I have never been good at waiting for anything, when I ask for help with something I want help now! As it is asking for help takes a whole lot of doing on my part (I am Virgo after all, don't we already know everything :-/ ) ...so rewind 1996, I had been working for a few years and decided I needed a car and I needed to learn how to drive - problem number one was that I had no car, nor no volunteer with a car - so I did what any ABnormal person would do, I marched on in to the bank at all of 20 and told them they needed to loan me some money because I needed to buy a car!
Lo and behold there was no National Credit Act back then and Bob's your uncle, I walked out of there with R7,500 in the bank! (I have been told I am quite convincing, told I should be a Sales person - no Ana - don't go there!!!) You see, I am a salesWOman when it suits me, when I want it I want it!
So there I was loot in the bank and no knowledge whatsoever about cars...oh did I mention I only had an expired learners licence (oops note to self, delete this blog before my son is old enough to find it)
I found a little spot on the Bluff (in fact it had once been my dear friend Charlene's home) - now it was a make shift mechanic's spot - but hey he was happy to take my money and I was happy to take this little Golf! Ok, what I also forgot to mention that bar a few escapades in my old honey's Renault, I couldn't drive either! However I handed over my crisp notes and he handed over one times Burgundy City Golf - which was definitely not crisp, but on the turn of the key it started and as my knowledge of cars was back then, what more did I need? I had kept enough money to put 6x9 Speakers in the car and a decent CD player, next to an ignition that started, this was the most important requirement. Little did I realise that this would come to be worth more than my little car!
I got in that car that day and started to teach myself to drive - I can't recall how many times I stalled, but eventually I got this little car home. It was one of the proudest days of my life - HOWEVER this pride would soon be ripped from me when this baby stalled that evening and the turn of the key did not yield that wonderful roar of the ignition, instead it was a click-click! Dismay soon set in, followed by fear when a police car stopped to try and help me and my friendy jump start this baby....it was a bit of a story you see, not only couldn't I drive, I really wasn't sure how you jump start a car! So they pushed and pushed, a few hernia's later they just did not understand how they couldn't push this little car! Helllooooo did anyone at anytime mention that I should have put the handbrake down! All the clutch in and clutch out wasn't going to do anything while the handbrake was up - I was like duh! - Did anyone care to mention that?? (My roots are blonde you know)
Needless to say I eventually surrendered my drivers seat to one of these officers who managed (with such ease, WOW!) to get the car going...mmm then he mentioned I really shouldn't stop again as he wasn't sure if it would start again.....now this is where the problem was you see! Do you recall I mentioned 'we' - yep I had a friend with me, a friend who needed to be dropped off at home! It was clear what needed to be done, so I let the game plan roll....."I am going to go around and come down Bluff road, got it?" She nodded, looking at me with rather large eyes! "Then, I am going to slow this baby down and when I say jump, well that is when you leap!" I saw the sweat droplets form on her forehead - still not fully healed from a recent car accident, I knew that what I was suggesting was eating at her very core - but we knew what we needed to do! I came down, released my foot from the petrol and started to slow down and BAM, right on time like a veteran parachute jumper, the door flung open and she leaped from the moving vehicle! I watched from the review mirror as she hit the ground and used her head to break her fall (you see her arm had been injured in that previous accident, so for fear of hurting it further she decided to use her head to break the fall) Needless to say I was in hysterics ( I have a terrible habit of laughing at others misfortune) - so while I laughed I leaned on over to get the passenger door properly closed and chugged along home! My Betty came to a shuddering halt! I don't know about you but all the movies I watched I saw those drivers turning that steering wheel left to right while they went along a straight road - so that is how I moved my steering wheel trying to reverse in to my very straight driveway! Bam, before I knew it that failed horribly and I was parked in the gate...that was Betty's last breath that night....but it was the start of many heart palpitations for me!
Stay tuned for Betty's trips to my place of work....driven however, by a friend, who was a way better driver than me :) but who will be put to the test as Betty could fall apart at any given time!
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