Monday, July 14, 2008

chariot.....

i liked this drawing. i got it from a new (to me) blog that i'm enjoying called TaKing thE Brim_TooK thE broOm......(see my dashboard) its a wonderful expressive blog filled with poetry paintings, drawings, and words. great community.
also, i am putting up this drawing of the chariot because it reminds me of vehicles, which reminds me of the unusual trouble brooke has been having regarding cars.

she has one payment left on her matrix that she bought new..SO, it broke down last week. of course. on the LA freeway. of course. - a terrifying event. had it towed to a place called frank's auto repair. she suspected that they were NOT "frank", so she towed to a second opinion, which turned out to be a very similar opinion. so, faced to believe them, she had it fixed to the tune of $2K.

BUT THE THING IS....she JUST had it totally checked out or checked up whatever they do at the dealership service department that causes you to pay the big bucks. i personally have never had a service at the dealership that cost less than $600.

AND, coincidentally we had our white van completely serviced about the same time, through our dealership, chrysler, and paid big bucks to get its OK.

so, this week we loaned the van to brooke so that she could get to work, etc. so today brooke is driving it to work and it broke down - on the freeway near san clemente.
it was due to a hole in the radiator. and old hoses. i told her not to bother taking it to a second opinion this time. i would come get her. they have quoted $600 so far to fix it.

also, another coincidence(?) brooke's boyfriend's car broke down last week, then his mom's car - well, not the car's fault, but she wrecked it going to pick up carlos at his friendly car service dept. so he had to borrow his uncle's truck. thankfully nothing happened it. probably because his uncle had not taken it in to be serviced anywhere lately.

car trouble - our "well looked after" cars - they all must be under a spell. or could it be the moon's position to the earth or sun's influence or perhaps, shell, exxon, etc... a sign.

and this greasy guy at the san clemente place ( i went there with rosie today to pick brooke up to take her to work, , er home in LA, but once i got there i realized i didn't have time to drive all the way to pasadena and back to san diego to get rosie to swim practice on time.....so brooke had been waiting for us in a bar next door. conveniently, i got her drunk then later drove her home to san diego with us. it was fun. i love having grown kids to have a beer with now and again. er, brooke and jamie, not rosie --- yet)

so the greasy, oily guy at the service station explained to me (after i threw a fit about the car breaking down righ after we had checked out)... that dealerships don't replace hoses when the car is over 100k miles. they figure that by the time a car is that old, the owners were likely to sell it anyway.

humph.
do you believe that?

well, brooke flashed him a deadly look (she's really good at that) and corrected him by saying through her teeth, "but the car has only 70K on it, not 100k."

he shrugged, nonplussed, " ok, well, less than 100k miles......, they still don't replace hoses".

brooke and i looked at each other with a slow "knowing" nod and a "squeezy eye" look, we knew better, we knew 'xactly what his deal was....
(actually, by then, we had a beer or two.
we also did the "all knowing look" past each other each other.. as the world was wavering; we squeezed one eye a little too long and then looked back again...but i'm sure he didn't catch that part).
anyway, we KNEW what we were both thinking....we were thinking....damn it! car mechanics; think they can bully women around.....so we helped each other walk away (back to the next door bar) and i yelled over my shoulder..... "wait til my husband hears about this!"


yeah, i know that didn't make us look very "i am woman, hear me roar"ish-but i'm not a fast thinker under such circumstances.

the place was a bit circus-y anyway, there was a talking parrot in a cage outside the office and a (i kid you not) a midget mechanic. after i thought about it, i supposed he would be rather handy working under the car chassises.....

rosie? oh yeah. she was there. mortified.
but she thought it was funny when broke said to her...."heyyyyyyy, look at the midget mechanic"....too loudly
and i was saying, "what? what did you say about a midget?"

(er, sorry to all you short readers, i don't mean to be not PC...... ---ah, the hell with it, i guess i am an insensitive person because i think midget is a very funny word...AND i think seeing one is even funnier.....and I know i'm not alone, cuz why else were they used as sideshow entertainment? huh? but sorry anyway).

well, it was a busy day. we got home safe and sound. i told gastone about the price of the fix and he didn't seem to think it was too much.

"huh! what the...? how do you like that? i can't believe the greasy guy wasn't really trying to rob us women!

but then, gastone is used to paying the dealership prices.........ah well.


another day i will tell you about the time brooke was in an accident (not her fault) on LA freeway.....after she pulled off the freeway and out of harm's way, she sat and dialed AAA. it was while she was talking to them, she saw her hubcap roll past her and on up the freeway.........

i guess you have to picture it.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lisa, your car stories are always so intertaining. Has Brooke driven a Ford lately? I know an honest Ford guy!

Pam Tucker said...

When I got to the part about the midget mechanic, I had a good belly laugh! After just going through a similar ripoff by our dealership "mechanics" I can relate to your story. I wish there had been a bar nearby...

Isabella

cd__ said...

lisa thanks for the remarks about Brim and I am delighted you like that picture of the old chariot.it dates back to around 500 BC if I recall rightly and here is the direct link to Brim

takingthebrim

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