Monday, August 26, 2013

"Twinkie & the Beast"

Twinkie is the name of our SatNav lady person.....
                             The Beast is the black car lurking in our garage.

The don't prowl the empty streets at night.

The Beast is My Mans company car - it's a beautiful Beast for sure, it's only downfall (for us) is that it has gears. Yip, we are "Proudly Automatic" drivers, which clearly is not working in our favour right now since we were presented with 2 main problems:

(a)  How to get the car home from the city
(b) Most importantly, how to drive the Beast

My Man and a colleague concocted the plan that would solve (a). The colleague has an automatic car. My Man drove the auto behind his colleague who drove the manual car to our home.  This was not only helpful in that My Man didn't have to try and risk life and limb (his and others') trying to drive his car home, but he also got to see HOW to get home by following his colleague.

So, now the Beast is in the garage. Saturday morning we decided we needed to do shopping so we would "risk" (literally) popping into the next little village with the car.  Although we stalled twice in traffic circles that was nothing compared to the amount of navigating we had to DO to GET to the next little village. Between, yields, hills, parking and circles, we were both feeling like a piece of chewed string by the time we got home, and swore that we wouldn't do that again until we (he) felt more confident.  Frankly, I thought My Man was a Super Hero!

I have to give credit to him, he never once made me feel nervous (other than me thinking we were about to drive on the pavement, which had nothing to do with him and everything to do with me), and yet when we got home, I thought it very wise of him to "man-up" and say... "Practice would be good - that was not fun.

We were meant to go and braai with people the next evening, but I just put my pride in my pocket, phoned them and basically told them that there is NO WAY we can drive 40 minutes through the city to come to them. It's got nothing to do with wrong side of road or not knowing the way - but EVERYTHING to do with "how do I drive this car while trying to find my way".  I have to trust that they understand and will not think we are ridiculous children - frankly, if they don't understand....  that's sad.  Enough stress is enough for one weekend.

My Mans company had offered him 5 Lessons to help him get accustomed to the car, the roads and the road signage, so next week Twinkie and Beast will go for Training. 

In the end they will know....My Man IS the boss of them.






8 comments:

  1. Love the pic and the sticker!
    Glad the Don is going for lessons - it will make all the difference

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! Me too - it is the answer for now for sure! x

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  2. It won't be too soon before you are 'proudly stick shift drivers!'

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    1. Actually, you're making me a bit nervous about how we will cope in Italy in November. My brother is the driver. Mike the navigator (no Twinkie) and I'm in the back yelling 'stay right! stay right!' That's the deal. :-?

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    2. If you are driving a car that you CAN drive. You will be fine! You will yell either "Stay right" or "You're going on the pavement!" :), but you will adjust to that quickly. Maybe you can borrow a GPS to take with you, because Twinkie is actually a life saver.... but not indispensable. Like I said though, if you are comfortable driving the car you are in, everything else will soon feel normal. :) Have fun on your trip!

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  3. You made me laugh so hard. I thought that this "automatic" thing was a new thing. I always resisted getting an automatic car...because I am a control freak and I want to be in control of the gears (ridiculous I know) Then my man sold my car (without even telling me) and upgraded me to an automatic. Ek was dikbek...but now I am loving it.

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  4. Lynette! Glad you enjoyed the post!

    Must say I miss driving, I have not been able to drive since we moved here. Feels like forever - I do miss my Auto! I am sure, that like you, My Man will soon get used to it and loving it too.

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  5. Its like having to learn to drive all over again!! How is it going??

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