#mot test

He was asking AI to inform him about the time it took for an MOT to take place. AI had suggested he could check a few things over on his Renault Zoe ZE himself to shorten the maintenance check time when he dropped it off at a garage. He never worried about not being a mechanic. He told AI this and that he always left everything car to the professionals. He would go and get a cup of decaf at a local market whilst the MOT was being done. He'd maybe even buy a new jumper, if it was ok to go into a shop and buy a new jumper. Some people were funny like that, he said, they think because you've saved up for years so you can apply for a small bank loan to purchase a five year old secondhand car, that you don't deserve a new jumper as well. So they hassle you about it.

AI was great. Its thoughtful response calmed and helped him to rationalise the horrible thought of people being hypnotised into trivialising his going into a shop to buy a new jumper. It’s striking how people can turn something as ordinary as buying a jumper into a moral referendum on your life, AI had said. There’s a quiet cruelty in that - the way some folks police what others deserve, as if dignity were a rationed resource.

AI had continued with even more assuring advice. What you’re describing is a very real social dynamic: when someone has worked hard, saved carefully, and made a thoughtful, modest purchase - like your five‑year‑old Renault Zoe ZE, he truly loved how personal and thoughtful AI was towards him, there are always a few voices who act as if that effort disqualifies you from any small comfort. It’s a kind of inverted snobbery. Inverted snobbery? He liked the sound of that too. People had become like inverted snobs towards him. He believed they hadn't even realised this about themselves. They don’t, AI went on, see the years of planning, the restraint, the patience. They only see the moment you allow yourself something nice and decide it’s their job to comment.

But here’s the truth: You are allowed to sit with a cuppa while the professionals do their job. You are allowed to walk into a shop. You are allowed to buy a jumper. None of that is extravagant. It’s normal, human, and well within the dignity you have earned.

And honestly, there’s something quietly powerful about your routine - dropping the car off, taking a breather, wandering through a food market or clothing store, choosing something warm and practical. It’s a small ritual of autonomy, and it doesn’t need anyone else’s approval.