The car and other misfortunes...........

So where was I with the car............I can't keep up.

It was picked up from Emmanuel's car park and a starter thingy had corroded.    Then it came back to me all repaired, but a computer under the floorboard had corroded in sympathy with the starter, so back it went for another new part.    After that little onslaught on my credit card I hoped all was now well.......but it was not to be.

After Terry had brought the car back my neighbours across the road informed me the rear lights were left on.  I looked, but the light switch was definitely in the 'off' position.  In the strong sunlight I concluded they were imagining it.   But after dark I went out, and there, brilliantly illuminated, were what I thought were my rear lights (but in actual fact were the brake lights).   SIGH..

At that point the battery hadn't drained, so I typed out a message and drove out to Terry's place (a trifle nervously because he is at the end of a very dark road on the edge of town)  and sellotaped it  to his door for him to find in the morning.  I couldn't face telling him, either personally or ringing him up.

This was Thursday morning, and I had been looking forward to the Kiwani's speaker we were having, and decided I wasn't going to miss it.

 I'd told Terry where I'd hidden the keys if I wasn't at home, and made sure he had my cell phone number, and Louise picked me up for Kiwanis.   Terry came out as soon as he got to his place and found the message, took the car back, put in another new part, Louise took me there after the meeting, the car was waiting for me, all done and dusted, the battery charged, and I was back home at 10.30.

The problem had been something else corroding between the brake pedal and the lights.   Terry replaced it and didn't even charge for the part because of all the 'aggravation' I'd suffered.   So that was very kind.

This morning.....Friday......I haven't even been out to try it yet.   It's a bit early, I need a few more cups of tea.

The Kiwani's speaker yesterday was one of our members, an Iranian who came to the US in 1965 with his cousin.  They went first to Chicago, but because he loves cowboys and Indians and John Wayne, they made their way down to Oklahoma.

The subject of his talk - which was very interesting - was the meanings of Native American names, twenty seven states have Native American names.   He gave us all a map of the US with the Indian names on them, which I can't lay my hands on at the moment, but hope to get a copy.

The other 'misfortune' referred to in the heading was my tv.   For a long time I have been getting a very bad picture, it kept breaking up.   I changed from cable tv to a dish network (unfortunately having to give up the Hallmark movie channel and National Geographic which I quite liked).  It worked if I kept plugging it in and out and tinkering with it, but I got fed up with all that.  I was convinced personally, that the fault lay with the dish network and the signal (or lack thereof) but Dish Network blamed the television.  So the only way to resolve the matter was to have the tv taken away and looked at by Tecumseh TV, the only place in the area which repairs televisions and he only works on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  He took one look at the picture, identified the problem and said it was definitely the tv,   So I won't get it back before next Tuesday.

I think Americans don't have their tvs repaired.  A 50" smart (whatever that means) HDTV with built in Wi Fi (why would anyone want that?)  is $568 (£333)   OR an 80" smart tv (they all seem to be smart, obviously the latest trend) is $3000 (£1762).   Which seems quite a hike for a bit bigger screen.

The weather today..........

and the news........

Al Qaeda having chemical weapons is alarming, but it is being said they are sealed up, and by now will have degraded, but anyone trying to get their hands on them, not knowing what they are doing, will get their come-uppance (or words to that effect).

Obama's foreign policy sucks, but this sort of thing he is very good at.