Robyn washed my car!
My car (known as 'The Pimple') is now nearly 12 years old and has never been washed. Usually, when it rains I wipe the dirt off with an old cloth and it looks as good as new.
Of course, I'm too ill to do that now - it's been over a year.
At the beginning of last year I did a Blog about the ecosystem growing on my car, possibly in the hope that someone (like UNESCO or WWF) might take an interest.
http://helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/my-site-of-special-scientific-interest.html?m=0
Since then, the organic material that covers my car has given it what some might describe as a rich patina, the kind of surface that would take centuries to build up in the rainforest or the Russian Steppes.
Sadly, no one ever did take an interest in preserving this unique ecosystem and now the rare mosses and lichens that once called my car home are lost forever.
I asked Robyn to do a guest Blog for me - I was just too distraught.
I Washed The Car! The Ordeal.
Since I’ve known Neil he has never washed his car A.K.A.
The Pimple. Sometimes when we were out and it was raining he would wipe the car
off with rags – which I found very embarrassing. You may have seen in an old
blog post that Neil had moss and lichen growing on the car that he was very
proud of. He’s also very proud of the
various species of spiders that reside in and on the car. I saw them on our
first date, I told Neil “There’s a spider in your car” and he responded, “Its
fine! It will eat the flies.” I told him when I was taking driving lessons that
the first thing I was going to do once I passed the test was take the car to a
car wash.
Well, I passed my test almost a month ago and I hadn’t
done it. I’m still a bit scared of driving his car. My driving instructor’s car
was so easy and lovely to drive, I could drive it the way she was teaching me.
But The Pimple is temperamental, if I change down a gear it pretty much stops,
and it wants to be changed up way too early so the car makes a lot of noise
when I’m driving it, which I don’t like.
Anyway, I hated being out (I try to drive twice a week) with
the car so dirty so this morning I said “Why don’t I take the car for a wash?”
and surprisingly Neil was alright with it. I’ve been thinking about this for a
while. Shirley the neighbor had her car washed last month for her vacation, it
cost £30! I knew that would never do. I also knew that as dirty as it was if I
took it to one of those £5 hand car washes they would charge extra. So I opted
for the self-wash stall at the gas station of our Tesco.
So I drove to the Tesco gas station and pulled in to one
of the two stalls; the other was in use. I looked to see how much it was and
what type of payment it took and of course it only took change. Neil used to
keep a stash of change in the car for parking on our outings but he had taken
it into the house so I had to drive out of the gas station and go to the Tesco.
Fortunately I had something to pick up so I took £10 out of the ATM and
purchased the item with the cash so I’d have change. Unfortunately I was given
a £5 note change, so I drove back to the gas station and pulled into the car
wash stall, then I walked around to the gas station and asked the attendant for
change for the car wash.
I returned to the car wash stall and got out to take
pictures of The Pimple before the wash, then I got myself ready. I inserted a
coin and nothing happened; the coin just dropped out. I tried other coins since
we’ve recently updated our coins, but the machine would not accept old or new
coins. Luckily the man in the other stall pulled out so I drove around again
(third time is the charm); driving out of the gas station, around a mini
roundabout back to the entrance of the gas station praying the whole time that
no one would pull into the other stall before I returned.
Someone was there, but he just got out and threw a trash
bag into the trash can and drove off. Thank God! So I got out and put the
change into the machine and started washing. I didn’t do it in the order on the
screen because the car was so dirty. I rinsed, washed (hot water with a brush),
rinsed again so I could see what was left and then washed again.
During all this washing a man pulled into the other stall
(the one I’d been in that didn’t work). When he got out of his car I told him
that I couldn’t get the machine to work but he said “I’ll give it a try anyway”
(men!). A few moments later he got back into his car and pulled out of the
stall and a few minutes after that he pulled behind me. I still had 6 of the 22
minutes I’d purchased and I wasn’t going to cut my wash short.
In the end the waiting car left me flustered, and I also
thought I’ll be nice and leave him a minute. So after another rinse, wax and
final rinse I drove away (leaving him a minute of my time). Then I pulled into
the Tesco parking lot to take a few pictures because there isn’t really enough
room to do it in our driveway. I have to say I’m very pleased with myself and
The Pimple doesn’t look so bad when she’s had a wash.
I did promise Neil that I wouldn’t kill the moss and
lichen growing on the car. It wasn’t till I was washing it that I realized just
how much there was on the car. I know I left it on the rear passenger side
window and on a knob on the back, but other than those two places I think it’s
all gone.
The Pimple is a lot cleaner than she was at least on the
outside but she’s not spotless. Maybe if I make this a regular thing I can get
her looking great. Maybe next time I’ll take her to get an inside clean to get
rid of all the spiders. But I’m not doing that myself!
Robyn G. May
Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com
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