Avoiding the bull

And no, not just the bull droppings, but also tackling it by the horns. And not by choice - somehow life itself manages to interfere with my ability to make decisions that will affect said life.

My gosh, how pathetic that sounds! Very much like the teenage angst dramas I try and wade through on disc these days.

Let me rather tell you a story. Remember that email about the guy who is a deep-sea diver and ends up with the jellyfish in his suit. Yeah, well, tell him to swim a mile in my fins!

Just more than a week ago I was once again sorely disappointed in humanity. No news there, just setting the background.
So... of course I have to better that factor by adding my own stupidity. I went out on Sunday morning and like a dutiful citizen turned my car lights on while driving in misty conditions. Problem is, by the time I got home said misty conditions had dispersed, and I forgot to turn my car lights off.
Of course, it will come as no surprise that when I next rushed out of the house and got in the car, I was greeted by an eery silence - no irritating squigly radio noise, no time display, not even a immobiliser light blinking reassuringly from the dashboard. Yep, I'd managed to run the car battery down.
After thumping my head against the steering wheel for a while, I got out and contacted my neighbour to set up a jump-start appointment for the next morning.
Of course that would be the week when I have to rush in to an early-morning software course.

The day dawns, the jumper cables are hauled out and I await the arrival of my saving neighbour. But a slight complication - we have to push my car back somewhat to get it to a space where we can pull her car in next to it in such a position that the jumper cables can connect the batteries.
Not a problem - we are women, hear us groan while we push the car backwards. Just then, at that moment of strain and concentration, my dearly departed (well, she almost was after the incident) dog trots up and proceeds to sink her age-worn teeth into my neighbour's calf.
I've seen the state of her teeth - the dog, not the neighbour's, although I got a glimpse of that too while she grimaced - and that took a lot of pressure to create the damage she did.

I could've killed that dog. Easily. Right there and then. Lucky for her time was of the essence. After yelling dire threats and chasing her away, we got the cars out, jump started and ready to go.

Ah, but have I mentioned that my car was suffering a slight case of under-performance at the time? I haven't? Gosh... With an on-going carburator problem, the idling speed had been dropped so low that now any early morning drive is punctuated by frequent rest-stops at every stop-street or occassion when I press the clutch pedal in for longer than 5 seconds.
Now... picture this ((with dramatic background music a-la task explanation during an bomb-defusing scene of a movie))
The car has just been jump-started, i.e. the alternator has not had enough time to charge the battery.
Having the car die at a stopstreet would be problematic to say the least, as I wouldn't be able to start it again.
Right - advanced driving skills here we come!

When approaching a stop street, I quickly switched the car into neutral before using my left foot to ease on the breaks while keeping the right on the gas. Sounds easy, right? Wrong! The left foot has been trained to go either full throttle / nothing on the clutch pedal, and mistakenly tries to do the same with the break pedal. Result: nose squashed against windshield BUT the right foot is steady on the gas, meaning the car still runs! And oh, what joy, 4 more stops before I reach a long stretch without any obstacles.

I'm proud to announce, I got to work! I also managed to get the car to the garage by lunch to re-set the idling speed. And yes, I am in the process of settling my neighbour's doctors bill for a tetanus shot.

Am I speaking to my dog yet? Not so much.