Why I don't drive a Ferrari

I can't afford one.

Nor do I want one.

Why?

You can't bloody go anywhere in one.

I've spent the past 16 years driving people carriers and 4 x 4's. To suit the needs of a family of 7 and living and working in rural areas and 4 years in South Africa where a 4 x 4 was a must with safari's, pot holes and safety and security when driving.

For 16 years I've dreamed of driving a car, just a normal car, a car for me, one where I don't have to fit pushchairs and a wheel chair in the boot along with shopping for the week.

I have a Peugeot 308, I bought it because it was in my price range and I could pay cash (I'm an expat, bank loans on a labour card are difficult) It does everything I need it to do. It has air con ( a must in Dubai) a radio and a CD player, which I don't use, automatic windows, cup holders, plenty of room in the door pockets, central locking and 4 doors. I can fit Bob in the hatchback if I remove the parcel shelf.

It's black, I've never chosen the colour of a car even when I buy one from new, once I've done my research on MPG, tyres and service costs, I've then looked at the internal layout, as above, and colour has never been a deciding factor.

I use my car to commute 30km to work everyday, back and forth, up and down. On a good day I can cross Dubai in 30 minutes, some days it can take 2 hours. I drive the Al Khail Road, it's a 10 lane highway and limited to 100km/p/h. Sheik Zayed Road is a 14 lane highway with the same speed limit. The smaller roads are between 60 and 80km/p/h. When you get out of Dubai the speed limit increases to 120 and 140km/ph.

But most of the time I drive below 100km/p/h. The roads are too busy to drive much faster, of course some cars do break the speed limit, but with cameras every few km, it could cost you a fortune with speeding fines.

So back to driving a Ferrari, or rather why I don't drive one.

Dubai has to be the most pointless place to own one, it's not a big city, there's no where to drive it and the roads are too busy. Unless of course you just want to pose, rev the engine and buy a new set of brake pads every month, but at least when you live in Dubai, you can afford the petrol to fill the tank up.

Driving in Dubai

I have 22 years driving experience, all accident free unless you count the time my wheel fell off my jeep.

I’ve driven all around the UK, across Europe and the west coast of the US, as well as living in South Africa for 4 years.  I’ve even navigated my way round the arc de triumphe in Paris, with a lot of laughter and tears.

This is my current ride, we’ve borrowed the car of hubbies boss while he’s in Europe for Christmas.

Ok so I may be telling a bit of a lie here

This is the one really but a girl can dream

Hubby has driven it, I’ve been relegated to the back, while the boys sit up front and fiddle with the navigation system and I’ve turned into a back seat driver because although they set the destination they seem unable to actually follow it and we’ve done lots of detours.

Once hubbies visa application is made he is unable to drive and I will be firmly in charge.

The first time I drove it I had to listen to endless instructions before the key was handed over and before I even started the engine there was a row after I climbed into the passenger seat ready to drive. I thought it was funny and since then hubby has done it several times as did the 19yo but he got in the drivers seat. I guess there will be a lot more of that.

New to me but not to the world of driving is the rear view camera, can't believe how much easier parking is with it.

I managed it fine, I left hubby and the boys at the mall as I had to return to the house to see the builders on Christmas eve and as they had left their Christmas shopping till the last minute they had no choice but to let me go on my own.

TBH I found it easy, programmed the navigation system, remembered to stay on the correct side of the road, keep left on the highway and get out to the right to U turn to get onto the road I needed. The Sheik Zayed Road, the main highway is signposted north to south and even if you do get on the wrong way, U turns are perfectly legal and well managed with signage and the exits/entrances to the malls are straight on and off into and from the car parks.

I will confess images like this panic me, but it was earlier than it looked

We only have the one key which is the spare, the other key is in Belguim with it's owner. I'm not a fan of this remote starting. Hubby puts the key in  a little pocket in the car and every time he parks I'm panicking he'll leave it inside, so I've taken to keeping it on a key tag inside my handbag so we don't get locked out.

The first time we stopped for fuel we only had a few hundred dirham on us, not having any idea what so ever of the tanks capacity, the cost per litre or what the average costs for a full tank were, we proceeded with caution, like South Africa the fuel is pumped for you, so I actually asked the attendant what an average tank costs here, I couldn't really believe what he said so I watched the numbers turn until I saw them start to slow and then I relaxed.

A full tank for a BMW 5 Series was AED103, that's around £18/R300

I’ve yet though to master crossing the road and it takes a while to remember look right, left, right rather than the 43 years I’ve been used to of look left, right, left.

There's no need for this type of behaviour

We live on a security estate, it contains an 18 hole golf course and the property we rent is 1 mile from the main gate. Children play, ride bikes, peoples dogs and cats wonder around.

And that's why there is an enforced 30km an hour speed limit. the estate has speed bumps every so often meaning that I rarely get out of 2nd gear.

One of our neighbours owns a Ferrai and a Lamborghini (CBA to spell check) and because of the speed bumps they have to take the cars out of the estate on a trailer as they can't get over the speed bumps.

This morning I spooted the post man, I've got issues with the postal delivery service here so I stopped, pulling up on the side of the road, hazzards on, to ask him a few questions about the delivery of postal slips.

Several cars passed, slowly, but one woman who was speeding, I could tell as she flew over the bump, blasted her horn, pointed at my car and yelled something out the window.

The post man said 'that was very rude' (she didn't yell in English) she sped off, laughing, and gave me the middle finger out of her window.

When I got to the security gate she was held up by the traffic lights, so I enquired if she'd come through the residents or visitors gate. She was a visitor. Security took her registration number said she was a regular visitor and said they'd have words next time she checked in to the estate.

It really did spoil my morning.