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Car
Ford Galaxy
The Ford Galaxy is a people-car, built to carry several passengers at once. It’s designed for family trips and daily driving where space and comfort matter.
Car
Toyota Prius
The Toyota Prius is a car that uses both a gas engine and an electric motor to help it use less fuel. People talk about it a lot when discussing how to make cars more efficient, including how the shape of the car affects fuel use.
Part
water pump gasket
A water pump gasket is a thin seal that sits between the water pump and the engine. It helps stop coolant from leaking out—if it wears out, you can lose coolant and the engine can run hot.
Car
Toyota Tacoma
A Toyota Tacoma is a pickup truck. Here they’re talking about a gasket used with the water pump, which helps keep the engine’s coolant system sealed so it doesn’t leak.
Car
Citroen CX turbo
The Citroën CX is a famous older Citroën that’s known for its unique look and comfort. “Turbo” means the engine has a device that forces extra air in, which helps it make more power.
Car
Citroen Cx
The Citroën CX is an older, comfort-focused car from Citroën. The “turbo” version means it has a turbocharger to help the engine make more power.
Place
Cairn Gorms
The Cairngorms are mountains in Scotland. They’re known for rough, scenic landscapes—great for a dramatic car story.
Car
Di Tommaso Pantera
The De Tomaso Pantera is an older Italian sports car with the engine in the middle. It’s known for being fast and having a very dramatic, exotic look.
Term
boot
A “boot” is the trunk of the car—the storage space in the back. They’re saying the Saab has a big one that can fit heavy or awkward items like drums.
Car
mini-moke
A Mini Moke is a tiny, open-top car that’s often linked with fun, beach-style driving. They’re joking that Palmer wouldn’t look right in one.
Term
air brake
An “air brake” is something that slows you down by pushing against the air. Here they’re joking that his shirt would catch air and slow him down like a brake would.
Car
Jaguar XJ12 Series 3
The Jaguar XJ12 Series 3 is a classic Jaguar luxury car with a V12 engine. People like it because it’s smooth and sounds great, and it feels very “old-school” and upscale.
Car
Jaguar Xjs
The Jaguar XJ-S is a classic-style sports coupe made by Jaguar. It’s meant for comfortable long-distance driving with a more dramatic, stylish look.
Term
full grip
“Full grip” just means holding the steering wheel firmly and correctly. The point is that the driver isn’t holding it the right way, so things go wrong.
Term
motorway
A motorway is a high-speed controlled-access road (typically with multiple lanes and limited entry/exit). In the UK context, it’s the kind of road where long-distance commuting racks up mileage quickly, which is why the speaker’s “120,000 miles” claim is framed around motorway work.
Car
Audi Q7
The Audi Q7 is a luxury SUV. It’s the kind of car people use for long drives and everyday commuting, and here it’s mentioned as the speaker’s high-mileage motorway vehicle.
Term
petrol station
A petrol station is where you stop to put fuel in your car. The question here is about what you should do when there’s a queue and some pumps are already taken.
Car
Rover
Rover is a car brand. The speaker is basically saying they’re a Rover fan, which is why they’re talking about whether their SUV choice “fits” their personality.
Car
Skoda Octavia
The Skoda Octavia is a regular passenger car that’s designed to be practical. The estate (wagon) version has extra space for luggage or carrying things.
Car
Jaguar Xtype
The Jaguar X-Type is a Jaguar car that’s built as a regular sedan for everyday driving. It’s meant to be a more practical Jaguar option compared with more specialized sports models.
LIVE
I'm Richard Porter, I'm Johnny Smith, and this is On the Other Side of Things, the Smith and Sniff spin-off in which we answer your questions.
Oh, here we are again for our Friday Q&A show answering listeners' questions, and do you know what? I've got one right here.
What? Really? You're ready?
Yeah. Now, this is a listener who has just signed themselves K, but their email address reveals their full first name.
I'm not sure if they don't want us to use it, so let's just go with K.
Tread carefully, my son.
This person says, Hello, you pair of recalcitrant window switches.
My question is a simple one and relates to something that really gets my goat.
Why do the ill-informed call those number plates 4D?
