With a car like this, losing your parking fund in the depths of your glove compartment will be a thing of the past. Made of completely see through parts – from the engine to the exhaust, the car in the latest Shell advert would be the envy of the road.

As long as you could find a woman's car insurance company that would insure it, car accident claims for those scratches you left while doing a dodgy park would be a thing of the past as visibility is so good; you couldn't fail to get it right first time.

Mud and bird splats could however prove to be a problem in a see though car and leaving valuables in your car would be like leaving them in a display cabinet.
However as a model car, it certainly is good to look at and certainly makes for a more interesting advert about oil.

Some years ago my then fiancé suggested that we take advantage of a fine spring Sunday to go for a drive in the countryside.

Things went well to begin with. We set out towards Oxfordshire on the A40 with the top down on his MG sports car and the wind whistling through our hair.

We had a clear run into the the Cotswolds and enjoyed a gentle, romantic-seeming stroll around Charlbury.

Afterwards we shared lunch in a heritage-listed pub and talked enthusiastically about what the glimmering future held for us. Feeling benevolent, I decided to let my fiancé have a few pints. After such a romantic day in Arcadian England, I was happy to drive back myself.

However, about half way through the return journey, he broke some rather crushing news. He'd been having, he confessed, not one, not two, but three affairs. He felt terrible he said, but his troubled upbringing meant that he had a pathological need for tactile love.

What a thing to break to someone who was driving, and at 70 mph! I was both inconsolable and incandescent and, blinded by a torrent of tears, pulled over at the nearest services and said in clear and graphic terms that the engagement was off and the relationship over; never mind his need to "clear the air" before we settled on a date for our big day.

Good thing I took this course of action: both ending the relationship and pulling over. A new car insurance survey has found that one in twelve people has suffered a car accident after arguing with a partner.
A psychologist says of "romantic road rage", "A driver's performance can be significantly affected by their emotional state.

"Being upset, angry or frustrated with a partner or lover is a sure-fire way to distract from safe and responsible driving,' she said.
"With personal issues racing through their mind, drivers are at risk of subconsciously releasing tension by driving fast, or on the other hand being distracted by their heartache."

And my one-time fiancé? Last time I heard, he'd just taken nostalgic walk in Oxford to remember old times and rue the day he lost the "love of his life".

Image © Wolfiewolf via Flickr under Creative Commons Licence

Most husbands will buy their wives flowers for Valentine's Day, if they're lucky. However, one husband spent £30,000 on a new chrome-finished Mini for his wife, which she is now finding impossible to be covered for women's car insurance.

The builder bought the chrome car from a London showroom as a Valentine's Day gift for his wife. While he was able to get the car home from the showroom thanks to the week of free insurance, they have since been unable to take it off their drive.

Speaking of his shiny purchase, the 42-year-old said, "I've been left with the world's most expensive mirror. No one will touch it with a barge pole."

According to car insurance companies, the car is too much of a risk to insure due to the thieves it will attract and the scuffs and scratches which will be made to the soft bodywork.

Most people charged with drink driving have been caught behind the wheel of a car or some other motorised vehicle. However, one 62-year-old Polish man has been charged with drink-driving a lorry and a horse.

When the Polish driver's lorry broke down, he cunningly tried to use his horse to tow the vehicle to the garage for repair while he steered from inside the truck

The driver's adventure came to a sudden halt when he managed to steer the lorry into the path of an oncoming car before hitting a roadside railing which tipped the truck over.

Amazingly, no one was injured in the incident although the horse received an ear bashing as the driver tried to blame the accident on the poor animal.

The owner is now facing charges which include animal cruelty and drink-driving and will, no doubt, lose any chance of finding cheap car insurance.

[Image © Sark 2007 via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence]

Any discerning dog owner will want their prize pooch looking hot to trot with an outfit that perfectly coordinates their own.

However, one dog owner in New York was outraged to discover that her four-legged friend's outfit had been rudely stripped off her dog's back, leaving the poor white terrier in the nude.

The crime came about after the complacent owner tied up her westie outside a supermarket while she bought her weekly groceries. However when she returned to her dog, she discovered that its green wool coat, with leather trim and belt, had vanished.

Speaking of the travesty, the distraught dog owner said that the dog's coat was worth $25 (around £16) but was grateful that he wasn't wearing his Burberry coat at the time which is worth a lot more.

[Image © Randy Son via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence]

"Wouldn't it be nice if the world were chocolate?" These lyrics from the Cadbury's advert sum up our sentiments here at the CoverGirl women's car insurance office exactly.

Wonderfully, this dream is beginning to be realised thanks to the work of a group of Chinese confectioners who have been re-creating some of China's most famous landmarks out of chocolate.

While many have been given the opportunity to walk the wall of China, none have had the chance, or indeed the desire, to taste it, until now.

Made from solid dark chocolate bricks stuck together with white chocolate 'cement', the wall is the stuff of chocoholics' dreams and no doubt will be a huge attraction at the World Chocolate Wonderland exhibition where it is currently on display.

Although the replica is no where near full size – at 10 metres long it is just a mere dwarf compared with the real thing, it is a pretty impressive miniature with its life-like crumbling section at one end.

Also included in the display is a mini-army of 560 chocolate replicas of the famous Terracotta Warriors standing to attention on a layer of chocolate flakes.

Aimed at encouraging the Chinese to eat more chocolate, an impressive 80 tonnes of it has been used to create the mini masterpieces in the hope of getting some chocolate sales out of the billion-plus consumers in China.

Perhaps a similar idea could be used in the UK with vegetables to encourage the chocolate and fast food-loving Brits to try some more of the green stuff. We want to see Tower Bridge made out of Aubergine!

[Image © Darwin Bell via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence]

If you have a few moments to spare in between searching for women's car insurance and making mugs of hot chocolate in this cold weather, perhaps you might like to try your hand at making an even bigger igloo than the makers of this one managed.

Built by two friends from Frankly Beeches in Birmingham, the 8ft high igloo took three days to build and comes complete with a living room and standing space as well.

The friends even braved the cold to spend a night in their icy creation which helped them hit the spotlight in local and national news.

With the snow in most places now beginning to melt, wannabe igloo builders may have to wait another 30 years for the next big freeze before they can try to build rival versions.