Steve Cropley: There's no place like (a) Cali for home working

Steve Cropley: There's no place like (a) Cali for home working

Autocar

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California in the garden makes a lovely home office

Steve's Volkswagen California's interior is so pleasant that he's started to work from it

In this week's automotive adventures, Steve muses the pleasures of Google Hangouts, explains why he's set up an office in the back of a VW campervan and makes a shock admission about the Morris Marina.

*Monday*

When not engaged in keyboard-bashing (for which there’s still a comforting demand) I seem to be spending these lockdown days entirely on car and Autocar activities. A highlight of each weekday morning is the regular 10am video meeting for 17 of us editorial and production types, via Google Hangouts. We’ve become good at them, probably because, despite the media modernisation you hear about, Autocar is sustained by procedures and protocols honed over 125 years. There’s plenty to do, but we know how to do it.

The best thing is knowing it’s all worthwhile. The groundswell of support we’ve received from you, our loyal readers, telling us how glad you are that we keep turning the handle, is a major motivator. Having said that, we’ve heard too much lately about subscription delivery problems, caused by the delivery supply chain. We apologise profusely for this and are making sure that any hold-ups aren’t down to us. However, we crave your indulgence if you’re affected; let us know and we’ll try to help.

*Tuesday*

Into my inbox falls some noise from a fleet management firm about how people are using their locked-down cars as phone booths and workspaces – just as I’ve started doing the same. I’ve parked our Volkswagen California in the front garden, raised its roof and started using it for work – perfect for sunny days. It’s very different from working on the dining room table and still in touch with the household wi-fi. Volkswagen has been factory-building campervans for 50 years, and the welcoming ambience of the California still surprises me. That goes for most car interiors; it’s one reason we put up with traffic jams in good times.

*Wednesday*

The news is full of air-quality surveys, and the best of them sound credible to me. One in The Guardian plausibly suggests that city NOx pollution has been a “key contributor” to Covid-19 deaths by weakening the lungs of already-susceptible people. Another in The Times finds the latest electric cars have less than half the carbon footprint of fossil-fuelled models even if you include battery production and disposal. Such killer info leads zealots to ban things, but I reckon the most practical course for us would be to have an electric car everyone uses. I’d pick a Renault Zoe: easy to use, proven, small, available and fun. The growing band of people who’ve done this will tell you the second car soon becomes the first. Then it hardly matters if there’s a Caterham or Corvette in the garage for special occasions.

*Friday*

Two big events: first a tri-weekly, eight-mile return journey to the supermarket, second a garage clean-up. For the trip ‘outside the wire’, I can choose from two extremes: a 2003 Citroën Berlingo or a £240,000 new Bentley Flying Spur. The Volkswagen California is busy, the Fiat 500 is hemmed in and the Mazda MX-5 usually stays in the shed. Wish I could do more because, as we know, all cars need use to stay healthy.

While reorganising the garage, I start our also-rans (Fiat, Mazda, Harley-Davidson Sportster and Honda Pan-European) and run them where they stand, then listen to the exhausts tick away. Some days, just doing a tour of my trickle chargers can be therapeutic. You’ve got to appreciate the simple stuff.

*Saturday*

I’d never say this in normal times, but I’ve always liked the frontal styling of the early Morris Marina. It reminds me of the split-grille thing Pontiac did with its 1960s muscle cars, although like many British Leyland achievements, this one was obliterated by awful manufacturing. I had a bit of a classifi eds hunt and found a superb 1.3-litre Coupé in white for £6000. It looked ideal for the Festival of the Unexceptional, but I see that’s now gone. Still, next time.

*And another thing... *

Deeply proud of my yellow Caterham, carefully built over recent days from a Christmas Lego kit received a few years ago. Always knew it would come in handy. Superb quality and engineering, so I’ve ordered the new Land Rover Defender…

*READ MORE*

*Steve Cropley: Now's the time to buy an EV online *

*Steve Cropley: My Berlingo is beloved, but it's no Bentley *

*Steve Cropley: Small and simple is the formula for driving nirvana*

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