K has got a little bit of sort of supplemental explanation here.
They go on to say, as any good engineer or mathematician will tell you, all objects have three axis, X, Y, and Z.
Yes.
This covers the length, width, and depth of an object.
Yeah.
Things in the universe are 3D. Even if, like a piece of paper, the Z is very small.
Yeah.
The fourth dimension, as we all know, is time. In fact, the Oxford English Dictionary defines it as such.
Therefore, those number plates are not any more 4D than the rest of us as we all whiz around the galaxy.
The plastic, flat number plates that most normal people use are 3D, just flat.
The really old ones you see in Black and Silver on Morgan's, etc., are still 3D, even if the letters are raised.
It's just raised, did you?
The plastic ones.
Yeah.
Therefore, there is no 4D. It can't be 4D. It makes no sense to call them 4D, so why do people say this?
Yours through gritted teeth, K.
I...
Look, I'm with you, K. I'm with you.
I try to imagine a world where they don't exist.
If I just want to cheer myself up sometimes.
It's by happy place of, like, number plates which make the car less aerodynamic,
more of a snag hazard to cleaning cloths, all sorts of...
Yes.
...ruining of aero on cars, like, you know, imagine the Mercedes-Benz or Tesla engineers
who have tried to make a car as efficient or Toyota Prius or whatever,
tried to make this car as wind tunnel efficient as possible,
and then some absolute, like, mouth breather has put 4D plates on it, raised digit, 3D.
Should we just start calling them raised digit?
Maybe the owner should be just called a raised digit.
You're an actually raised digit to be buying such moronic plates.
They look shit.
Yeah.
They do, though.
But I can't explain it.
I think a while ago, did we not...
We sort of half suggested something on this podcast,
which was that we would just start encouraging other people
to universally refer to them as pedo plates
and therefore drive them out of fashion with stigma.
I mean, it's still worth doing.
Do you think so?
Yeah.
That's the way the government lets you know that that person's on the register.
It's a pedo plate.
It's not those number plates.
Yeah.
Pedo plates, they're called.
Wow.
Colloquially.
But yes, the offenders register number plates.
I don't think they look good.
It's my biggest beef, perhaps, is I don't even think they look good.
I think they sort of look cheap somehow
because they look a bit like you've made them in CDT at school,
like maybe your school has suddenly got like a new laser cutting machine
for plastic and you're sparingly allowed access to it one period a week.
So you've made some number plates and it's...
Yeah, they just look shite.
They're gash, okay?
So we should just call them gash plates.
Oh, well, that's a good idea.
Yeah, plates of gash.
Yeah.
Oh, one thing I must add is I think one or two ottersots ago,
somebody wrote in and they called us a Toyota Tacoma gasket set.
Do you remember?
Well, one of our friends, listeners, Matt Tomkins from Practical Classics Magazine,
Matt actually messaged me to say,
you do know the reference to that, don't you?
And I said, no.
And he forwarded me an image which I'm going to forward to you right now, Richard,
because it now makes perfect sense.
Oh, okay.
It's a water pump gasket for a Toyota Tacoma.
I think 1996 to 2010 model.
But the gasket set resembles a...
How would you put it?
Slightly crooked shaft and balls?
It's like a biology textbook outline drawing of a gentleman's parts.
Yes.
Both of them.
Both components of.
Yeah, good.
Okay, very good.
I didn't know that, but that's lovely.
Isn't that nice?
So thanks for that, Matt.
I didn't realise that someone was actually referring to that on that side of things.
That's good.
I'll just do this one.
Only because of the intro, and there is a good question as well,
it's from a listener called Simon who says,
Greetings, you find pair of MOT failures due to near side front suspension component mounting prescribed area
excessively corroded, significantly reducing structural strength.
Good.
These are getting good.
Tom says, can we?
That is good.
He says, can we talk about the Citroen CX turbo and how wonderful it looks?
And he sent a link to that infamous advert for the CX with Grace Jones.
She sort of has a hydraulic head.
She does.
It's quite menacing.
Yeah.
It's a fabulous video.
And he rightly points out, Grace Jones was surely made for this video.
Yeah.
