I came this close to burning up my car engine today. Well, not quite but I saw the oil icon flashing on my dashboard yesterday and wondered, what now?

I’m pretty good at checking my battery water and topping it up regularly. But I almost never check the engine oil because I have problems shoving the dip stick back in after I’m done checking. So I just conveniently never check it.

Anyways, this morning, I decided to swing by my mechanic’s to have him take a look at that red flashing. Actually I could’ve looked it up in my owner’s manual but I was on my way back from sending Steev to college so…

Turned out I was almost out of engine oil!! I was faintly amused but my mechanic wasn’t. He’s an alarmist and a bit of a male chauvinist pig, always trying to scare me just because he thinks I’m a helpless woman driver, like I’m going to burst into tears or something .

What to do? I don’t have a DH who faithfully checks my car for me, so I have to get under the hood myself. Then again, I’m something of a tomboy. I get a cheap thrill from getting my fingers all black and greasy, even when I have nail polish on .

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I tried to time my car repair with the school holidays when I won’t be needing my car as much. So even though it looked like my car might need a Radiator Replacement, I was quite happy to top up my radiator water every few days to play for time.

Yes, I actually check and fill up my own battery, radiator water and tyre pressure. I’ve always been a tomboy so I’m not completely helpless and dependent on DH. In fact, I was often the one taking care of his car when he was on business trips overseas.

Anyways back to my radiator, I decided not to wait since it was leaking quite badly so I sent my car in ahead of the school holidays this week. Actually it wasn’t my radiator that was leaking, some of the hoses just needed to be replaced, that’s all.

After I picked up Skye from school, we were traveling down a straight road when a school van came speeding out from a sidelane and headed directly for us.

I leaned on the horn but the bus driver just kept coming … and coming … till he was within one foot of my car. Our vehicles were perpendicular to each other and he would’ve hit my car dead center if he hadn’t braked in time!

Skye and I were so shell shocked we just sat there for a few moments, not moving! The driver just raised his hand as some sort of apology and sped off.

Can you imagine what would’ve happened? His van was full of primary schoolkids and I’m sure they have no seatbelts on!

I was sitting in my car waiting for my son outside his college when this car comes tearing down the road, hitting my sideview mirror with their sideview mirror. I looked up to see this white car driving away, then stopping for a few minutes. When I started leaning on my horn and shaking my finger, the driver sped away.

I didn’t get a good look at the driver so I couldn’t tell whether it was a he or she. But I got their car registration number so I’m going to keep my eye out for this car when I go to the college every day to pick up my son.

I’m almost willing to bet that the driver will need to be sourcing auto parts from midwest auto recycling any day now at the rate he’s going. After they hit me, I noticed that their sideview mirror has sort of broken off and was dangling by the side. No damage to my rearview mirror though.

Well, it’s been two weeks and Steev is happily riding the bus to college every morning. He seems to enjoy it which is a great relief to me since he’s never taken the bus before in his life.

The added bonus is I no longer have to worry about him being in a car driven by a teenaged driver who overtakes three trucks in a row on the fast lane. I cannot imagine anyone so bent on killing themselves for the sake of showing off!

I don’t think it even occurs to her how dangerous her driving is, and if this were the US, her folks should seriously have a Nebraska Truck Accident Attorney on standby at the rate she’s going. Having said that, I sure hope her parents are aware of what she’s doing before it’s too late!

I often see my neighbor’s kids playing outside their house. Yes, on the road outside. Sometimes it’s badminton, sometimes it’s football, sometimes they’re just cycling around.

My kids, on the other hand, were only allowed as far as the garden when they were that age (around 6-10). Even then, they were hardly ever outside except occasionally to cycle or jump rope or kick a ball around.

When they were toddlers, we’d go to the park sometimes if the evenings weren’t too blazing hot. But I never let my kids out on the road to play. With all the warnings and reminders, my kids know they must never venture past that invisible rope just beyond our gate.

It’s a necessary precaution, I feel. You just never know when a vehicle is going to turn the corner and come speeding down the road. And then, who can you blame? The irresponsible driver or yourself?

Do you let your kids play on the road?

I stopped for gas yesterday. A full tank now costs me almost rm120 and it sometimes lasts me less than a week. Mom’s taxi is becoming very costly.

Even with Steev taking the college bus one-way, I still have to pick him up at the end of class every day and his college is like 20km away.

Sometimes I wonder if we should switch him to an online university degree program instead. If nothing else, it will definitely save us a bundle on transportation alone. So I foresee online degrees will gain popularity simply because of this.

But I wouldn’t want Steev to forgo the social aspect of going to college which he won’t get to enjoy if he does his degree online at this stage.

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Well, next month is already here and today is Steev’s first morning taking the college bus. Whew, no more carpooling and worrying day after day about him being a car driven by reckless noobs who give no thought to their road safety.

His friend charges the same amount per month as the college bus. We found out that although he says it’s for gas money, Steev is the only one he collects from.

He doesn’t charge his other ‘good’ friends and as far as we know, his parents are still forking out the gas money. This can only mean he’s pocketing the exorbitant sum without his parents’ knowledge. What a crooked kid!

At any rate, enough is enough! I’d rather be paying for peace of mind here. It costs me the same price anyhow. The college bus looks good. It’s air-conditioned. It’s convenient and there’s lots of other kids taking it. So I’m happy .

Yikes, driving Steev to/from college every day seems to be quite a hazard. Ninety percent of the cars in that area are driven by new and probationary (P) drivers!

It’s like stepping through a land mine literally. Every other car that either moves very slowly, cuts you off from out of nowhere or is speeding out of a junction is a P driver.

Well, P drivers obviously aren’t the only one who take two lanes to turn a corner or who speed up to prevent you from changing lanes.

I pray each morning for the patience to tolerate the pea-brained drivers I meet every day. Om!

My first car was a Toyota and I loved that thing. It never gave me any problems and even after years, I’d only changed the tyres and battery but not the Toyota Radiator or any of the major parts.

Well, if I’d needed to look for spare parts, I’d have gone to Radiators.com as they carry a wide range of parts at very affordable pricing.

But here the mechanics will do everything for you. They’ll source the parts and fix everything. I don’t have to lift a finger but then I have to pay the price. I have no control over what they charge me.