You know this adorable scene in The Notebook?
(skip to 1:13)
Yeah. It’s not like that. It’s not like that at all.
It’s on my 30 before 30 to learn to drive stick shift. It just so happens that my darling Camry is dead, once again, and the only vehicle left for me to use is stick shift.
I’m pretty sure you all, no matter where you live, could hear J and I screaming at each other on Sunday afternoon. To my credit, I drove around campus several times and made it all the way to Walmart and back without dying. J and I weren’t speaking to each other by time we got home. Whatever.
Our luck with cars over the weekend was laughable, honestly. J’s fancy new-to-us-car wouldn’t start on Saturday morning, so we had to drop lots of dollar bills to buy a fancy new battery.
Sunday, we were meeting friends for lunch (which was kind of a nightmare in and of itself–if you live in or around Fuquay–pass on Cooleys, k?). Black car: black interior = hot as donkey balls. So J decided to start the car while we were saying our goodbyes in the parking lot. When we went to leave, J goes to open the door. and…
nope.
Locked.
Cool.
It’s Sunday in a small, small town. Not a single lock smith was open. And because his new car is fancy the tool at the O’Reilly’s Autoparts wasn’t the right tool.
So what can we do?
Hashtag: Anyone Got A Bicycle?
boo! tow trucks can't jimmy the lock? i miss those old cars where you can get a clothes hanger, bend it a certain way and jimmy the locks.
as for stick shift – it's frustrating to learn! when i was 16, i practiced on my friend's old OLD mustang and i rode that clutch so hard you could smell it in the car. oops!
-kathy
Vodka and Soda
Oh dear.
For the record, I cannot drive a stick and I think I'm incapable of learning. Good luck on that!
Also, the car I had in Alaska had a broken lock function (I may have dropped the remote off the balcony accidentally and it caused this to happen), but it would automatically lock after 30 seconds…whether you were in it, out of it, etc. It was AWFUL. My cousin borrowed my car when she came to visit and she actually had to call a taxi to unlock it for her. Up there, you just call a cab and $40 later, you're in. They carry the tool with them.
Anyway…
How inconvenient!
Ummmm yeah I would so not want to press my luck this week and would be tempted to just stay home!
Oh man, I don't envy you. I've been driving stick since the beginning (and I still drive the same car!). I was told I could learn stick or not learn how to drive. To be fair, it is a great skill to have; it's gotten me out of a few pinches when someone has had too much to drink and any car that has a manual transmission is a huge theft deterrent because no one knows how to drive it anymore. But setting aside my decade+ years of experience, learning SUCKS. I remember the screaming matches with my parents and all the frustration and anxiety. Just keep it at it. Go slow and insist on driving short distances to really get the 1st and 2nd gear shakes out. Once you've nailed that, start testing yourself going into first on small inclines, then medium inclines, and so forth. You'll get the hang of it. Nothing will test your patience more than sitting in bumper to bumper traffic with a stick shift. I'm surprised my left calf isn't abnormally larger than my right after all these years. Once you know your clutch well and where the threshold is between going and stalling, you'll be golden.
Oh no, not having the best luck at all huh!? I can drive a stick on a back or dead road haha, but I'd die in a busy area!
Oh no! Locking your keys in the car is such an annoying hassle- I'm sure it was awful with how hot it was too! I've locked mine in my car before at the gym and freaked out, even though it wasn't that big of a deal, I just had to wait forever for the AAA guy to show up and luckily he could get the car open! I'm impressed you're learning to drive a stick though! Once you get the hang of it hopefully it will be smooth sailing from there?? 🙂
I am going to be honest….I don't ever see me driving a stick shift! I would be too nervous to mess it up or something. I dont know…why bother when automatic is totally a thing?!?! Sorry on the car luck my dear, hopefully this week looks up!
Ouch! Sorry your weekend wasn't the best…. but it can only get better…. right? 😉
I call AAA all the time- its definitely been a worthwhile membership for me!
I'm telling you the best way to learn to drive a stick is with someone that laughs at you! My car is a stick I can teach you, just as long as you don't care when I laugh. 🙂
How quickly can you get to Tampa….I'll have drinks in hand. <3 yah girl we have all been there trust!
Bahaha! I've had a few of those drives that end with no-one speaking by the end. Too bad the fancy car is proving to be so much extra work!
Bahahahaa! Hot as DONKEY BALLS?! That's HOT!
Ahh you poor little angels!! I am kind of the queen of locking myself out of my car – or at least it feels that way sometimes. Once I did it twice in one week. 🙁 I know it's been said already, but stick-shift skills will come – it just takes practice, practice, practice! Honestly, no one ever became a smooth manual driver without doing it for months and months. I still feel like I am finding my groove, and I've had experience driving stick shifts for over 10 years now! Try to go into your practice sessions together *knowing* that it won't go perfectly. Acknowledge that it will be stressful with lots of trial-and-error, and give yourself a break!! xoxo
Hahaha I'm only laughing at this because I love you sweet friend! Glad you both survived! 🙂
I can't drive a stick either, they stopped teaching it in Driver Ed and I was afraid of messing up my friends cars. What a bummer.