So, Here We Go Again
Saturday night, around 9:30 pm, I decided to take a drive into Manhattan to see if any cool window displays had gone up. I should have realized from the start that the trip was ill-fated when it began with 25 minutes of bumper to bumper traffic for two miles on the L.I.E. that my phone didn't warn me about that turned out to be caused by a three-car crash. I was trapped because that was the length between two exits. Maybe I should have gone home then. But no, I kept going.
Drove to Bloomingdale's, Bergdorf Goodman, and Saks Fifth Avenue with no window display joy resulting and thus no stopping. Drove back over the Queensboro Bridge, then took some regular streets. As I waited at a red light on an uphill my car made a sputtering sound, all the warning lights on my dashboard came on, and then my car lost power completely. I freaked out, tried shifting gears as if that would fix a power issue, nothing, couldn't get my key out of the ignition, kept my feet on the brakes so I wouldn't roll backward down the hill, put my emergency flasher lights on, pulled my parking brake lever up, called GEICO to start a case and get a tow truck. While waiting on hold, which is what GEICO does these days, I realized that I couldn't get my keys out of the ignition because my shift was set on Drive, so I shifted it to Park and was able to turn my keys and get them out. Waited for a human being at GEICO. Kept waiting. Cars getting pissed off behind me because there was steady traffic and I was stuck in a lane. Still waiting for GEICO. I was six miles from home.
It could have happened at a worse time, like when I was stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on the highway in an area where there's not even a shoulder someone could push the car to.
While I continued still waiting to start a GEICO claim, a man jogged up to my passenger side and I opened the door to talk to him, the two of us maskless but socially distanced. He said he could push my car to the curb to get me out of the way as I waited for help. I was still a little messed up by the circumstances, so I talked aloud to myself that I had to turn the keys in the ignition into On to shift into Neutral so he could push. I put my feet on the brake, pulled the parking brake lever down, put the keys in the ignition, turned them... and my car started like normal. It was back. The guy and I were very "!!!!!!!" about it, and I thanked him for the offer of help and told him I'd see if my car could stay on long enough to get me closer to home (or my mechanic's shop/gas station). I ended my call to GEICO without having gotten a person to talk to.
I took the LIE and made it off my home exit, waited nervously at the red light off the exit, but the car stayed on. Figured I could leave my car at the shop over the weekend so they could get to it Monday morning and drove there, but when I parked and tried to talk to the night attendant he had no idea what I was talking about, I think he was ESL, and there was so much noise from something going on at Woodhaven Boulevard that he probably couldn't hear me well anyway. I told him I'd bring it back Monday.
There were like five cop cars, a few ambulances, and a fire truck. Maybe it had something to do with a nearby apartment building? The cops had completely blocked off a big section of Woodhaven, which is a major transit artery of the area. Cops were leading a small group of people somewhere. On the sidewalk near the gas station two cops were trying to help and calm down a very visibly upset elderly man who was kneeling on the concrete. They got him standing up and walking, and I heard him cry out "Oh, God!" as he put his arms up in the air.
I still have no idea what all that was about.
To my happiness and somewhat surprise, my car started again and drove me home without issue. I didn't drive anywhere Sunday and drove it to the shop Monday morning. They looked into it Monday and Tuesday and. Found. Nothing. They didn't see a problem and couldn't recreate the power loss, and the battery is fine. Don't know why the car lost power or why it came back. I wonder if the power loss happened because the car was driving for an hour straight but the mechanics aren't going to try to recreate that. So whatever happened isn't obvious or common, which would explain how my car passed inspection three weeks ago. (Civic: "Obvious? Common? I would never.") I drove her to do some errands, stopped at two different places, then went home, and she started up and drove the whole time.
So she's haunted or cursed, right? And all I can do is keep driving her until she can't drive no more.
And what was going on that Saturday night?
+++
I thought the editing and music on this were well done.
Obi-Wan has PTSD
You can comment here or at the Dreamwidth crosspost.
comments at Dreamwidth.
Drove to Bloomingdale's, Bergdorf Goodman, and Saks Fifth Avenue with no window display joy resulting and thus no stopping. Drove back over the Queensboro Bridge, then took some regular streets. As I waited at a red light on an uphill my car made a sputtering sound, all the warning lights on my dashboard came on, and then my car lost power completely. I freaked out, tried shifting gears as if that would fix a power issue, nothing, couldn't get my key out of the ignition, kept my feet on the brakes so I wouldn't roll backward down the hill, put my emergency flasher lights on, pulled my parking brake lever up, called GEICO to start a case and get a tow truck. While waiting on hold, which is what GEICO does these days, I realized that I couldn't get my keys out of the ignition because my shift was set on Drive, so I shifted it to Park and was able to turn my keys and get them out. Waited for a human being at GEICO. Kept waiting. Cars getting pissed off behind me because there was steady traffic and I was stuck in a lane. Still waiting for GEICO. I was six miles from home.
It could have happened at a worse time, like when I was stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on the highway in an area where there's not even a shoulder someone could push the car to.
While I continued still waiting to start a GEICO claim, a man jogged up to my passenger side and I opened the door to talk to him, the two of us maskless but socially distanced. He said he could push my car to the curb to get me out of the way as I waited for help. I was still a little messed up by the circumstances, so I talked aloud to myself that I had to turn the keys in the ignition into On to shift into Neutral so he could push. I put my feet on the brake, pulled the parking brake lever down, put the keys in the ignition, turned them... and my car started like normal. It was back. The guy and I were very "!!!!!!!" about it, and I thanked him for the offer of help and told him I'd see if my car could stay on long enough to get me closer to home (or my mechanic's shop/gas station). I ended my call to GEICO without having gotten a person to talk to.
I took the LIE and made it off my home exit, waited nervously at the red light off the exit, but the car stayed on. Figured I could leave my car at the shop over the weekend so they could get to it Monday morning and drove there, but when I parked and tried to talk to the night attendant he had no idea what I was talking about, I think he was ESL, and there was so much noise from something going on at Woodhaven Boulevard that he probably couldn't hear me well anyway. I told him I'd bring it back Monday.
There were like five cop cars, a few ambulances, and a fire truck. Maybe it had something to do with a nearby apartment building? The cops had completely blocked off a big section of Woodhaven, which is a major transit artery of the area. Cops were leading a small group of people somewhere. On the sidewalk near the gas station two cops were trying to help and calm down a very visibly upset elderly man who was kneeling on the concrete. They got him standing up and walking, and I heard him cry out "Oh, God!" as he put his arms up in the air.
I still have no idea what all that was about.
To my happiness and somewhat surprise, my car started again and drove me home without issue. I didn't drive anywhere Sunday and drove it to the shop Monday morning. They looked into it Monday and Tuesday and. Found. Nothing. They didn't see a problem and couldn't recreate the power loss, and the battery is fine. Don't know why the car lost power or why it came back. I wonder if the power loss happened because the car was driving for an hour straight but the mechanics aren't going to try to recreate that. So whatever happened isn't obvious or common, which would explain how my car passed inspection three weeks ago. (Civic: "Obvious? Common? I would never.") I drove her to do some errands, stopped at two different places, then went home, and she started up and drove the whole time.
So she's haunted or cursed, right? And all I can do is keep driving her until she can't drive no more.
And what was going on that Saturday night?
+++
I thought the editing and music on this were well done.
Obi-Wan has PTSD
You can comment here or at the Dreamwidth crosspost.
Click to viewcomments at Dreamwidth.