Friday, April 27, 2007

Nice to meet you, clutch.

Dear Darin,

Glad to hear you made it safely to California. 24 hours of travel is not fun. I think the airlines purposely make travel for those who purchase tickets with miles...hellish.

All is well in France. It rained for the past 24 hours. Quite a bizarre change in weather from the 31 degree heat we'd been experiencing earlier in the week. Hopefully, it washed away all that damn pollen that's keeping me up at night. Do you miss being woken up at 3 am while I sneeze and hack my way back to sleep?

Leigh and I went driving today. It went very well. Or that's what she's making me believe. She's quite an angel for doing this for me, let me tell you. Putting her life in danger like that and all. Do you know how we were able to identify the car? I thought it'd be pretty hard when it feels like almost everyone in France owns white Renault Clios. Our car was the only one with the driver's side window rolled down?! In the rain. Oops. After I toweled off the driver's seat, we were off. I was pretty nervous thinking about the possibility that I could orphan her children today, but in the end, all went well. Like a dog who deserves a bone after doing a good deed, Leigh treated me to a homemade chocolate cupcake when we finally arrived, in one piece, to her house. Remember that light in Annecy-Le-Vieux where I had to stop and couldn't get the car to start so I had you switch seats with me and drive the rest of the way home? Well, it turned green as I was approaching it today! I was thrilled. Leigh was not too thrilled. She was hoping I'd get to practice starting on a hill. Hee hee.

Listen to what else she made me do today, Darin. After we pulled onto that one street behind our building so I could park and after I passed about 10 decent parking spaces that just didn't look "good" to me (like Goldilocks in search of the perfect bed), I decided to park on Ave de Geneve! I found some "princess parking" that was 2 car-widths long. I back and forth my way into it, but soon found that I needed to get closer to the curb. As I was about to do that, some biotch decides to park behind me. I decide I'll finish straightening the car out once she leaves her vehicle, just in case I happen to bump her car. Well, she decides to whip out the paper and read it while sitting in her car. Fabulous. That's when I beg and plead for Leigh to get me out of this parking spot. I even offer her money. She refused. Leigh then gets out of the car and directs me out of the spot. She even stands in front of the car and in back, while I wiggle it out of the spot. She must have had a death wish. Who, in their right mind, would stand in front of or behind the car while I, Emily, am behind the wheel of a manual? I successfully get us out and into a spot back on the street behind the building. Leigh, again, decides to direct me while I try to park. She's telling me to move forward, but it isn't moving forward. Oops...it's in reverse (I'm good at doing that). So, I try to move it forward again and it doesn't move. Oops...it's not in gear. I finally get it right and turn off the car. The sound of the fan tells me it's pooped.

Leigh and I believe that I was not properly introduced to the clutch. Why is that third pedal there anyway? To confuse me, of course.

Have a wonderful time in sunny CA. I miss you.

Love,
Emily

3 comments:

African Kelli said...

oh, sweet letter! Love that you are out and about driving through France!

Jennifer said...

Yeah, driving here is fun, isn't it? I, too, tend to look for large parking spaces so I have enough room to maneouver - even though I'm usually driving the Twingo, which could almost fit in my back pocket.
Your sense of humor about driving is great - you'll be passing those natives in no time!

Rebecca H. said...

We should blame it on Dad, he should of taught us manual in the VW Rabbit. In fact let's blame everything on Mom and Dad ... isn't that what we're supposed to do?