Scenic Routes: I got better...

Saturday, April 10, 2010

I got better...

Anyone able to name the quote in the title? Say it with a very over-done English accent, and try again. I know you can.

Anyways, I didn't want to leave you hanging.

Yes, I did get pulled over by the sheriff.

The teacher's car appeared to have expired tags.

Turns out that her registration sticker had been peeled off of her license plate. It was still sticky. After the sheriff ran the plates through the DMV, she was able to tell me that everything was all paid up, and it was just a case of a missing sticker. No doubt, said the sheriff, the teacher had just neglected to put the sticker on. I found out later that it had been stolen, when I recounted my miserable tale of why it took me so long to get back to school.

But we laughed about it.

And I returned to school in enough time to head up onto the roof.

Why?

It was time to take the "Class of '10" photo for the yearbook, and I was nominated to go up on the roof because the three bordering-on-professional photographer/parents who had shown up all had lenses that were too long. Gotta love the 18-105 kit lens.

SHortly after that, the Honda Shuttle came by the school to take Nate and me back to Honda to pick up the van.

I managed to chew down the ends of my finger tips on the drive. How much, exactly was this going to set me back? How much worse could my day get, anyways? I'd not eaten for hours, and then I'd gotten pulled over by the cops. One more hit, and you'd have the 'bad things come in threes' result.

I walked in the door and spotted Doug, my service guy. "So, Doug," I said, "I'm here to talk about your 'easy payment plan'..."

He smiled, and looked down at the paperwork in his hand. "Oh, I'm glad you're here." he said. "Come over to my office, and let's talk about it."

Eek. And Ouch!

Coming in at just under $2000, it was a very expensive thing to go wrong.

And then he looked up from the paperwork. "I talked to Honda about your case," he said. "You've been excellent customers, and this is not your first vehicle from us. Also, you have a record of being very diligent in keeping up on maintenance, so even though you are more than ten thousand miles over the end of your warranty coverage, Honda has agreed to a one-time good-faith warranty extension for this repair. The entire thing will be covered.

I think there was an audible "clunk" as my jaw hit the floor. But I didn't wait around for them to change their minds. I was out of there in a flash. I still have to come back next week. They need to order the parts (a new cam shaft. Eek!), and I'll probably have to rent a car for a couple of days while they do the repair. I don't mind that expense. Maybe I'll even get to drive something fun for two days. They were pretty apologetic that they couldn't cover the cost of the rental car. I was thinking "Guys! You just saved me nearly TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS! I think I can spring for two days of a sub-compact"

And then I went home and played in the garden.