I’m very careful, I always pin my number on upside down if I get number 13, I always say cheers before I drink, I always touch-wood after I say something that might “jinks” me, I look out for black cats crossing the road ahead of me, and yet, for the last few days, everything has been going strangely “wrong”. After a great Thanksgiving lunch at Greg’s, with lots of great turkey and other traditional foods, Gaga and I jumped in the car and headed back down to Luray. 
As we got to about 5k from the house, the car started smoking and suddenly lost all power. We pulled off the road and smoke got thicker. We quickly got all our stuff out of the car and stepped back waiting for it to burst into flames. It never did thank god, and luckily there was someone nearby who offered to give us a lift home. The next day, with some helpful advice from some friend I rode my bike down to the car and actually got it started. It looks like it has a broken hose and that is all. Though for the moment it’s leaking coolant and getting through fluids like an overweight New-Yorker in Central Africa with no AC.
As if that wasn’t enough.
Having filled the car with coolant we went to Walmart to get some essential foods yesterday evening. As we were making our way gingerly home, polluting the wide Virginia roads with leaking coolant, I suddenly see flashing blue lights in the mirror. I pull over to let the guy past, put he pulls in behind me. Fair enough. Some cop doing some sort of routine check. I show him my driver’s license, and tell him I’m from overseas, and also show him my old VA driver’s license. He chooses to take the VA one. Fine, then asks for the Registration. I ask him what that might look like, we finally fine it and he says my tags are expired. I figured the car was frankly too old to still have a price tag, so “tag” must mean something else. He goes back to his car, and leave Gaga and I talking calmly talking about some of the food we had just bought, while gently leaking coolant all over the road. He eventually comes back with a fine and court date and fine for me. Still rather unsure of what he was actually talking about, and still leaking coolant, we carried on on our merry way back to the house for beer and dinner.
These things come in 3s?
That’s all very well. The hose can be fixed as soon as the garages reopen after the weekend and fine can be “pre-paid” (whatever that means) and I’ll be back home in France before you can even say Luray Police Department, but superstition says these things come in 3s… So… what next? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what the joys of international travel have in store for us next…
As we got to about 5k from the house, the car started smoking and suddenly lost all power. We pulled off the road and smoke got thicker. We quickly got all our stuff out of the car and stepped back waiting for it to burst into flames. It never did thank god, and luckily there was someone nearby who offered to give us a lift home. The next day, with some helpful advice from some friend I rode my bike down to the car and actually got it started. It looks like it has a broken hose and that is all. Though for the moment it’s leaking coolant and getting through fluids like an overweight New-Yorker in Central Africa with no AC.
As if that wasn’t enough.
Having filled the car with coolant we went to Walmart to get some essential foods yesterday evening. As we were making our way gingerly home, polluting the wide Virginia roads with leaking coolant, I suddenly see flashing blue lights in the mirror. I pull over to let the guy past, put he pulls in behind me. Fair enough. Some cop doing some sort of routine check. I show him my driver’s license, and tell him I’m from overseas, and also show him my old VA driver’s license. He chooses to take the VA one. Fine, then asks for the Registration. I ask him what that might look like, we finally fine it and he says my tags are expired. I figured the car was frankly too old to still have a price tag, so “tag” must mean something else. He goes back to his car, and leave Gaga and I talking calmly talking about some of the food we had just bought, while gently leaking coolant all over the road. He eventually comes back with a fine and court date and fine for me. Still rather unsure of what he was actually talking about, and still leaking coolant, we carried on on our merry way back to the house for beer and dinner.
These things come in 3s?That’s all very well. The hose can be fixed as soon as the garages reopen after the weekend and fine can be “pre-paid” (whatever that means) and I’ll be back home in France before you can even say Luray Police Department, but superstition says these things come in 3s… So… what next? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what the joys of international travel have in store for us next…
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