So, Daniel (my husband) and I discovered something quite disturbing tonight. We were out of rum! You know what that meant? After a frustrating day at work, I COULDN’T HAVE A RUM & COKE? This had to be remedied. Accordingly, after a dinner of salad and pasta with sauce and homemade rolls, we danced our way down to the car to hit ABC before it closed.
After a harrowing drive to the liquor store – it is quite rainy and NO ONE in the Virginia area knows how to drive in the rain – one bottle of rum, bottle of vodka, and bottle of Seagram’s 7 honey whisky later (purchased, not drank), we triumphantly returned to the car, jumped in, and – nothing. Nada. Well – not quite nada. There was a loud clicking noise as we turned the key. But not even an engine turn-over. We looked at each other. Are you freaking kidding me? We just paid to get both the battery and alternator replaced 8 months ago! After a kindly man stopped despite the rain and jumped the car for us, we went straight for the car repair place that had replaced the battery and alternator for us 8 months ago. Well, not quite straight – despite the rather weak sound of the engine and the fear it was going to die at any moment, we made an essential stop for McDonald’s ice-cream. But THEN we made straight for the car shop.
Thankfully they were still open and had availability for us – the connection was apparently loose, and the battery pretty much dead, so they couldn’t even test it. They told us to take it for a half hour drive and bring it back so they could test it. We did so. Good thing we love driving together! Something about the open (more or less) road, and occasional near death experiences of cars randomly slamming on their brakes in front of us because a raindrop hit their passenger side window, always has an exhilarating effect on us. So, despite our plans for the evening being ruined (okay, fine – we didn’t even have plans for the evening, other than making a Shutterfly album with our wedding photos), we were actually pretty cheerful and enjoying the little adventure life had thrown our way.
So anyway, they tested the car, discovered it needed a new battery AND a new alternator because apparently both the ones they installed 8 months ago were bad. They replaced the battery tonight, and we are bringing it back tomorrow to get the alternator put in. Thankfully, everything is under warranty and we shouldn’t have to pay for much. It was a fun deviation from our normal routine – and I am just thankful it happened tonight instead of when we were actually headed someplace with a deadline.
Here we are, two hours later, finally enjoying that rum & coke at home. And, yes, putting together the shutterfly album. Life is good.
Forest Idylls 