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Fear of the Car Wash, and Possible Damage I'm pretty happy that Friday is getting full, though I'm juggling too many appointments. That means I'll money to put tires on the car though, which it sorely needs. I also need to check the oil sometime soon, and have Dan check out the rear/brakes. I don't know if anything is damaged after I went to wash my car yesterday because I got so nervous that I might have messed things up. One of them isn't my fault though. We were all in a line, about six of us, and as they took our money and marked our windshields we were all inching up to the car wash. I inched up, braked, and tried to calm myself down as I'm afraid of car washes (the big drive through ones). Next thing I know, something's hit me from behind. I honk (you're not suppossed to rear-end a Jaguar buddy!), and the guy behind me throws up his hands. It's a 5mph hit, so I assume nothing's hanging off the car. As I'm second from the door, I debate about getting out to confront him, and decide not to. I'll look at the car when we get through this tunnel of terror. So, okay, I'm even more on edge now. I'm already afraid of the damn car wash, and now I'm worried that something might be wrong because someone hit me. For those who want to know, my fear of the car wash is a compound fear that is part claustrophobia and part loss of control. Being in my car is fine, but sitting in the car within a dark small building surrounded by machines that spray and glom onto your car that can both help the car and hurt it (I lost another trim piece in the same car wash last time) is pretty scary. Add to that a half-memory of the first time I went through the car wash when the machines all made loud noises and started attacking the car, and you've got a recipie for a decent phobia. I don't like car washes. I almost have a reason not to, but I keep attempting them to try and overcome it. I'm sure if Dan wanted to terrify me on our next kidnapping he'd strap me to the seat, force my eyes open, and make me ride through a long car wash. I wouldn't scream, but my chest would be pounding at the end. Then he'd take me to a loud construction site (my other fear is loud noises), tie me to a beam, and make me quake with terror while he pounded my pussy open....damn I need to go wank. 'scuse me. Anyway, I get up to the tire snatching mechanism and one guy is telling me to roll forward, and the other one is telling me to slow down. Confused, (I've only done this alone a couple of times) I start braking. The guy on my left yells for me to stop braking, and all I hear is the brake part. Then I get I should stop, the grinding under my car kind of scares me though so I instinctively want to brake, and I do, quickly throwing the car into neutral. Somehow, I was also trying to figure out the right moment to do that too. The Jag rolls through the car wash, and I keep my eyes closed for a little while. Then I open them, but I try not to focus on what all the little gadgets are doing. When someone else takes the car through, I sometimes examine them, but when I'm alone I try to focus on waiting. I tell myself that it will only be a minute in the actual wash, then the car will be clean, and we won't even have to think about how it was done. Don't worry about the big rolling scrapers, or those scary sounding air jets, everything will be just fine. Then I'm through, after watching the blowers on the sides of the car wash. Hearing the vacuum they make is actually kind of nice. The noise is a bit loud, but nothing is coming at you, so I'm less afraid because the noise can't hurt anything. The guys jump out and polish the car, and I ask if anything is hanging off of my rear end. They say no, I quickly dart out to look, and as everything looks fine I assume my tank of a car has held up. Then I drive off towards home. Dan hasn't looked at it yet, but the brakes seem a little lower now. That bothers me. The rear end still seems okay, except for that oil thing I mentioned, but it's winter so something is bound to go wrong. Hopefully, my father will be a dear and let us use his garage if we need to make repairs. Speaking of which, i got him his xmas present yesterday. I couldn't find any Glenlivett this year, so he's getting 12 year old Dewar's with a $50 certificate to Outback Steakhouse so he can have some steak and okay scotch. I bought him better last year, but I'm sure he'll enjoy it. Nothing much else going on, but I got time today. Daphne |