con't from Learning ...
But, then the really stupid news? The day the insurance company declares my car totaled, is the day I must return the rental. Are they kidding me??? Is a new car going to magically appear? Especially during this historic period in time (world stoppage) where a new car has to be ordered months in advance and because of that, no one is giving up the car they have. Seriously??? Turn in the rental? I am a one-car family. What kind of nonsense will insurance companies think of next? And, what in the heck am I going to do?
* * *
But I digress ... again ...
Lady Luck is on my side and my local Toyota dealer has a slightly used end-of-lease Prius-C someone had turned in that very day. Comparable in mileage to my now-defunct slightly-higher-better-model, but, the car has no guts, no backup camera, no cruise control. It was just a no-no, no-go kinda car.
I keep in touch with the Product Specialist who handled my purchase of the Prius. Wonders of wonders, one day, months later, he tells me about an even-slightly newer one-up model Corolla, WITH almost everything my heart desires. I could live without the remote start I love having, especially in winter. Oh well, at least that's one thing I can have installed later, you know, like when I win the lottery.
Great car, decent price and decent trade-in on the Prius. Colour could have been different but then I wouldn’t blend in with my neighbours.
It does have quite a few bells and whistles the old one didn’t have, like dynamic cruise control, which is kind of neat. And then there's the early warning system. Quite cool and annoying at the same time. Also, pretty bossy. Apparently, when you colour outside the lines too many times, it tells you to...
TAKE A BREAK
Funny as hell but as I mentioned, annoying. The first time it comes on, I have to endure seeing it until I turn the car off. The second time I make the supreme effort to figure out how to get rid of it. Phew!!
* * *
How many ways are there to colour outside the lines, you ask? Let me count the ways ...
Picture this – a beautiful sunny, spring afternoon, someone has just mowed their lawn for the first time. The scent floats past your open window, tickling your nose, while you’re out driving along those curvy little streets.
Then you see all the people walking on the side of the road ' cause there's no sidewalks out in the country.'
Country folk usually have at
least one dog with them, most often, two or more and I wonder how much their food
and vet bills are.
Sometimes the dogs are
leashed, occasionally not, or on those really long leashes, which enable
4-leggeds to lunge at kamikaze squirrels, who watch disdainfully from the safe
zone, just outside the leashes’ reach. How those silly critters love
to play chicken with passing cars and neighbourhood guard dogs.
And what about those hands-free leashes, with the human's face stuck in their cell phone? Just gotta love those ones. The 4-legged may be getting their exercise but no attention. They could eat a dead elephant before their person may notice.
Then, there are the people on bikes, pedaling like mad, who make great play-things for all the dogs who hid in the shrubbery. When the time is exactly right, they race out of their hiding spots (so much fun!), barking with gusto, causing the cyclists to swerve all over the road using evasive maneuvers. Sometimes though, they fall ass-over-tea kettle in the process.
What really amazes me is the way they spring back to their feet in what seems like mere seconds, after they get their breath back. Reminds me of a jack-in-the-box. It must be all that healthy living!
And so, in order to circumvent mayhem, you must go over the lines to miss all the miscreants, which means sometimes you just have to colour outside the lines. On a fine, bright spring afternoon, that little ringadingdingie may sound frequently. And, I’m guessing when that happens one too many times, you just gotta take a break, whether you actually need one or not.
***
Sometimes I gotta wonder if my car is smarter than I am? I think we've all heard about the amazing autonomous vehicle (AV) (self-driving technology) which is in the works? Kinda scary, to me, anyway. What does this remind you of? I see a toaster. I wonder if I'll live long enough to see AVs as an every- day kinda thing, you know, like Corollas?
I start to wonder some more - it's now mid-2023, almost a quarter of the way into this 21st century. Can we actually buy a self-driving vehicle? Checking online I find lots of ads and decide to go to the biggest marketplace (in the world?) and sure enough find lots of ads for self-driving vehicles but so far have only seen books available for them but no actual cars. Curious.
This ad is
of particular interest to me as it cost almost as much as a used car. I wonder if the pages are gilded in
gold-leaf?
The 2021-2026 World Outlook for Self-Driving Cars by Prof Philip M. Parker Ph.D. | Feb 13, 2020 Paperback $995.00
90 days FREE Blamazon. Terms apply. Ships to Canada
Then I start thinking about how much this world has changed since I was a kid. Back then, my very young world was filled with playing hide n' seek with the five french kids next door, what was for supper and watching the last episode of Pollyanna on The Wonderful World of Disney on TV (no VCRs back then). I hide in the corner of the hall (I'd been sent to bed early because of some stunt I pulled that day). I can’t remember anymore what I did back then but it must have been serious to invoke the wrath of Mom!
P.S. I think my parents knew I was there, in the hallway ... trying to be invisible. So much innocence. I miss it - innocence. Is there any such thing, anymore?
Forest Gump said, “life is like a box of chocolates”,
to which I add my 2₵, “and learning how to colour outside the lines.”
