Posted on Sat Mar 15, 12:02 PM in Adventures in Automobiling
It’s not good luck, it’s not bad luck… it just is.
I was going to post yesterday how lucky I am that the accident that happened the morning of my birthday does not appear to have caused any body damage. The second body shop I visited confirmed what the first one said, that there was no visible mangling or misalignment detected. I was grateful, because I want to keep this as fuss-free and cheap as possible.
As I was driving around on Friday, however, I noticed that the heat wasn’t working. This isn’t something I could have known about on Thursday, as the only good thing about that day was the 54-degree sunny weather. But trying to run the heat on Friday only gave me damn cold air… like, not even ambient temperature air, but COLD air.
But that’s nothing compared to what happened to me this morning. On my way back from early-morning errands on the east side, the passenger side of my hood started billowing white smoke, and my temperature gauge pinged all the way to the top. So, at the corner of 24th and Lisbon (hey, at least it was daylight), I pulled over, called the towing company that works with my mechanic, and got hauled back to my own neighborhood, now completely car-less for the weekend.
The timing is way too coincidental for me, but I am hoping beyond hope that it is a stupid cheap fix, like an old or loose hose somewhere.
On a related note, the SO and I came to the decision that with gas prices being what they are (and what they are forecast to be), it makes more sense for him to take mass transit to his new job (thankfully located downtown, near a multitude of bus stops), especially since there is no lot parking for the company, and public parking downtown is very expensive. As a result, a replacement car purchase for his late Saturn can be put off for a while longer. The switch to mass transit saves gas, saves insurance payments, and saves exorbitant parking fees, so in the end we come out ahead.
I just want our one remaining vehicle to last a little longer, please.