My question is, what other car-star combo from the 80s would have been more magnificent?
Perhaps Robert Palmer in a Senator 3000 CD driving through the Cairn Gorms,
or Mike Rutherford in a Di Tommaso Pantera jumping over five elephants on a wooden ramp.
What?
Mike Rutherford, what?
From Mike and the Mechanics.
Yes.
I think he means from Mike and the Mechanics rather than Mike Rutherford, the car-journalist.
I was going to say.
That might work.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
That's very specific.
I don't see Mike Rutherford as a Di Tommaso Pantera sort of bloke.
No, I don't.
I'd say he was a Saab 9000 guy.
Oh, yes.
Because he just wants a bit of comfort and peace and quiet because he's thinking of ideas
on the way to another session in the studio.
Exactly.
He's not one for idiotic rock star excess.
No.
He's just like, no.
If I did that jump over those elephants, I might damage my guitar in the boot, so no.
I'm going to take the Saab, which has got a very roomy boot,
so if Phil needs help moving his drums, I can do that.
Yeah.
But also, it's just very comfortable and it's got a good stereo and those are things I value.
Is there a more 80s combo than Grace Jones and a Citroen CX Turbo?
Oh, gosh.
See, Robert Palmer and a senator, maybe, yes, but not the Cairngorms.
I always think of Robert Palmer as sort of being in the Caribbean for some reason.
No, I'm with you on that.
It would have to be Bahama-based or...
But then you wouldn't stick him in a mini-moke.
It's not suave enough.
No.
Would he go convertible?
What about a Saab cab, a white Saab cab?
Oh, gosh.
Yes.
Palmer and the Bahamas.
Palmer and the Bahamas.
All white Saab cab, even the winter one.
And he's just...
In the Baham.
He's wearing a lot of linen.
Well, it'll turn into the air brake that we've talked about before, won't he,
and a convertible if he's not careful.
Well, you know, the back fills up of your shirt,
and you realise as you're driving along,
your body looks twice the size because your shirt is full of compressed air.
Yeah.
What about, though, if...
I'm trying to think what you would put...
Well, obviously, there's Brian Ferry in a white dinner suit
in a Jaguar XJ12 Series 3.
Would he be in the XJ12, would he?
I'm just trying to think of anything that's a little...
anything more suave than that.
Would it be a Maserati...
a slightly badly put-together Maserati?
XJS Cabrio might...
XJS might hit some suave notes if...
Prime Parming territory, that.
Prime Parming, isn't it?
Oh, yeah.
You mentioned...
Palmer and the Bahamas, Parming the Jag.
Robert Palmer, because obviously, if he's in a cab,
his Parming is on full display for all to see.
For all to revel in the majesty of his flat-handed steering style.
He pulls out of a junction and it's sort of a dirt road
near a remote beach that he's been to to just enjoy himself.
But he slightly undercorrects it while he's gunning it on the jet.
So he ends up clonking a stone
and putting the tracking out straight away.
Oh, no.
So it's quite hard to parve on the way back
because the car's creeping.
I think...
I was gonna say that he gives it a bit too much welly
on a beach road that's got a fine covering of very thin sand.
Yeah.
It steps out.
His refusal to use a full grip on the steering wheel
because he is, by definition, Robert Palmer.
Yeah, he won't.
Yeah, he doesn't quite gather it up correctly.
And the XJS simply drives onto the beach and gets stuck.
But rather than this becoming a situation,
Robert simply allows it to come to rest and then gets out.
Now, happily, some people are having a lovely barbecue on the beach
just nearby.
He just gets out, walks up, someone hands him a beer,
and he just makes it look like he wanted to do that all along.
Do they say...
We'll give you a lift back to your villa if you want,
and he just leaves the jag and it gets claimed by the tide,
and he goes and buys another one if you don't stay.
It's the fifth one I've lost this year,
but hey, I'm in the Bahamas and life is good.
Right, let's do another letter that doesn't involve Robert Palmer.
This one's from Stephen... Steve, Stephen Anderson.
How are you, pair of grease nipples?
Stephen Steve.
No, not Stephen Stevens.
