Curious is the prompt for Sunday, and Gratitude is the prompt for today, Monday. I haven’t seen a #writephoto prompt for this week, so I hope that KL is okay, and perhaps the new baby has come. I thought I might turn these two words into a story prompt, but then something happened, and I thought I’d have a rant instead.
Just Jot It January is by Linda Hill (with help from her friends). You can jot something down for the prompt anywhere, any time, just post it on your blog before the end of the month (so it seems). You can read the full instructions here.
Curious – Jan 7th
This is linked back to Dan’s blog post for the day.
Instant thoughts on ‘curious’…
I am curious about why my car is so hard to drive. It’s the same type that I’ve had for over ten years, but they are always upgrading models. When I first got it, I thought it rode heavy on the road. There didn’t seem to be much in the way of shock absorbers/suspension. That also means it’s relatively noisy inside — I’m not sure whether my guinea pigs like being on the back seat. In fact these days, if I’m only taking one to the vet, I put the carrier on the front seat. That does mean that if the sun’s shining they might get hot, because the back is protected by tinted windows.
But why are all the knobs and levers so hard to move? Even the sunvisor that you pull down to shade your eyes really needs two hands to move it comfortably. The driver’s door has always been too heavy for me to push out in one go. When I said this at the dealership, they said it’s just made that way. As is the boot (trunk). And as for the gear lever (it’s automatic, but you know what I mean.)
There are good things about it. I got this model because it had all the tech bits of the previous car, plus a few extra, like automatic lights, and blind spot mirrors. Those are brilliant for helping you get into fast-moving traffic off a feeder lane. Especially for people with stiff necks. I wouldn’t be without them now.
But there we have it. Now.
I got the car about six weeks before my health problems started. Would all these problems (except suspension) be easier if I hadn’t messed up my wrists? I just haven’t got the strength of the sort of person who buys the sports model with all the tech.
Well, I’ve only got about 21 months before I swap it for something else.
Gratitude – Jan 8th
On the other hand, I am very grateful for all the help I get with this car, especially from the craft fair staff. They unload all my boxes of books and banners and put it back at the end of the day. I wouldn’t be going out much at all if it weren’t for them.
And that is an issue with the car too. It’s so clever, with all its tech being used the entire time keeping it locked but ready for me to open at the touch of my hand. So for the second time I’ve managed to run down the little 12v battery that runs everything when the engine isn’t on.
Apparently I have to take it for a drive more often. Leaving it for ten days is asking for trouble. Or I could start it up and leave it running on my driveway for half an hour.
I know this because I am very grateful for the AA vehicle rescue people who have come out to jumpstart it and get it going twice recently: 11 Nov, on the way to a craft fair, and last Friday when I wanted to take it out to keep the battery charged…. Too late, as it turns out. Frankly, between Christmas and Friday nobody in their right mind would go out unless absolutely necessary. When it wasn’t lashing down with rain, it was blowing a Force 8 gale.
So I would like to show my gratitude to the AA rescue drivers, and to my service engineer who chatted it over with me while I was waiting on Friday. I’ll just try not to do it again.
Another good reason to go out and walk somewhere pretty when the weather’s reasonable.
This is linked back to Sadje’s blog post for the day. She gave us the prompt ‘gratitude’. Seems appropriate to my woes that her blog is called ‘life after 50 for women.’ Just wait till you’re 70!
Good takes on both words linked by your car!
Tech is a frenemy 🙂 Though honestly, no car needs to be that hard to operate. The stiff suspension I guess is for better performance at speed, but the rest? No excuse. Those safety features, BTW, have become very common over here, so maybe next time you can pick the car for comfort and quiet and ease of operation and rest assured you’ll have blind spot warnings and a back-up camera. I don’t know how long it takes for that kind of thing to become universal over there, as opposed to over here. (Heck, my kids haven’t even learned to drive a stick, and it really doesn’t matter, unless or until they want to rent overseas, anyway. By the time they can buy their own cars they’ll be electric).
They do say my Prius shouldn’t be parked more than 2 weeks without being run. Good thing I have a live-in offspring to drive it while I’m traveling!
I’ve never had this problem in 22 years of Priuses and Yarises. In fact it’s the first time I’ve called the AA out this century! I think it’s too clever for its own good. But yes, I think these will be standard on a ‘normal’ model next time. And maybe it’ll be worth getting a plug in, if I can afford it!
I think you did a great job with both posts Jemima, do glad you are joining in …
I hope K.L. is doing well 💜💜💜