If It Ain't One Thing...
Mon., January 26, 09:47 AM
If it ain’t one thing it’s another. I absolutely hate the effects of winter, and Dr. Mel doesn’t see a January thaw coming. Oh, it will come, maybe in March. And in the meantime, I suffer. Although — I have to admit, it reminds me of a funny story.
So this morning, U.D. has extra errands before work, and her car — which is kept in the garage — won’t start. There is an icon she doesn’t recognize, and in desperation she photographs it with her phone. Fortunately, “my car” will start, and she telephones instructions to her garage and — with her buffer of time gone — goes directly to the office.
I take the door opener out of the car — no sense in giving our house key to a stranger — retrieve the extra car key and wait. Eventually a tow truck arrives, I give the driver the car key, and open the garage for him.
He wants to know the address of the garage. I don’t know; it’s on a stretch of road where there are three or four such garages. But he is supposed to have it; the garage confirms it when you call it in. I’m sure he will figure it out — if he wants to be paid.
It just adds to a busy day. U.D. and I share an eye doctor’s appointment this afternoon. We’re leaving Husband home alone — with the doors secured, of course — hoping it won’t be too dark before we get back. I have to give him his lunch early…
It occurs to me that this is a really old story, before ubiquitous cell phones. Remember that as you picture this predicament.
A woman had a brand new car and was about to drive it alone for the first time. She noticed a strange icon on the dash and, afraid to drive the car that way, she went into the house to phone the dealer. He didn’t understand which icon she meant, so she went back to the car to look at it again, and went back into the house to the phone. She described the icon as “a man with a rifle,” and she was truly terrified. The dealer could not imagine what icon she was talking about and eventually arranged to have someone come out and look at it.
When the dealer’s representative came and looked at her dashboard, it became clear. (We need more imagination in our lives!) What she saw as a “man with a rifle” was the icon for the seatbelt. Had she just put on the belt and started to drive, the icon would have disappeared.
