It is interesting that it is quicker for me to visit the Bunnings hardware store in West Footscray by public transport than it is to visit my local Port Melbourne Bunnings.
Drive time to Port Melbourne (Saturday evening, so little traffic), 13 minutes. Drive time to West Footscray, 18 minutes.
Tram and bus to Port Melbourne, 44 minutes. Walk and Metro Train to West Footscray Bunnings, 30 minutes.
In ways I never guessed, the new Metro Tunnel train has changed how I travel around our city.
Some years ago when drying the car after a car wash, I noticed a bump and a mark on the side of car. Ray had not noticed it. It was very minor, and I think by a shopping trolley. I showed Ray how the mark was most likely made.
Kosov has an Indian car driving licence and his parents paid for lessons and the test, yet like Phyllis he did not know which way to turn the car steering wheel. Unlike Phyllis, he is not picking up driving nearly as quickly. I would have liked him to spend a couple more times driving on the roads around Albert Park Lake, but alas, the roads have been closed because of the Grand Prix. We tried residential Port Melbourne, but the streets there are so narrow. He drove home from there on big roads, and he was ok.
Cat litter was needed, so I pushed Kosov into the deep end, driving along Queens Road, and he struggled to stay in his lane.
With my constant guidance, we entered the St Kilda Aldi carpark, and all was well, until we left. It was a very tight turn to the exit ramp and Kosov didn't go far enough to the right to line the car up for the tight left turn. But I thought it would be ok. Time slowed and then sped up. By the time he reacted to my stop command, he has already scraped the side of the car on the wall.
I couldn't get out because of the wall next to me so Phyllis took over, and just made it worse. I told Phyllis to get out and I clambered over to the driver seat and reversed with the correct steering wheel action to get the car off the wall.
As you can imagine, I was not a happy chappie, but Kosov was under my guidance and I was too slow to react to what he was doing, along with I should not have expected him to make such a difficult manoeuvre. I take the blame.
My insurance excess it $1200, that's out of my pocket before insurance kicks in. I will take the car for a repair quote this coming week. If the cost is more than $1200, I will have to think of the impact of making an insurance claim against perhaps a higher insurance cost.
This is a bit of a downer, when others are posting Sunday Selections. Let me add some balloon photos in the memory of the late Sue.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Must have been nerve-wracking. At least nobody was hurt.
ReplyDeleteWould be awesome views from up there. Don't think I would go up that high though, heights scare me.
ReplyDeleteBugger ...
ReplyDeleteOh no! It must have been terrible for Kosov (and Phyllis) too. Tight turns are always a problem. It sounds to me like maybe not the best design for a car park!
ReplyDeleteChoose a recommended crash repair shop and pay the excess.. Is your excess high because the lads are under 25.? The cost I suspect will be a few thousand .
ReplyDeleteOh, no! I'm glad nobody was injured but... ugh.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how my lifelong car culture ingrained so many instinctual reactions, things that Kosov and Phyllis were never availed. I learned of this phenomenon several years ago.
Watching video of suddenly affluent Chinese car owners causing mayhem on busy city streets was eye opening. Now I know that even my childhood self belted into the back bench seat received invaluable lessons.
I make mistakes, certainly. Blessedly, none of my accidents caused injury and my safest driving is at high freeway speeds. :) Best wishes!
Sounds terrible about the car incidence. The cost of mentoring a son like Kosovo.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to hear about your car, it seems Kosov will need much more practice. In the past I have known many parents who took their offspring to empty supermarket parking areas, after shopping hours, so they could use the space to learn turns and reverses and of course how to park properly inside a marked space forward and reversing. Are you able to do this with Kosov? Thank you for the balloons.
ReplyDeleteI am with Darla. No matter how the parents and driving teachers instilled details in our heads about VERY carefuly driving, accidents still happen :( Worse still for males! And young drivers! And drivers who learned in another country!!
ReplyDeleteYou are very kind Andrew. That is a whack of money you might have to pay out. I would get several quotes. Those effin insurance companies would probably load your premium otherwise. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteXO
WWW