Velma's Spa Vacation

Velma is back, safe and sound, sort of, as safe and sound as an old broad can be. Velma is my car, and she’s showing her age more these last few years, just as I am.

I was never one to name a car, actually never looked at my car as anything more than just transportation. But last winter we formed a more personal relationship, as Velma decided she would take that time and opportunity to rebel.

Winter driving is bad enough but when you add in the possibility of being stranded, because your car won’t start, it takes on a whole other challenge. Turns out, after being stranded a couple of times, it wasn’t just the extremely cold weather that was causing the problem, it was the battery. So, new battery, good to go, except for the cold, and the ice, and the snow.

There was an ongoing issue with the windshield wipers, not something you want to have to deal with when it’s on again, or more often off, in snowy or rainy weather. My son had done his thing a couple of times to fix it and given that I’m not as apt to go out in bad weather, it was okay for awhile.

Last week I was out in the rain and the wipers died. But it was a slow death. When the wipers quit I turned them off (as I’d been told last winter so as to not blow the motor) but they kept moving, inch by inch, but never completing a clean sweep of the windshield. It was time to have the problem looked at.

Velma had her spa vacation and is now home, all checked out, with an oil change and...new wipers and a wiper motor. When I picked her up yesterday the skies were grey and there was a spitting rain. I never turned the wipers on, not sure why, maybe because I didn’t want to test fate.

My friend drove me to pick Velma up and I noticed how neat and clean her nameless vehicle was. They are a pair of old broads too, having spent a number of years together. Their relationship is much like mine and Velma’s, but I have to admit she treats her car better.

It’s too bad the cold weather is imminent, but I might have time to give Velma her belated spring cleaning before winter. It pays to be on good terms, I don’t want to find myself stuck on the road somewhere freezing my butt off. I can’t trust that there isn’t some personal quid pro quo going on here, so better safe than sorry.