Oh Fudge.

My car's in the shop. I know already that the sense of foreboding I experienced this morning would preceed some tragic car drama coming to fruitiion.

My car is a pretty-well maintained '97 Accord. It has over 100,000 miles on it (no, I didn't do that.) and in addition to the cracked windshield I bitched about last week it also sports bald tires and has a possessed electrical system. Walk by on any given day the car locks will start popping all by themselves.

Those are minor problems: those are called "quirks." They're the sort of things you tell your friends and coworkers about when you complain about your car because they usually have the same problem.

This morning I backed out of the driveway as always and immediately began having problems with my shifter. I was just having the damndest time getting it into gear. It was as if there was a gnome strapped beneath my chassis holding onto a string and preventing me from moving it.

Several times at lights the only gear I could get into was second. Have you ever tried accelerating from 0 from second gear? To all but experienced drivers like myself you would have heard at least two tires peeling.

I didn't want to pull over to the side of the road because I was somewhat concered sbout what sort of people would offer assistance in that neighborhood so I just stuck it out until I got to work. I got into my usual space, shut the engine, and then on a whim started the car back up again. I could shift fine.

Weird. I wrote it off to the car being cold and didn't think about it again until this afternoon when I couldn't back out of my space. Various coworkers and myself all tried to find some insight to the situation but were unsuccessful in getting the stick to budge.

Needless to say that by the time Scott got there he got it to move just fine. That's the way it works, right? It's just like calling the exterminator. When they get to the house all the roaches are gone. Or like going to the doctor: when they're putting that thingie into your ear your ear infection magically dissipates.

The car is at the dealership now. Pray this isn't some costly repair. The last time my transmission stopped working I had to get a new car.

Posted by Tiffany at September 27, 2005 07:15 PM | TrackBack