Since I was a little girl I wanted a shiny car. And yes, I was
pretty sure what kind of shiny car that needed to be. I had no doubts, nobody
could talk me into something different and I wasn’t gonna change my mind.
Because I didn’t get my driver’s license until I was 19 (in
Holland you can’t get your license until you are 18) I was a little behind on
the majority of teens. I didn’t mind because I was still working hard and saving my money for my
dream car. But because I had to drive something, my mom and dad got my sister
and I a little car to share. She was gonna take it one week and I the other.
The weeks that we didn’t have the car we had to take the bus and train to get
to school. The car was a good car and i was very grateful that my parents let my sister and i have one, but I wasn’t mine…
Finally after several
years of working every weekend, every after schools hour and vacation
period, I had enough money saved up and so
I bought my first BMW! I was so happy! So proud and I felt so free! This baby
was mine and I did it all myself!!!
The only problem with that car was, (and of COURSE I didn’t
admit that while I had it) that it was VERY fuel inefficient. And it would
break. A lot! As in maybe, once every month…. Sometimes close to home, sometimes
close to school and sometimes right in the middle of where I was going to…
So on a sunny Friday afternoon D. and I were driving home.
We had the music on, and we were happy that it was almost weekend. Not that I could
do a lot of partying, because I had to work the whole weekend in order to pay
for all the fuel and the latest gasket, oil filter or plug for my car… But we were
happy anyway and feeling on top of the world driving our own cool car!
In Holland the highways are crowded. And I don’t mean
crowded like here, no, its crazy bumper to bumper three/ fourths of the way
home. So while we were in the left lane, called the “fast” lane and creeping
forward at about 5 miles an hour, smoke started coming out from under the hood….
I whispered to D., “D. this is not good!?!”, and it wasn’t
good at all… we had major overheating problems… Because the highway was so full of cars we couldn’t
go to the right lane and park in the grass besides the highway, nobody would
let us true anyway…
So after some more panicking we decided to park in the
middle part of the highway. And yes we know that this is STRICKTLY FORBIDDEN.
But we didn’t know what to do and I wasn’t gonna let my car do any more damage
to itself!!! I needed my baby!
So we park the car on the “wrong” side, open the hood and
check. I don’t know much about cars but I thought it was some kind of hose that
was busted. D. thought the same. While we were standing there lots of cars
honked. Lots of “friendly” faces that were laughing AT us. BUT nobody
stopped!!! So were standing there besides the highway, car smoking, two
desperate looking young girls, and NOBODY stopped…
After some 15 minutes of looking at the hose and getting more
and more frustrated by all these people not stopping to help us, finally a
truck driver stops at the good (right) side of the road and comes over. He
looks in the car and concludes that it is indeed a hose… “Oh well, tough guy we
already knew that but thanks for stopping”.
And then things started to click... or so we thought…
While our truckdriver
was standing there staring at the hose, a police car stops right behind my
parked car….
“YOU CAN’T STAND HERE!!!” he yells while exciting his cop
car. I was trying to explain to him that
I knew that but that we didn’t have no other choice and I was a little bit surprised
that he didn’t ask if we had an accident or something and if somebody was hurt. Nope, he didn’t ask anything at all, he just yelled that we weren’t supposed
to be here! The bad thing was; the truck driver didn’t like the police…
And so he starts yelling (to the policeman!!!) that those
girls (D. and I) had car trouble and that we could park anywhere we wanted! So
while D. and I thought that this couldn’t go any worse, it got worse!
The policeman and the “good Samaritan” are yelling and were
just standing there besides the highway and wondering what is going to happen
next.
Finally the policeman had enough and tells the truck driver
to go away or he is going to get a ticket. After some more cursing, screaming
and yelling…!!! He finally left. In the
mean time the police man apparently called some other coppers and they arrive but
instead of HELPING US (or even asking us what the matter is) the block off the
highway….
Three lanes of highway completely blocked off by police cars…
The policeman yells (again) that we need to go to the other
side of the road…
So D. and I hop in the car, drive (really, really slowly, we
really felt like royalty too…) to the other side of the road and park it in the
grass. And before we even know what is going on, all 4 police cars left…. “What???!!!”
Within no time the traffic is bumper to bumper again, 5
miles an hour and people politely smiling at us… Ohww, what a day!?
Then we realized that one of my housemates who was still at
school (in order to get home) needed to use the same highway, so we called him
up. He was maybe 5 miles up the road stuck in the same traffic jam. He promised
us he would get there as soon as possible and help us out.
What seemed like forever we finally saw his car and he
pulled over, got us hooked up behind his
car (which was slightly smaller and less heavy) so the pulling didn’t go as
smooth… But we were on our way again.
After some CRAZY driving and towing our car we made it to his house. Changed
the troublemaker hose and put in a new hose.
D. and I drove home, with all the windows open and the air at full
blast, because we were too afraid the car was going to overheat again…
I dropped D. of at the train station and got home at 9.45
pm. We had left that same day at 1 pm and the drive normally takes us 2 hours….
D. and I have been in a lot of situations like this, but I never
sold my car, well not until it was unsafe (as in really, really unsafe) to drive it anymore (I bought a new
BMW)… and I never regret one day driving it. I felt on top of the world driving
that car. And it made me realize that as long as you believe in yourself, work hard and long for
something and you never give up, you will reach the top. Whatever that top
might be for you….
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