Cars & driving | Hip to be Mom

Twas a stormy evening when I got home from sending Raine to her tutor’s house. A short while later, Hip2bDad went to collect his golf shoes from the top of my minivan where he’d set them to dry earlier… and they were GONE!! His new shoes, gone!

Of course! I’d driven into the storm without realizing they had been sitting on top of my minivan. How was I to know? Mind you, the roof of a minivan is pretty high up and it’s not as if I were born with a periscope on top of my head !

The only thing left to do was to keep an eye out for ‘em errant shoes on my way to pick up Raine later. Easier said than done. Ever tried looking for a brown shoe on the road in a torrential downpour? Not easy, I tell ya! I felt like Cruella de Vil cruising at snail’s pace, peering out of the window, stalking a brown puppy shoe!

I spotted what looked like a shoe on the ramp leading onto the highway. Steev confirmed it was but there was no way I could stop the car on that busy ramp! OMG! I guess that’s it, it’s probably bashed up anyhow though Steev said it didn’t look like anyone’s run over it – yet!

I drove on and on the way back, we spotted the other side of the shoe a couple of corners from the tutor’s house. That road was pretty quiet so I pulled up alongside the shoe and Steev hopped out to retrieve it. Is it Daddy’s shoe? Yep, and it was still in good condition.

Now for the other shoe. I had to make a turn and head back in the opposite direction to get back to that ramp where we’d seen it earlier. I was in two minds whether to attempt the dangerous feat of stopping on a busy ramp in pouring rain to make a dash for the shoe!

Luckily when we got there, there was no traffic. at. all. On that usually busy ramp? Wow, someone must be looking out for us! I quickly put on my hazard lights, stopped as close as possible to the shoe and with both Steev and I keeping an eye out for approaching traffic, Raine hopped out and in a flash was back in the car with the other shoe!

What an adventure! The most amazing part was that no one had run over either of the shoes. They’re good as new after a day out in the sun!! Hip2bDad is smiling again. And this story definitely deserves to be a chapter in The Adventures of The Hip Family to be handed down the generations !

Yesterday’s torrential downpour was exceptionally bad. Or maybe it was because it happened at a time when I had to send Raine to her tutor’s house and we have to pass through a low-lying area which is very prone to flooding.

I was driving at my normal speed which, even on a regular day, annoys the heck out of folks. But you know what? I pay more road tax than many of them so I figure that gives me the right to drive like a tortoise if I want to. If people don’t like it, they can speed right on ahead. Into the flood.

Which is exactly what one Toyota did. He sped right past me into the deepest part of the flood, rudely splashing water all over my minivan. Bet he never read the story of the tortoise and the hare.

Minutes later, I saw him stalled at the stop lights. Motionless. Stationery. As in Stuck! As in Helpless! With flood water in his exhaust pipe!

The tortoise wins, hehehe!

Practice before keys

Posted by Clairity Comments Off

May 262010

Now that Steev has gotten his driver’s licence, I guess he’ll be asking for my car keys soon? I think it’s a little too soon though. I’m just a little worried about him driving my minivan which is more than double the size of the crickety little car he learnt to drive in. I’m thinking maybe I should get an insurance quote as well as let him get a little more practice first.

Steev went for his driving test today and I was the one having nightmares last night. Isn’t it always the case that our kids will sleep blissfully the night before a test and we are the ones tossing and turning?

And sometimes it’s for good reason. He hasn’t had a whole lot of practice. Not as much as I would’ve liked. In fact, I think he probably has more practice driving a golf buggy than a car. So I wasn’t exactly wide-eyed all night for nothing.

Well, aside from a few ‘heart attacks’ with the test car which turned out to be a crickety old junk with a hand brake that wouldn’t release unless Steev physically hammered it down with his fist and a clutch that refused to budge, everything else went just fine .

So hey, we have a brand new driver in the family now! Woo-hoo for Mom who may actually be able to farm out her Mom’s taxi service some days! Hmm, nice thought that!

So I drove over a rock masquerading as a harmless ball of newspaper and it ripped a hole in my engine oil tank and caused a major oil slick on my driveway. Can you believe that?

As I said, I didn’t even think to snap a photo in all that panic. This picture is just to give you an idea but it’s nothing compared to the thick layer of gooey brown engine oil spread out like a giant amoeba over one quarter of my driveway.

The tow truck man was kind enough to offer me a few pointers on how to go about cleaning it up. But after analyzing the situation and discussing with my 3 teens, we decided we would first sweep the oil into a dustpan and pour it into a thick plastic bag. That took care of most of the oil.

Then we used old newspapers to wipe and soak up what’s left. A messy, backbreaking task. After we’d gotten rid of most of the oil, we poured hot water on the stained area and then scrubbed it several times over with detergent and baking soda. It was really hard work and I’d rather be trying to fix a Linksys router instead.

Luckily, my 3 energetic teens somehow managed to turn it into some kind of fun community project ! My minivan spent the night at the mechanics and it’s back now. Happy days till… the mechanic sends me the bill, ugh!

Never trust a harmless-looking rock!

Posted by Clairity Comments Off

May 132010

So I was driving home yesterday from a morning of errands with Steev, deep in mother-son conversation as usual. On the road, I saw what looked like a harmless bit of crumpled newspaper and before I knew it, I was driving over it. This is a busy highway at lunchtime so there was no way I could’ve avoided it.

Whatever it was, I figured my minivan is high enough to go over it. Well, I figured wrong. First off, it was NOT a harmless newspaper, it was a rock. Not just any rock. But a rock on some sort of vendetta because as I sped over it, it hit back with such a vengeance and sonic boom that Steev and I jumped out of our skins.

We were almost home so I didn’t stop to check. It was only after I parked in my driveway that I noticed drops of oil on the floor and then the horror of it. Engine oil leaking from the bottom of my minivan forming a big, bigger, even bigger puddle!

And the front hood of my baby was smoking! Hell!! I’m in b-i-g trouble this time, I thought. I called my mechanic who happened to be in a meeting and could not talk! Hell, mechanics are not supposed to be in meetings !!!

So I called his assistant who happened to be out at lunch on a motorcycle and couldn’t talk on his cell phone! Hell! So what do I do now? There’s a huge puddle, I yelled at the poor guy. And he says to call the tow truck, pronto!

By the time the tow truck arrived some ten minutes later, the entire 2 litres of engine oil was on the floor of my driveway! Hell! I didn’t know which was worse – watching my poor baby being towed away or wondering how the heck I’m going to clean up that massive oil slick on my driveway!

In the panic, I didn’t think to take a photo but it was definitely far, far worse than this.

Just great!! Looks like I need to install a security camera under my minivan now to warn me of rocks with evil intentions. Next up, how we cleaned up the oil slick!