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My automotively adventurous(?) weekend

So last Thursday, my brakes went *poof* on me, while I was on the 101. I pressed the brake pedal to the floor, but no response. Yay? Thank Hyundai for hand brakes! Using what I’m guessing was only ever supposed to be used as a parking brake, I made it off the freeway, up the hill to Universal, and into a parking space in the Jurassic garage. (There was no way I was going to let a little brake failure keep me from Harry Potter preview night!)

After my totally awesome evening at Wizarding World in Universal Park, I got back to my car and found the brakes were working again, so…

Technically the Weasley car, but, could've been my car on the 101 last Thursday.
Technically the Weasley car, but, could’ve been my car on the 101 last Thursday.

So last Thursday, my brakes went *poof* on me, while I was on the 101. I pressed the brake pedal to the floor, but no response. Yay? Thank Hyundai for hand brakes! Using what I’m guessing was only ever supposed to be used as a parking brake, I made it off the freeway, up the hill to Universal, and into a parking space in the Jurassic garage. (There was no way I was going to let a little brake failure keep me from Harry Potter preview night!)

Me, in line for the Castle Ride at Wizarding World
Me, in line for the Castle Ride at Wizarding World

After my totally awesome evening at Wizarding World in Universal Park, I got back to my car and found the brakes were working again, so I drove to my mechanic in Hollywood (with my hand on the hand-brake the whole time) and left my poor broken car while I took a $40 taxi ride home.

Friday, Miss Emily kindly drove me through the rain back to Hollywood. I hung around until they finished working on it, playing with their adorable garage kitty, Tiger Tail, then left for home at 6pm, into the heart of rush hour. It wasn’t long before I noticed that the car SQUEALED IN PAIN every time I stepped on the gas, and that the temperature gauge was spiking every time the car was in motion. ALL VERY WRONG. So I took the car back on Saturday.

Tiger Tail was a big fan of my yarn. I even got a leg-full of claws at one point. (Totally my own fault, of course.)
Tiger Tail was a big fan of my yarn. I even got a leg-full of claws at one point. (Totally my own fault, of course.)

An hour later they told me it was the water pump, which would take five hours, which meant they couldn’t work on it until Monday. Oh yay, a weekend with no car.

Miss Jane came from Glendale to pick me up and drop me in West L.A., after which she returned home. Seriously, she should be nominated for sainthood!

And then I had no car for the rest of Saturday.

Or Sunday.

Monday morning, Miss Ahree picked me up to drive me to work, where I stayed until 3:45, when Miss Molly drove me to Hollywood on her way home. (Saints, all of them!) I’d called the garage earlier to check on the car, and they said it should be ready by 6pm.

Should.

It wasn’t.

After replacing the water pump, the temp gauge was still spiking and they didn’t know why. ARGH! I was starting to run out of people to call for rides, so I got myself a shiny rental instead. It’s a shiny blue 2015 Hyundai Accent, and it’s adorable, although I can’t see the hood, like, at all, which is less good. And the brakes are either on or off, no in-between, so I’ve been throwing myself against my seat belt a lot. But, CAR! YAY CAR!

My shiny blue rental. She's so purty!
My shiny blue rental. She’s so purty!

So of course this morning the garage called to say it was all fixed–the thermometer they’d replaced on Friday had been defective. Well, tough cookies, garage, I got this rental for two days and I’m going to drive her for two days, so there! Also I’m swamped, and the only reason I took time out to write this post was to test the excerpt field and the featured image, and to see if they appear in the subscribed email. 😀

Anyway, that was my Adventures in Car-Owning for this week. Hopefully for the year, too.

ETA: Well phooey, this theme doesn’t have a featured image option. DAMMIT.

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