An Exciting Day ... Not!

It's been a pretty exciting and busy day for me at work today. Well, it didn't just involve work alone but it was exciting nonetheless. I sent my car on Tuesday to get some stuff that was really in dire need of repairs fixed. The mechanic was my regular guy and he said I had to leave my car there for a day or two. Which was no problem for me cos he was kind enough to lend me a spare car for me to use in the meantime. That's why I like this mechanic.

Now, what he didn't tell me was how bad the condition of the car was. The exterior of the car looked fine and dandy. But now, the interior left much to be desired (not that my car was all that much better but definitely way better than this one). So, I took the loaner car, thankful that he even had a loaner to lend me cos my work involves traveling quite a bit.

The first day I had the car everything was fine though it was kinda difficult to drive cos the clutch was sticking on 3rd gear and made this frightening grinding sound no matter how hard I pressed on the clutch itself. Now, the brakes, what can I say about the brakes. You all know Fred Flintstone right? You've all seen how he has to use his feet to stop the car? Well, this one was just like that. I had to press down so hard on the brakes to make a stop that I was afraid if I pressed any harder my foot would have gone through the floorboards!

As bad as that was I managed to eventually get a feel on how to drive that car with minimal gear crunching sounds and to be sure to brake at least 2 kilometres from where I actually wanted to stop ... LOL!

'Ok, that's not too bad'

But that was the least of my problems. This morning, I decided to go for an appointment first before returning the car and collecting my car which should have been ready. It was a nice rainy and cool morning and the drive to my clients place was uneventful until about a few kilometres aways when the car decided to start acting buggy. To get to this clients place I have to traverse this small narrow 2 lane road which is used by huge container trucks and delivery lorries.

First the car starts to jerk and choke on every single gear I depress, then it just dies in the middle of the road with huge speeding trucks behind me, not forgetting the oncoming ones. I hit the hazard lights as fast as I possibly can and swerve the dead car onto the side of the road which is like this small grassy and muddy thing and watch these huge monsters of container trucks speed by so close to the car. The truck drivers here tend to think they're all a Michael Schumacher, a Kimi Raikonnen or something.

Never mind I say as I sit there in that totally dead car trying to figure out what to do and hope to god that those freaking crazy truck drivers actually notice me at the side of the road. It's raining remember. So, I sit there a good 5 minutes trying to start the car and finally it starts.

'There is a god after all!'

I quickly head out of that tiny weeny space by the side of the road and continue my journey but a few metres down the road the same thing happens again ... arrgghhhh! I swerve to the side again and try again and finally it starts again. Once again I move off and this time the car goes much further before acting up again. I finally reach my clients place, quickly get my appointment finished and try to get the car back to my mechanic which is like kilometres upon kilometres away.

So, all the way back, in the rain and all, the car gives out on me nearly 20 times and I have to do the stop, wait, start, move procedure over and over again and nurse that car all the way back. It took me a good one hour plus to drive back which with a decent car that actually moves would have taken me 30 minutes! But reach back I did and immediately go tell my mechanic the problems I had with the loaner he gave me. He listens to me intently as I relate every single detail of the story to him and then he bursts out laughing and says ...

'Oh, saya lupa cakap itu keleta ala sikit ploblem la ...' (Oh, I forgot to mention that the car has a little problem ...)

That's when I felt like giving him a swift kick up his you know where! There I just went through a horrendous experience and here he actually knew the car had problems and didn't even inform me. Damn, I could do with a little less excitement in my life sometimes. Anyway I was finally glad to get my hands off that cursed car and get my own car back though I had to wait an hour or so more cos my car still wasn't completely fixed yet.

When the car was finally fixed and I got the bill my eyes nearly popped out, I clutch my chest and almost collapse from a self inflicted heart attack! It cost a bomb and a half! Gee, does he think just because I work in advertising that I can print my own money or something? There go you guys Christmas presents. I was thinking of buying each and everyone of my blogging buddies a Christmas present but now looks like you guys ain't getting nothing. Ok, ok, I was not really going to get anyone anything but it sounds so cool to say that I was ... LOL!

Oh well, that took practically half my working day (and precious blogging time ... LOL) to get sorted out but alls well that ends well they say. Now hopefully my own car doesn't give me any more crap for now. Have a great rest of the day people ... :D