Driving Necessities.

This was a day in which I should have been doing editing, fixing a leaking pool filter, and some much-needed repairs on electrical equipment, where some of the recent workmen had the idea that for anything with a button the harder you thumb it the better it works. Result: dimmer for lounge and an on-switch for a solar lantern completely thrust into the fitting and inoperable.

Not much of that got done.

First, I had to run a school bag to J’s school in case she needed it. It had got left behind in the morning rush.  Only a 6Km round trip, but disrupting. Then I had to collect a friend, who had been given a lift on her daily commute by Younger Daughter, so that he could collect unemployment benefits at an office near to where she works.  This should have been a 30Km round trip, but some 10Km into the return he discovered he’d left his keys behind.   Then a 1 Km detour to look for spares – failure. Returned home and fed friend tea until it was time to go and collect J from school. Then took friend with me and after another unsuccessful spares-seeking detour, collected R and two schoolmates from her school. This was a journey of 13Km to get there.  Then a detour to drop off the friend of some 1,5Km. Home from there – about 12Km. Dropping off the two extra kids – add 6Km. Finally, later in the afternoon, a trip to take R and a friend to swimming lesson – another 4.5Km there and back.

Let’s see, that makes 6+30+20+1+13+1.5+12+6+4.5 = 94 Km! Good grief – it just shows how trickling around town can mount up! I suppose, though, that very many parents/grandparents have far more impressive ‘Family Taxi’ scores? How working parents cope unaided beats me.

P.S. I dismantled, fixed, and reassembled the lantern with a fair amount of pain and suffering.

No doubt you would wish to see the car employed for such excursions. Well, this isn’t it. This is ‘our’ latest firm car received new in January by Younger Daughter – and with her Elder Daughter R  looking as though she is about to take a test-drive!                  I use its baby brother –  a red Yaris.

 

How’s this for a pristine power plant? Wonder how long I can keep it looking that way …

© February 2016 Colonialist (WordPress)