The Car; As We Say Goodbye

What to say about the car. It has treated Allie and I very well. From day one it has gotten us to where we had to go and we were very fortunate and spoiled to have the perk of not having to ride the bus, figure out how to get to Ikea when everyone else was going, and working on trying to drive the TASIS vans. Granted at the beginning the driving experience for me was slim to none, considering I did not now how to drive a manual car. That was an exciting and nerve racking experience.

It was about one week before school started. Allie and I were chatting about school, the week and the weekends schedule leading up to the start and we realized that there was absolutely no time for her to teach me how to drive except for the ride every morning and afternoon to and from school. Starting the following Monday I was going to have to drop Allie off at work and continue up the hill to Hadsall to my classroom. It was necessary for me to learn. One morning I decided to give it a try. I backed out of the spot successfully, didn't stall, jerked a little but nothing to bad. I was feeling really confident. When I reached the intersection. I pulled out, or tried to and stalled. Try number two, stalled again, a little farther into Collina d'Oro. Third try, stalled again. About a third of the way in the middle of the intersection. I convinced myself the fourth try would be the charm. Not so much. I had successfully stopped traffic up and down Collina d'Oro as now I was perfectly perpendicular to the road at a dead stop. After laughing uncontrollably, Allie and I had a little Chinese Firedrill, where she ran around the car and I jumped over the center counsel and she drove us the rest of the way up the mountain to our Singapore Math Training. A whole other story.

Needless to say, as the week went on, I did get much better at driving and was only stalling a couple of times a day. A huge improvement from my first attempt. I was feeling so confident I decided to drive down to Lugano to purchase a cell phone. Lizzie, Shannon and Pete decided to join me. I believe they really wanted to see if I was going to be able to do it and Pete only heard the word Gelato and was in. Everything was smooth until we tried to come home. I had my ticket to exit the parking lot, pulled up to the machine, inserted my ticket and the gate went up. I pressed the gas and the clutch and stalled, about three times. Meanwhile, Pete in the back seat is yelling at me to go because the gate is about to close on us. Then the machine starts repeating, "Gate about to close, gate about to close". Lizzie is in the back laughing hysterically when I finally peal out of the lot and the men on their motorcycles turn to watch me go. It was quite a sight. Anyhow, enough about my driving skills. I have to say I have become quite good. At least most of the time. But back to the car.

Like I mentioned earlier, it's a good car. Supposedly it takes the corners well. Well, it has also been abused. From me learning how to drive, Allie putting gas in a diesal engine, someone hitting us, and me backing into a wall, we have kept things interesting. The first time we ran out of gas, Allie had the car and she was with a bunch of high school and elementary school teachers heading to a bar. On their way, they stopped to get "gas". The next day Allie, Shannon and Carla drove to Lucarno for a day of walking and exploring. They didn't make it all that far because after their first stop and lunch, the car didn't start. So they called me. I was in Bellinzona with Brody and Tim and we were eating a leisurily lunch when we recieved the phone call. All three of us were lost as to what they should do, so they called every person they had programmed in their phones until they finally found Anna to connect them to the Swiss version of AAA. The car was taken care of and diesel was put in the tank. However, since that event it hasn't smelled right. Everyone can blame it on my driving but I'm sticking by my opinion that something bad has happened to that engine.

This could be the reason why we have one seat heater on the passanger side of the car. It is rather comical as new people ride along with one of us. About two minutes into the drive they comment at how warm their seat has gotten. At first we all tried to find the dial to turn it down. Now we realize that, it's not normal and the driver side doesn't have such a perk. As it's getting cold, we're not complaining. We rather enjoy the warmth and coziness of taking a ride. I especially enjoyed it after our hike to Camoghe, it was rather toasty.

Now it gets interesting. Yeah I know, you thought diesal was the worst of it. One evening, Allie mentioned to me that there was a dent in the back end of the car. It looked like someone had hit us. Neither of us had knowledge as to what had happened or when it happened because until now we hadn't noticed. That same evening, as Allie was getting out of the car, the entire side rail on the passanger seat came out with her, clanging to the ground. We pushed that back into place and laughed about how we needed to document the mishaps and adventures we have had.

Unfortunately, it doesn't stop there. I think Allie cursed us or at least me. After a shopping trip to Grancha I agreed to drive Shannon home with her grocerys. If you have seen her parking lot you already know why this is a mistake. As I was backing out of the lot in front of her building, I swear first gear didn't catch or something because I was flooring it when I rolled backwards into the wall scrapping the bumper just a little more. Now it is really obvious that there was some sort of accident. As Shannon says, that's alright, at least it is all in the same place. Who needs a tail light and paint anyway. So, luckily we are turning this thing in on Monday. It has treated us well but it is going to cost us our salary if we keep it any longer. Next thing we know it will start smoking, so before that happens we will have to say goodbye.