I Like Driving in My Car

No, this post is not about one my favourite 80's bands "Madness," it's really about my car. Or maybe I should accurately say "my cars and my husband's cars."

We have a well balanced marriage. I drive the environmentally friendly low-emissions Hybrid, while my husband drives the gas guzzling polluter Jeep. I owned three cars in my entire life. My husband owned oh…about six cars in the time I've known him. I do about zero research into car buying, my husband researches 24 hours a day (I'm fairly certain some of his dreams have got to be about Jeeps, because that's the magazine he reads before falling asleep, and that's what he goes to check on when he wakes up). Yes, yes, I know it's stupid not to research cars before buying, but I'm not a part of this car-obsessed society.

Back where I come from you buy a car with your life's savings and you drive it till it dies! A car is a means to get from one place to another. There's nothing else to it. Four wheels and if you're lucky an air-conditioner and maybe a radio (for some extra cash you can get one that works).

When I bought my first car (a used one) I paid $1000 and was thrilled that I had a white car just like all my friends and family back home (I come from a hot country). Mistake No. 1 of my life in the U.S. White cars are not healthy. Besides the fact that they're unusually cold in the winter, it becomes a huge problem trying to find them in a snow storm. Regretfully, it died three years later on the highway as I was heading back from school after two nights without sleep (why do cars pick up the worst times to die?).

My second car (another used one) was a bright disco coloured teal. I absolutely loved that car. Drove it till it died eight years later. This car had a soul. It read me. It listened to me. It knew me. It was my soulmate. We had similar passion about music (it drove faster and better with good music on). The week before it died I had a passenger in my car and told him how my first car died a graceful death on the highway. Having heard this story, my car thought it would be really cool if I'd consider his death graceful, and sure enough - died in the exact same spot where my first car died!!! My husband didn't believe me when I called him to pick me up from the same place.
The funeral ceremony for my car lasted two weeks, before I was able to find a gravesite. Those two weeks were the most difficult of my life with cars. Every morning I'd go by and hug it. I didn't care what the neighbours thought. I didn't want to see it gone. So I stayed late at work and had my husband take the Last Photos.



I really loved it!

Then it was time to get a new car. Not used. I wanted to get another one of the same brand I just owned for 8 years.

Turned out that the price of the same brand and the price of a Hybrid was the same, so I went for "Saving the environment" and bought the Hybrid. My choice of colours on the lot that day were - gray, gray or if I insisted - gray. So I picked gray. Talk about mistakes! Apparently, I'm not the only car owner who had a choice of gray, gray or gray. I can no longer find my car in the parking lot. The Disco teal stuck out, whereas this gray matter just sits there, hidden among all other gray cars in fashion these days. I'm considering painting the roof of my car with something distinguishable to make it easier for me to spot. My husband suggested an "X" but I'm a bit worried about being a moving target to hostile forces.

After eight months of driving my new car, I must admit I'm totally and absolutely in love with my Hybrid. It's like driving a video game. It has this neat digital display inside that shows me my mileage while I drive and a very bright display showing when the electrical assist comes on, and when the battery is being charged.

So when I drive I play with the gas pedal to see how it affects my gas mileage, battery charging and electrical assist. I've managed to get as high as 54 mpg when I'm in the city, but due to my fun commute to jobsites around the world my mileage often gets as low as 42.1. I do the snoopy dance when it gets to 45.

Speaking of driving-video-games - a couple of decades ago (or was it a bit less?), when Tetris first came out for home computers, I was a serious addict to the game and recall a couple of days when I had to drive through the National Beltway, and my brain continued the game while driving: "Alright, you four cars, go to my left and fall back. You two horizontal cars in front of me can sit to my right. This long line of five cars on my left would fit just fine behind me. This car about to merge...oh wait, you're going the wrong way!" It's a surprise I made it to my destination. I wouldn't be surprised if I found out the inventor of Tetris was inspired by the same concept - driving on the beltway.

For the sake of balance, and because a friend complained about my too-long posts, I will close this for now and continue Part 2: "The Jeep" on another day.

P.S. Toda La'El Hayom Yom Shishi!!!