Although it would lovely be great to get a letter from Steve Stevens.
Yeah.
Stephen Anderson, how are you, pair of grease nipples?
I've got a motoring etiquette question.
I'm a sales director who does an awful lot of motorway work
in a three-litre petrol Audi Q7,
covering 120,000 miles in less than three years.
Goodness me, Stephen, you must have a fuel card.
Wow.
As a result, I find myself at a petrol station two or three times a week.
Oh, thank goodness for company petrol cards in brackets.
There you go.
I know both your views on SUVs such as this, so please don't hate me.
I also have an Allegro Vanden Pla, and I'm a Rover driver at heart,
so I'm not sure if the forgiveness is there in my choice of SUV.
I think it is.
I think it is, Stephen.
What an interesting two-car garage.
My question is this.
Imagine doing 120,000 miles in three years in an Allegro.
That's not his question.
That's my question.
I'd love that.
My question is, when there's a queue at a petrol station,
the rear pump is occupied and the front pump becomes free.
What's the correct etiquette?
Do you drive around the car at the rear pump
and use the free one speeding the queue up,
or do you wait behind and move forward as a pair when they leave?
I ask because I've managed to upset people doing both.
What?
On one occasion, the front pump became free
whilst the car behind remained at the rear pump.
After waiting for a moment, I squeezed the Q7 through the gap and filled up.
The chat behind then gave me an earful for pushing in and becoming impatient.
He then went to pay, returned to his car, decided he couldn't fit around me
and sat there blocking all four pumps with his arms folded
to protest at the wheel of his Ford Eco Spower.
Despite the fact that I just manoeuvred something the size of a small cross-country ferry through the same gap.
The next time determined to be more Rover driver than Audi driver,
I waited patiently behind the rear pump.
The driver behind me in the queue immediately went around me,
took the free front pump and threw his hands up in despair as he passed,
seemingly assuming I didn't have any spatial awareness of the trusty Q7.
So, gents, what is the correct etiquette here?
And while we're at it, why do petrol stations insist on arranging pumps in a way that isn't user-friendly?
Why not stagger them so cars can get in and out independently?
Thank you, Steve.
Well, OK.
First things first, the pump arrangement.
Why don't we have them hanging from the ceiling like they do in parts of Japan?
Oh.
That would be good.
So there's no big things that you smash into and catch your current to
and you don't have to worry about left or right hand filling.
There's just squares or oblongs painted on the ground
and they come down from the ceiling and a proboscis, if you like.
And then you grab your fuel proboscis and put it in whichever hole on whichever side of the car you wish.
Done.
The etiquette thing, I think Steve is in the right the first time around.
If the pump at the front is free and the person in front of you isn't moving to the pump,
then they're being dim and they should be punished for being dim.
Is he not saying that they're already filling up so they can't move
but the person in front of them goes?
That was my understanding.
No, I thought it was if he's second in the queue
and there's two people in front of him, a car is filling up,
the car directly in front of him is waiting to fill up
but they just simply don't want to drive around the other car to fill up.
He gives them a minute's grace or so and then thinks,
well, I'm not waiting so I'm going to go around to the front pump.
Yeah, but that's the thing, I think you should always...
You're not jumping the queue if the person's had a couple of minutes
to decide whether they will or won't manoeuvre their car.
But life's too short, I'm not going to sit and wait, that's just mad.
No, I always think that it's a lot of petrol station four quarts
are only just wide enough for three cars to...
That's the distance between the banks of pumps
so it is a tight manoeuvre to go through
between two cars that are filling up.
I would happily, if I think there is enough with it,
I'd happily do it though to just get to that pump
but I also sometimes it makes me tense watching other people do it
when you think I'm not sure you're fully aware
of how wide your car is or where all of its bits are
but I've never seen anyone scrape so it's doable.
No, I've never seen anyone hit.
The one that drives me nuts is when, though,
very occasionally you see this, when someone pulls into the petrol station
and both pumps are free on the side they want to go to
but they stop at the first one
so anyone wanting to use the far one has to go around them
and just go, why did you do this?
It's like just sort of blithering idiocy of not...
