It Never Rains but it Pours

Not really sure where that saying comes from. It sounds like something Eeyore in Winnie-the-Pooh would say, glumly observing that the glass is always half empty. Oddly, this little idiom can be used both positively and negatively. It’s simply an observation that bad things (or good things) seem to happen all at once. It’s not like a summer drizzle, but an all-out flash flood.

I tend to use this little phrase negatively. This week has been a point in fact. It all started with Ed’s truck.

I’ll just say straight out that I don’t like cars. They seem to be so much more trouble than they are worth. I guess the truth is most of my cars run fine many more days than not, but when a not day comes around… And then you come to the point in time when you feel like you’re just throwing money at the thing like you have so much of it you burn it to keep warm. And for me, I miss the days in Minnesota when I just rode my bike go work – cheaper to buy, cheaper to upkeep and  burns calories instead of hard-earned cash.

Now, granted, Ed’s truck is fifteen years old. And he’s had it for nine or ten years. It has over 210,000 miles on it. And  besides the regular dents and scratches all vehicles maintain, a couple of other drivers have very kindly done some significant damage to it which had to be repaired. And like many older vehicles, it has some quirks – namely having to start it in neutral. It also doesn’t like the cheap, expensive gas at the pumps which gives it indigestion.

The latter issue is the one that has caused it to run awful the last few weeks until Ed threw up his hands and started taking my car to work since I don’t usually need it during the day. Then we took his truck to the shop just so they could let us know exactly how much more money we need to throw at it. They could only give us a ballpark, telling us what they could fix but then might reveal even more problems. We weighed the cost and decided to throw in the towel.

Next question is what to do with it. Do we try to get a little money out of it, being honest about its quirks? Or give it away? (Or pray someone just steals it and relieves us of the whole problem.) We went all the way across town the other evening (no mean feat in the city of Pittsburgh – it’s nearly an hour and a half round trip) to get it  - only to discover it won’t start at all. Somehow they failed to mention that in the diagnostic check we had to pay for. Disgusted, Ed left the keys in the ignition, texted his mechanic friend to tell him the problem and we went home. Good luck to the person who wants to steal it!

Obviously, we are still trying to work out this little dilemma. Meanwhile, the very next day, the check engine light comes on in my car on my way to work. Yes, I cried. Since it seems to run as usual, we haven’t gotten it into the shop yet (having only one vehicle is a workout in logistics). I’m just praying it is very minor. For having decided not to throw money away at one car, do we have to throw it away at this one?

So is life. Sometimes I just wonder if it might be easier without automobiles!