This summer, just for kicks, I bought a copy of "Economy Driving: How You Can Save Money In Everyday Car Use," a paperback published in 1956, for a whopping $1.

So I'm approaching London's Parliament Square last week, one block away from Big Ben and Westminster Abbey, in the drizzling rain, when I step off a curb -- and then leap quickly back onto it to avoid being smashed by one of the city's famed black cabs.

Last week, the Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA) published the results of yet another tire pressure inflation survey and once again, they were quite disappointing. Only 9% of the 5,478 vehicles that participated in the survey had four properly inflated tires.