They are the kind of people who, their driving style is they just look
just beyond the end of the bonnet at all times
and then they're constantly surprised by everything in the world
that happens around their car.
They're people that drive to the end of a slip road and then stop
because they can't possibly accelerate whilst in their mirror
and my brother, when he was giving me a lift back the other night
and talking about mummified foxes,
he saw someone do this and it abs, he just erupted.
He erupted in rage.
It's like they shouldn't be allowed on the road.
If you can't do two things at once while you're driving
you should not be in charge of a car.
He said it's moronic.
The whole point of a slip road is no one's going to let you out
if you're driving at 10 miles an hour
because you're entering onto a fast road.
I saw someone do it just the other week
and it almost caused a big accident
with other people coming down the slip road
because you don't expect somebody to stop quite the opposite.
You expect them to be speeding up.
The other one that I always think,
there needs to be some kind of campaign of education on this
but it is when people have had to stop on the hard shoulder
for some reason and then they accelerate very briefly
up to about 10 and pull out onto the motorway.
It's like, no, keep accelerating on the hard shoulder
till you're at motorway speed if you can.
If you can see clearly there's nothing else blocking the hard shoulder.
Stay there until you're at motorway speed.
Otherwise, you're going to cause a pissing accident.
But I saw someone in an Octavia estate.
I saw them because I could see as I approached
they were just setting off
and the indicators going and I thought they're surely not.
They just immediately pulled onto the motorway
and it's just like, that's so thick.
It's almost incomprehensible
but people don't really sort of have any foresight, do they?
They're sort of practically applying themselves
to the world around them, but anyway.
Shall we move on then?
Shall we do another list?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
We have one from a listener called Pete
who says, salutations you unlubricated bike chains.
A year ago, I bought an 800 pounds bangernomic smoker
to supplement my ancient leaf for longer range duties.
Ancient leaf.
Ancient leaf.
Sounds like a type of tobacco.
Anyway, Pete says, it occurred to me.
I have inadvertently bought one of the most SNS coded cars.
Allow me to explain.
It's an old Jag X type.
It's the spout trim.
Spout.
It's a 2.2, believe.
2.2, yeah, don't worry about it.
It has a...
It's a diesel engine.
It's a fold underneath it all.
Fold, sir.
And it's mechanically perfect but cosmetically challenged.
Oh, wow.
Pete adds, I could have put my hand on the scales
and put two identical Shade CDs, a Meridian CD
and a DJ Khaled album in the multi-changer,
but I'm not greedy.
Oh, wow.
Based on this principle, would there be a higher scoring
Smith & Sniff car?
How could there be?
I'm just thinking.
I don't think.
It's a Jag X type, which is a fold underneath.
It's in spout trim.
It's got a 2.2 engine, which is like Ford drivetrain.
Haven't you got a 2.2 in your bloody Defender, Rich?
Yeah.
Bloody Defender, isn't it?
It's a 2.2.
Which is also a fold.
It's an engine, so, yeah.
I throw a fold as a...
So, gosh.
Given how often we mention old Jags,
I do feel like Pete might have got this one.
I can't think.
I mean, there's lots of cars.
We seem to mention a disproportionate amount.
We do.
But in terms of sort of hitting all the notes
of the tropes and the recurring references,
that is hard to beat.
I mean...
That's impressive.
Because otherwise it would have to be something
that was an actual fowl.
Yeah, or a prelude.
Or a prelude, yeah.
Yeah.
But then that's only covering that base.
The X-Type seems to...
So, no, I don't think...
That's a very short answer, really.
No, I think you've got it there, Pete.
Anyone can think of anything better.
Do you get in touch?
But I think you've actually nailed it there.
Although someone recently tagged us
in a photograph at a car show of a Matrimurina
with a Smith & Sniff cap on the dashboard,
which was a 2.2 cap.
Because the Matrimurina, I think, is a 2.2 engine.
Yes.
So it was a nice bit of stealth promotion.
So whoever owns that car, thank you.
Much appreciated.
Okay, well, I've got to let it from a guy.
Do you know what I mean?
It's called...
It's titled Otisot Push-Up Challenge
from a chap called Joshua.
Hi, you pair of luches.
