My Opel Meriva and I have been having fun lately – fun not in the nice way either – fun as in this is gonna cost you more than you’re prepared (or able) to pay fun.
1. A few weeks back the kids and I decided to go to the mall to do a bit of retail therapy, there are several robots between our house and the mall – the first one we came to turned red just as I got to it so being a law abiding citizen I stopped and patiently waited for it to turn green. On turning green I turned right into the road and as I’m pulling out of my turn the kids yell MOM! Let me tell you – as a Mom, you never want to hear yourself being called that in such a tone of voice – next thing I know a car bashes into us right by Tamsyn’s door. Still being the law abiding citizen (albeit a somewhat shaky one) I got out and made sure the other driver was alright – stupid woman, blamed me for the accident! She kept repeating “the light was turning green for me” – um Ma’am (and yes I did use the word Ma’am) your light was red, mine was green. Tried to convince her to come to the police station with me (which she didn’t) and rather daftly didn’t insist on getting her name (I know – no need to say it). Kind of felt sorry for the old duck (and yes she was an old duck) especially as she kept asking how was she supposed to get out of her car when the door wouldn’t open properly. Not my problem – you drove into me. I reported it to the police and the very friendly policeman even went as far as to draw the accident scene on the form one has to fill in – after I’d completely cocked it up by drawing what looked like a rectangle and a square in the middle of nowhere (shan’t mention I was supposed to be copying his rendition drawn on a scrap piece of paper) – estimate quote to fix R8k.
2. Another day of retail therapy on the cards – got to the shopping centre this time and was happily walking towards the entrance when I heard someone running up behind me. Resisted the urge to go into Bruce Lee attack mode and carried on walking. Young kid panting behind me asks ‘lady are you the one driving a silver car?’ Uh oh. I turn around and walk back – there is my slightly bashed (stupid un-named old duck) car standing sheepishly with it’s rear nestled up against a ruddy huge bakkie. Fortunately the bakkie had a bill bar (no idea how one spells those) so the only damage was to my car. Yup, I forgot to put the handbrake up. And before you start going on about how you never leave your car out of gear, yadda yadda – I’ve heard it all already. Have to say though – it must have looked like a classic candid camera moment – woman gets out of car walks off happily swinging her handbag not a care in the world – meanwhile behind her – her car is slowly starting to roll back picking up speed and ending up bouncing off the ruddy great bakkie parked opposite it – estimated quote to fix R15k.
3. Got tasked with picking Jessica up from her music lesson and arriving about fifteen minutes early I happily switched off the engine and listened to the radio whilst playing a game on my new cellphone. Ten minutes in the radio started acting funny so I switched it off and carried on playing a particularly difficult level of my game. Twenty minutes on and Jessica got in the car – turned the key, nothing. Turned the key again – still nothing, only this time a ticktick noise started up. I looked at Jessica and figured the only thing to do was to turn the engine off and call Wouter. (After all why does one have a husband if not to call them in one’s moment of dire need?) Took the keys out – ticktick noise continued. It was then I decided it would be a lot safer for Jessica and I to stand outside the ticking car (which I remind you is turned off!) whilst we waited for Wouter. Lets face it – last car I had burnt out – wouldn’t be surprised if this one blew up. Long story short – it is all Lead SA’s fault that the battery died – estimated cost TBD (but I’m factoring in several shrink visits).