Ever since we moved to our district, I always joked that little old white-haired lady drivers were the biggest threat to my existence. Unfortunately, I just discovered that this is not necessarily the case. We had recently returned home in my wife’s car when she complained about an engine noise. I left the car running, got out and flipped the hood open. Then I instructed her to get in and press the accelerator pedal whilst I take a look. She obliged. There are no prizes for guessing what happened next…..
Before I could shout, “holy smoke”, I felt a whack in the knees and was landing flat on my back in the driveway – ouch! Apparently, it was my fault (nothing unusual about that) because I had left the car in “drive” position and only applied the handbrake. My excuse is that I was really tired and obviously not concentrating. I’m pretty sure I won’t do that again (next time I will try something different!)
My wife and I are a perfect driving team. I remember the incident a few years ago when I drove into a service station to fill up with gas. I was really tired on this occasion too, having had a late night and driving several hundred kilometers. The car behind us was being really impatient, so against my better judgment, I quickly completed the fill-up and instructed my wife to pull forward, whilst I go to pay. Unfortunately, as she drove off, I realized there was one thing I had forgotten – to remove the nozzle from the gas tank. Too late – there was a snap and suddenly I was standing in an ever-increasing pool of gas. Not a good start to the day! The nozzle remained in my gas tank ever after as a rattling reminder not to do that again!
The moral of all this seems to be that a car is most dangerous when it’s standing still on the tarmac and you are not the one in the driver’s seat!