Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Yesterday's scary activity

For years, I've always thought of those petrol station car wash services as a waste of money. Because, if you want your car cleaned, it only takes 20 minutes to soap, spray and wipe it yourself. But as I haven't managed to wash my car once, in the 18 months we have owned it, I decided to throw money at the situation and take it to the car wash.

Remember, this was the first time I'd ever been in one of those automated thingummies.

First of all, I couldn't work out how to get my side mirrors to fold in, as the sign instructed. So while I was in there I worried that they would snap off with the pressure of those enormous rubbery brushes.

And the other thing was that it's really noisy, it makes the whole car vibrate, and from the inside it looks and feels as though I'm being attacked by an oversized, multi-coloured St Bernard dog. Or a creature from a comedy version of Supernatural.

Even the hot-air-blowing gadget made me nervous. How did it know not to hit the roof of my car?

I was glad I hadn't taken TLM with me - she was at daycare - because I could imagine her being at least as uncomfortable (okay...scared) as I was.

11 comments:

Harry Potter said...

ha ha ha !!!! That was great....
Hope you will have such plesant experiences time n again...and thats what life is all about... Enjoy !!!!

P.S. Own a Private Jet....

Lumpyheadsmom said...

Oh com'on, those things are awesome. Like a ride at the fair, only with a purpose.

Watson Woodworth said...

I worked at a part human/part automated car wash in 1988.
We would scrub the cars with brushes, polish the hubcaps and send it off into the Soapy Tunnel of Horrors, and towel-dry it off.
Most vivid memory was the 1980 Camaro blasting Lynyrd Skynyrd so loud it could be heard in the hospital across the street.
I love this town!

Angela said...

I loved those things since I was a kid. I still do.

Anonymous said...

I like them too, but like you I can clearly remember my first time :) It is kind of creepy how the wax thing and the heater know where the car is without actually touching the car

Not all cars have fold-in mirrors, perhaps yours doesn't.

Violet said...

harry potter: wot - you trying to impress me or something?

lumpyheadsmom: roller coasters 'n' carousels are scary!! (Jes' kiddin' - I'm sure TLM will find the car wash fun, but probably not the first time).

nigel: sounds like an experience worth putting in song ;-)

angela: some things you never get tired of.

cathi: I wondered about that, but the wing mirrors did look articulated.

Harry Potter said...

Thank God At Least You Realized :)

Half The Job Is Done ...

Just Kidding...

Jon said...

Just make the boy wash the car, that's what I would do ;-)

Violet said...

jon: nah, it's hard enough getting him to pick up after himself, much less clean up after me (he's got his own car)!

glomgold said...

They don't let us ride in them anymore when they send 'em through the automated process. The driver is now forced to only watch from the sidelines through glass. :(

Violet said...

glomgold: really! there must've been too many cases of drivers getting the willies during the wash...