gear thing- see mine above I guess it depends on the engine, cos in the campo, pueblo or town, no maybe not but above about 60km (I think - I'll check in a while!!!) if there's any distance to travel, I can be in 6th
Ref smoking - are there any exceptions to the ban please anyone

Fredbargate

But some had overdrive, my TR had 4 gears + overdrive in 2nd / 3rd & 4th.
Cruising motorways in 4th + overdrive was very economical.

jimenato

Only smoking clubs. They aren't allowed to sell anything. I don't know if there are any anywhere.

The biggest loophole seems to be what constitutes an outside area or terrace. Anything with more than two walls and a roof is deemed to be indoors - no smoking. But what about three walls and no roof? What is a wall and what is a roof? How many walls does a circular building have?

What was the bar you were in like - any walls missing?

fionamw

No - definitely a full pukka walls doors tables cigarette machine type jobbie!

agoreira

I know with mine, I really need to be doing about 60mph before changing up into sixth. Possible a bit lower, but not a lot.

betris

you cant beat the automatic gearbox.theres nothing worse than rolling a ciggy or pouring a drink and you have to try and change gears.