Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Tell me I'm not stupid

The conversation after the incident:

Me:"Tell me I'm not stupid".
Hubby:"...hesitating... you are not stupid" He obliged.

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Well, this afternoon I broke another car tire. I just broke one exactly three months ago. Same thing, I was driving a friend back to his office. The road was narrow in my standard so when a car coming towards me from the other direction, I moved slightly right and the tire hit the side barrier. I keep telling my friend that it should be ok but it was not. When we arrived at his office we heard the air leaking out from the tire. I simply hate these stone barriers. I was driving at 40km/h and this "kiss" on the barrier will cost me 350 euros, again. Remember in France you will need to change both tires even if you only damage one?


This was not the end of a bad day. My friend had a hard time changing the tire so we had to call the insurance company. Luckily he was there to handle everything. I left the car at his office parking lot and walked back to my office. The insurance sent someone to change the tire later.

In the evening I got the key from the friend and was preparing to drive home. When I put on the key, the engine won't start. The back tires symbol kept blinking on the car screen. I tried again and the car just won't start. I had no choice but to call the insurance company again. After several transfer my phone credit ran off and I still didn't know whether they will send someone over or not. Luckily hubby called at this point and took thing over. Since the battery light was on I thought the car was running out of battery. It was raining and dark, I didn't have courage to ask for help as everyone seemed so eager to go home. I finally spotted a man at the entrance so I went to ask him for help. He apologized and said he didn't have a car, plus if my car is running with diesel, recharging my battery will decharging other's battery.

1 hour 20 minutes later a mechanic arrived with his towing car. His first try to start the car failed. Miraculously, he succeeded at the second try. And you know what was the problem? ---- The car was parked on first gear, that was why it was not starting.

I felt so stupid.

But you know what? Why would people park on the first gear anyway on a flat parking lot? Beside the car responded so differently, in Malaysia it would have moved forward at first gear, but this one just act like the battery is dead. Man, this is definitely killing my festive mood.

4 comments:

  1. I didn't know that park a car in first gear prevent them to start (car nowaday a to complicated).
    When changing a tire you must be absolutely sure that the car wont move

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  2. Well, I once forgot that I wasn't on first gear and started the car on 2nd gear on a slope when the traffic light turned green. Of course the car won't start and I started to panic. After the 3rd try, the car finally started and it was when I was about to change to 2nd gear that I realised that I was already on it. :p

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  3. I thought the car would jerk forward if you start it on the first gear? It's very common too in Germany to find cars park in first gear although the surface is flat, a practice which I found it strange in the first place.

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  4. Ladybird,

    I felt weird too the our car responded this way. When you are on first gear nothing will happen.

    Well, one group of people would say it is safer to put car on first gear, the other group would say that it will break the car if the car got hit.

    ReplyDelete