The former Mr. Amused brought Junior, Grin & Smirk's stepbrother, down to our house to go out trick or treating with his sisters for Halloween.. He also brought another treat... Smirk's new vehicle...This vehicle has now taken MY place in the garage because it is a convertible... A BMW convertible...Sounds great right???? Well... This car seems to have been owned by a very sleazy man as it looks as though the top was attacked by werewolves or an extremely angry and vindictive woman in a very bad mood that Ben & Jerry's Phish Food ice cream with whipped cream & sprinkles would not appease! The whole soft top is slashed in about 10 places, the little plastic window, which I am sure you could see out of at one point in 1992 (the car is a 91) has several holes that look like they were punched through in a fit of agony. The car is white and drives well but you just cant put the top up. Or roll the window down on the passenger side.
Because the car had been sitting for so long, it needs to be started everyday to ensure the charge stays in the battery, and it really needed and oil change. So every day I would start it, drive it a short way, down to the school to pick up the girls. They could sit in the car and wave at their acquaintances walking down the street like the Rose Court on New Years Day. Quite fun! We talked about going to the thrift store and getting some really cool vintage scarves to protect our hair as we drove down coast highway. Just until we could afford to get the top fixed... All great plans... Until Sunday...
On Sunday my normally reliable vehicle, Molly, decided it had enough of this interloper in her warm cozy sleeping area... So she decided that she was going to taunt us and blow a circuit in her radio and heater area of the center console. Since we had a lot of area to cover and needed tunes, we decided we would take the new car on our journey down to the Ex Mr. Amused's House and a basketball game and back.. Not a horrendously long trek, but still a few hours in the car. So Smirk and I set out. So off we rolled to Manny, Moe and Jack to get the oil changed. And for some strange reason the lovely mechanics doing the oil change decided that they needed to roll down the passenger side window to perform this changing of fluids... This window does not roll back up... I guess I should have informed them, but I wasn’t aware of the situation either... And did not really think about rolling down the windows in a car to perform an oil change.
So not only do we not have a roof, but we now have an open wind tunnel.. So off we go, in the autumn marine layer, down Pacific Coast highway... The sun was out, wait, it went behind the clouds, wait there it was.. Nope, sun was gone.. It was still a very balmy 70 until we started down the freeway... Ok a bit chilly and kinda loud but we would be fine, the sun was peaking out... We pick up Grin and all of us proceed to wrap our selves in jackets.. Still nice but poor Grin is in the back seat of the car, with no window and no roof and the air blowing directly on her from all angles. But she is a trooper, she ties the hoodie around her face so all you can see is the little tiny nose and a tiny bit of eye showing. She hangs in... We head down towards the shopping mecca to meet up with the Auntie from down south for a shopping trip for Grin's birthday. We get there a bit windblown but good all the same. Smirk & I head for the basketball game..
Did I mention this lovely car is a stick shift.. Oh and the game is at the top of a hill by a local university.. So here Smirk and I go.. Off to the game... On a hill... In a stick shift.. And she asks me to show her how to use the clutch properly on a hill... Of course I can do that! I am a pro!!! Not a problem.. So you let the clutch out and give it a tiny bit of gas ... Stalled... Darn it!!! She laughs, I restart, people are honking, I stall again!! Again with the honking and even one person flipped me off!!! She isn’t laughing anymore but seeing how mean people are.. I tell her we will continue later when I get a better feel for the car.. And I regain my wounded pride... The game goes fine, they lose but she played very well... So we go to meet up with Grin and Auntie... We walk the mall, go get some dinner and then we emerge from the restaurant... It is now dark. Not just dusk, with the sun starting to sink in the west, but darn right Night time... It is only 6pm, but with daylight savings over it is really dark, and cold and even a bit breezy... But are we daunted??? NO!! We head to the Sun Mobile (we have now nicknamed Charly) and bundle up.. Grin resumes her position in the back, little nose peeking out of the firmly secured hoodie, while Smirk and I don our hoodies too.. I unfortunately need to have my whole face exposed as I do need to see while maneuvering down the freeway. We had to have looked very strange... Driving down the freeway in the pitch black cold of night with our hair blowing and a look-a-like bundled child from "A Christmas Story" in the back seat! We finally made it home and proceeded straight into the mass amounts of blankets vowing never to drive the car until warmer weather... Now the poor little car sits in the garage, like a lonely stepchild... Just waiting for the warmer days and someone to fix it’s hat... Poor sad little Charly!
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