2nd June 2024 . Nothing can knock you off your stride quite as effectively as the "check engine" light flashing at you from the dashboard. The day had been going so well... . Now that there are fawns, I always go along on post office r…
Nothing can knock you off your stride quite as effectively as the "check engine" light flashing at you from the dashboard.
The day had been going so well...
.
Now that there are fawns, I always go along on post office runs in the hope of seeing them.
We backed out of the garage and rolled to a stop as Grant perceived the dreaded warning light.
The car seems fine and those lights don't necessarily mean serious trouble but we are a one-car family.
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We've been lucky previously to get a loaner car from the dealer but no such luck this time.
The best they could offer was an appointment on Thursday and crossed fingers.
No, they didn't suggest the latter, but what else is one to do? There's no easy way to hire a car here.
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With cars, our minds go straight to dire. A year or so ago, it was worse than dire when mice ate through the electrical wiring but it was covered by insurance.
As I recall, it was rather a battle to convince the insurers, but we prevailed and had a loaner car for 6 weeks that we were sorry to give up.
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The point is, it worked out.
It always works out, one way or another.
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Things don't always go the way you'd like, of course.
Scratch always and make that frequently!
But what I learned a very long time ago is that it is pointless to anguish over situations you can't change.
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When I was diagnosed with asthma at age 5, I remember the doctor telling my mother that I was a worrier. A strange thing for a British doctor of those times to have said about a small child.
Maybe he actually told my mum she was a worrier.
In either case, he was right.
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At boarding school, when I started to feel sick with worry , I found a way to deal with it. I asked myself:
"What's the worst that can happen?"
Dying, and that was most unlikely, so why worry?
Why it helped, I'm not sure, but it was something I fell back on many times in later years.
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Perhaps it's just perspective.
When the check engine light lit up this morning, I felt the beginnings of anxiety:
"Suppose it's serious? How will we get around?"
The car functioned normally going to the post office and by the time we came back, I'd stopped worrying.
No one is going to die from this.
It is certainly easier when there is less at stake.
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A new pair of eyes seemed to look at me the other day and I was very glad that it was on the outside, but I did admire it's delicate wings.
This is firefly time, but will they show?
Last summer they did not appear.
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We were delighted when another absentee turned up yesterday.
Wild turkeys were regulars until 2022.
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They used to come by every afternoon.
Sometimes they lay around on the grass for a while before strolling casually down the driveway.
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