Tag Archives: driving

Don’t Wash Your Car When You Have to Pee

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Yesterday I was on my way home from meeting a girlfriend for coffee.  My car was so filthy from all the snow and ice we’ve had lately I just couldn’t take it anymore.  I’m sick and tired of getting gunk and road salt on my winter coat.  I feel grimy every time I get in or out of my car.  I’ll never understand it but no matter how clean the interior might be, if the outside is dirty, the inside feels dirty.  But with the weather we’ve been having, the interior is just as bad — road salt, ice, rocks, leaves, mud, dust, dirt, sand and crumbs.  The crumb thing is another one of life’s mysteries…why are there more crumbs in the car in the winter?

Anyway, I decided the increasing pressure of nature’s call, I had enough time to get through the drive through car wash near my house.

And I did but it was torture!  Cycle after cycle of water and soap and more water and double bonded wax (how does that work on a wet car?) and more water going back and forth from the front to the back of the van.  Sometimes a hard spray.  Sometimes a gentle spray designed to leave no spots but it always looked and sounded like rushing water especially running down the front windshield.

I found myself focusing entirely on the digital display telling me about each step in the process.  And what exactly is “Spot Free Water”?  Is it different from regular water?  Wouldn’t it still spot if my car was covered in silk bunting?  Was I just trying to distract myself?

The overhead door couldn’t open fast enough.  The heck with my 60 seconds of industrial hair dryers for cars.  I had the Spot Free Water treatment so I was good to go!

Backseat Driver

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My husband recently had hip replacement surgery.  He’s relatively young for the procedure but was in such intense pain and getting virtually no relief from medication, there really was no choice.

Well, the plan was that he was going to be released from the hospital today.  I went to the hospital early today to be there for his physical and occupational therapy sessions.  I wanted to know everything about his recovery exercises and how they wanted him to get in and out of a chair so I could provide the right kind of physical support and reminders once he was home.

We decided he would ride in the back seat of our car for the ride home.  So, one of the things they had him practice was how to get in and out of the back seat using a trash bag on the seat to help him scoot across the seat.

And for some reason, once he was in the back seat, he seemed to think he was required to critique my driving ability.

When we ride in a car together, he does the majority of the driving.   I’ll take my turn at the wheel during long road trips and if he needs me to drop him off when his car is being serviced.  And, for the most part, when I’m driving, he keeps his mouth relatively shut.  But on this trip home from the hospital he had a comment on nearly every block.  “Why are you breaking?”  “Why are you in this lane?”  “You can go faster, you know.”

I counted to ten and held my tongue and decided that the critiques weren’t really because of my driving.  I decided that he knows for the next six to eight weeks, he’s going to have to rely on me and the kids at a level he’s not accustomed to and which makes him uncomfortable.  He, the man who always takes care of everyone else, is now the one who needs the care.