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Today was the second day that I drove my new old car - thanks, Deb! Towanda, my trusty 12-year-old Saturn station wagon refused to serve another day on Thursday morning, and I thankfully had a backup that's been living in my backyard like a wild animal.
The Toyota has some years on her. The ceiling is falling down, necessitating a reclined position for me to drive. The seatbelt has been sewn back together after losing a battle with an unattended dog. And the transmission has - well - sort of a mind of its own. Oh, and there's no power steering - a good reminder of how out-of-shape I am! The brakes work great, though - and really, that's what counts, right?
It's kind of exciting driving this car, in a white-knuckled kind of way. As I was careening up the hill to get myself home from work today, first gear kicking in and then failing, the car literally bucking beneath and all around me, I realized how like riding a horse this experience feels. There's this odd sense of taming a beast about it. You are not solely in control of what direction you go in, whether you go forward or backward, or at what speed, but you just do your best to be responsive to whatever it tells you it needs for you both to agree on an outcome. You adjust your movements - the pressure of your foot on one petal or another, the gear you choose, how you turn the wheel - until you're in sync. And sometimes it works.
It's kind of exciting driving this car, in a white-knuckled kind of way. As I was careening up the hill to get myself home from work today, first gear kicking in and then failing, the car literally bucking beneath and all around me, I realized how like riding a horse this experience feels. There's this odd sense of taming a beast about it. You are not solely in control of what direction you go in, whether you go forward or backward, or at what speed, but you just do your best to be responsive to whatever it tells you it needs for you both to agree on an outcome. You adjust your movements - the pressure of your foot on one petal or another, the gear you choose, how you turn the wheel - until you're in sync. And sometimes it works.
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