Cars

We are not car people. Although, sometimes I kind of wish we were. We don't know about cars. We don't know how to fix cars. We barely know what side the gas tank is on. To us a car is 4 wheels and a motor that had darned well better be dependable or it will be replaced. People who are car people drive Land Rover and Jag-U-ar. They know about cars.

Since we know nothing, and are comfortable with our ignorance, we are a Honda family. Hondas get excellent gas mileage, are extremely dependable, are relatively inexpensive, are not made in the US, and last for 10 years or more. (We keep our cars until they can't go one more mile and then we drive them to the dealer and trade them in!)

Mr. Bug drives the Civic - it gets 45 miles to the gallon - Ok, we know gas mileage... Anyway, one of those red warning lights came on over the weekend. We got out the manual and looked it up. It seems the battery wasn't charging. We thought the battery - now 5 years and 70k miles old - might need to be replaced. Nope. Battery was fine. Alternator - whatever that is/does - was shot.

Mr. Bug and I swapped cars and brought the injured party in to be hospitalized. We had to leave it overnight. Fortunately, when you spend the many hundreds of dollars required for an alternator, you get a free loaner.

I was thrilled to have a loaner. It's a Civic. It isn't as nice as the Civic we have, but it has 4 wheels and a motor. The children were appalled to have to crank their windows down and push the button to lock their doors. (Oh if they only knew..)

We discussed the privilege of having a car. They were informed that their first cars would probably end up looking very similar to this one. I told them it had everything they could possibly need: Air conditioning and a radio. What more can a kid ask for? They were humbled. They looked at this poor loaner with a little more respect. They saw their futures. Heck - my first car was a 73 Superbeetle (semi-automatic no less) with no heat and no A/C.

I am returning the loaner this morning. I am looking forward to getting our old, but comfortable car back. I like the bells and whistles. I like the radio stations programmed in a certain way. I like the ability to lock the entire car from the door handle. I like the moon roof... If only my CRV had a moon roof...

I am definitely ready to get our car back. Their radio really is pretty crappy.