Back in the saddle

I'm back in the Cougar. Thangod.

The transaction to get my car back was much easier than the one to drop it off. First off, when I returned the rental car, the guy who checked me out only charged me for a couple of extra hours instead of an entire extra day, so that was nice - saved me some pennies there. Then he drove me over to the garage and actually knew where it was, so that was good.

The final charge at the garage, plus the rental charge was less than four figures, so I'm happy about that. The service manager at the garage almost threw a monkey wrench into what was a nicely flowing transaction, though. I guess he was the only one left at the garage, so he wanted to chat. He asked what I do for a living, then wanted to talk about politics and taxes and consultants. I was flattered he found me an interesting person to converse with, but what I wanted to say was, "I'm tired, traffic is building, and quite frankly, I've been driving a white Ford Focus for four days. If I don't get behind the wheel of something with at least 6 cylinders and a clutch in the next two minutes, something in my DNA is going to shift."

But you know me - I was polite and chatted it up for a few minutes. Then I got to my car and drove like a bat out of hell all the way home with a CD cranked, feeling like my training wheels had been taken off. I do love to drive. Clutch, first, accelerate, ease off with your left foot, feel the thing catch, hear the engine growl, SHIFT! with a flick of the wrist - that's all, don't grab it like you're going to rip it off - just push it with your fingertips into second gear, because it wants to go there anyway. Do it all again, SHIFT! Turn up the music. SHIFT! Then finally, hit fifth gear, and go, baby, go. When it's time to slow down, just drop it into neutral and ease it down with the brake. That's all - let it glide to an idling stop.

I had toyed with the idea of buying an automatic next time. Sometimes you need to toss the keys to someone else, and not everyone can drive a stick. But I don't know if I can do it. Not everyone can cook either, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't.