Presumably Ferraris, but could be Mazdas.
Maybe one of us is a Mazda, one of us is a Ferrari.
Just, you know, to balance it.
For context, I'm an Australian expat
with an accent living in Toronto.
I recently had an encounter with a no-name
mountain biker's Canadian cousin,
the sleeveless sweater BMXer guy.
I've recently purchased a track bike,
a Prilia motorbike this is,
and need to do the run-in on the road
before I can properly experience the V4
in its natural environment.
This isn't much fun,
as I only have a full-leather race suit
and look a bit of a knob getting fully kitted out.
But I usually break up the journey with a coffee shop stop
before heading home.
C'est la vie, as the French would say.
I was sipping on my flat white enjoying a Muskoka chair
outside the cafe when I noticed a man in his early 30s
riding through a gravel car park on his BMX.
It looked quite bizarre as he had a white plastic bag
hanging from one of the handlebars,
no helmet, obviously,
and wearing a thick strap singlet
made of sweater material.
To add to this, the holes for his arms were torn,
so his left nipple was exposed
as he circled the parking lot
like a lion searching for the weak wildebeest.
What?
Looking for the weak wildebeest calf.
This sounds like he's wearing like a cricket jumper,
but one of those ones is a tank top.
Would that be accurate?
So it's got that kind of ropey thing.
They've washed it too quickly
and it's stretched like hell.
My attempt to avoid eye contact
somehow gave him the green light to converse.
Where the conversation went as follows,
BMX guy, is that your bike?
Me. Ah, yeah.
Fully aware that there was one motorcycle in the lot
and I was in full black fluoro leathers.
Is that a 750?
No, mate, it's an 1100.
BMX a guy.
I'll give you a beer if you do 10 push-ups.
I paused.
I paused quite taking it back.
I'm all right, thank you.
BMX guy, you can't go 10 push-ups, can you?
Me.
No, I can.
It's just a little bit tough in full leathers
and it's 9 a.m.
BMX guy, how about a beer for 20 push-ups?
At this stage, coffee was thankfully finished
as I rudely got up, said no thanks again
and hurried over to the bike to get out of here.
So my question is, have you ever been challenged
to a physical activity at Goodwood
or any other vehicle-related spot?
And secondly, my wife is Canadian
and I purposely mispronounced
say la vie to si est la ve to piss her off.
It's gone on for so long,
I actually forgot how to do it the right way now.
Do you mispronounce any words on purpose,
pronunciation attached?
Josh, Toronto, CMTMB.
Oh, Josh, what an, I mean,
I didn't know where that letter was going to go.
And I guess we'll never know the answer
to why he wanted you to do 10 press-ups
in your leathers in a car park.
Just, I'm thinking about the guy in his 30s
on a BMX looking for stricken wildebeest.
I know.
Metaphorically.
Well, I mean...
That's fascinating that we still have...
I think, you know, a subspecies perhaps
of no-name for suspension mountain bike guide,
but a lot of the characteristics.
He said there was a bag hanging from the handlebar.
Yeah, a white plastic bag.
So was that, was it a bag of cans?
Was he offering him a beer from his bag
in terms of the press-ups?
Yeah, I think maybe it was.
I think it was a bag with some food stuffs in it,
which I'm going to guess is going to be some cans,
it's got to be.
The fact that he was drinking coffee,
it was nine in the morning.
How about a beer for 20 push-ups?
The BMX guy says.
Yes, I mean, I was just hoping
someone would come along with some beer.
Well, wow, I can't think of ever been in a situation like...
Have you ever been asked any strange questions?
I mean, I would have been asked loads of strange questions.
It's just channeling them right now
when I wasn't expecting...
Yeah, I just think I feel like sometimes people are...
I mean, I've definitely had that kind of thing
where people go like with my Land Rover.
People go, that's a nice car.
They go, thank you very much.
Is it for sale? No.
No, it's not.
But in a sort of way where it sounds like
if you say no, I'm going to steal it anyway sometimes,
is where, how it comes across.
Yes, yes.
And I'll tell you something else that happened to me years ago,
which was, I think my old ex, JR,
and a guy came over at petrol station,
he was admiring it, but then he opened the passenger door
and I just thought that was sort of, that crossed a line.
We hadn't...
He just went, oh, it's a nice car.
Lovely that.
And I was like, yeah, yeah, how long have you had it?
A couple of years now.
And then just sort of, it's like,
at least let the back and forth go a bit further.
And then go, oh, do you mind if I just take a look at the interior,
rather than just opening the door?
I feel that's quite rude somehow,
but maybe that's just me.
Yeah, no, that's too much.
I think not asking is...
I've had kids open the door and sit in my car
at a car show before, without...
Yeah.
When their parents were there, without asking,
and that absolutely crossed a line.
I always think it's just good etiquette,
when you're admiring someone's car,
if you want to have a sit in it.
I mean, quite often people go, hey, you know,
have a seat if you want.
Of course, of course.
If you fancy seeing it, I think it's always good that you go,
do you mind if I...
Yeah.
...sit?
And then people will always generally say yes,
unless you go, do you mind if I sit in it?
By the way, I just trod in a dog shit over there.
Oh, no, I'd rather you didn't then.
But then, here's the thing.
Yeah.
What's the etiquette of then?
You sit in someone's car, but you're of different height.
I sort of feel like you shouldn't adjust the seat
without asking, because...
Oh, no.
...you know, a car with no memory seats.
You mess up someone's driving position.
It's just like they're never going to quite get it back again.
So you should check first,
although I suppose it's a bit weird.
Do you mind if I move the seat?
Yeah, I do actually, so please don't.
But it's just that you're five foot four and I'm six foot three,
so this is kind of incompatible,
and I'm being squashed into the steering wheel.
Anyway, I can't think of any stranger,
so I've never been challenged to do press-ups.
I was coming out of an event years ago,
and I actually can't remember what the event was,
but you know when you walk 34 fields away
and your car was in a crowded car park,
and now it's just a car in a field?
Yeah.
And there were some guys,
three or four guys and one motorbike and one helmet,
and the motorbike was parked there,
and they were running around like a primary school playground activity.
They were running around in a circle
and then trying to jump over the motorbike each time.
You know, like show jumping, like horse show jumping,
but they were trying to clear the whole motorbike
without putting their hands down.
And they were chanting at one another,
and one of them, you knew it was going to happen,
it was inevitable.
I still can't work out if they were drunk or what.
One of them caught their toes on the rear carrier of the bike
and just slapped straight down onto the floor.
And I think there was some goading going on
to start that activity.
But it did make me chuckle.
Josh's question is a really good one,
and I would like to give it some thought
and come back to it another week,
but I'd like to put it out to the audience.
Can I do that, Rich?
Yeah, why not?
Well, we've got to wrap this up now,
but it's an opportunity to give out the email address,
which is hello at smithandsniff.com.
If you've got a question,
if you have mind putting Ottersot in the subject line,
if it's a question, helps us to find them.
If it's not a question, you don't have to bother with that.
But if you also have tales of very odd things
happening to you,
possibly related to men on bicycles
or any car-related context,
then again, hello at smithandsniff.com.
We'll do all of this Q&A stuff again next Friday,
normal show on Monday.
But until then, goodbye.
Bye then, guys.
Cheers then.
Thanks, mate.
Bye.
On the other side of things
On the other side of things
About this episode
The hosts kick off with a listener’s “4D” license-plate question, arguing number plates are “3D” and the “fourth dimension” is time. They then riff on protruding “4D/raised digit” plates, offenders-register “pedo plates,” and decode a “Toyota Tacoma” water pump gasket reference (1996–2010). The conversation turns to 1980s car-and-celebrity pairings—Grace Jones, the CX Turbo, and a “Palmer in the Bahamas” convertible gag—before switching to fuel-station etiquette and car-show/seat-adjustment manners.
Original notes
In this week’s On The Other Side Of Things question answering show, Jonny and Richard discuss ‘4D’ plates, Grace Jones and the Citroen CX, fuel station etiquette, a very podcast coded car, and random challenges from strangers.
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Smith and Sniff
Jonny Smith and Richard Porter
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30:02