The top quit working on my little VW convertible (cabriolet) way back in April. We were getting ready to leave for a month, and the top closed just fine, it wouldn't open, so I just ignored it. I have this fantasy that if I ignore problems they will go away, but most are like that molding cheese in the back corner of the refrigerator, they are still there, and get worse over time. When we returned home, I was in a stingy mood after having spent an unimaginable amount on a wonderful trip. And then the weather warmed up, really warmed up, we had an exceedingly hot summer. I had learned the hard way, that diving with the top down when the temperature is in the high 90's f (about 40c) is unpleasant. So I put off doing anything about the top. Then last week to add insult to injury the check engine light came on. Reluctantly I called the local VW dealer and made arranged to take it in for service. I figured the top was a job for someone who has worked on them before. The check engine light should have been a check brakes light, the power brake booster had failed, and the "top string" was broken. The repairs cost about 1/3rd of what the car is worth, but without them, the car is ready for the breakers yard. It is 18 years old, but only has a little over 55,500 miles on it. I picked it up Wednesday morning, put the top down, and my smile came up. A long slow drive out to Mt Vernon and back. I am back to being the slightly eccentric old man aging into a rust pile in his old convertible.
A dear friend was telling me about a family member who lived with dementia. As sometimes happens, the person experienced hallucinations, she saw things that no one else could see. In her case it was gnomes. And she hated the gnomes staring at her in silence. She would shout at the gnomes trying to get them to go away.
Someone noticed that she stopped complaining about the gnomes when the radio was playing. Hmm, a family member suggested, why don't we play music? Her response was "No, you know I don't like all that noise!"
Someone thought about and rephrased the question:
How about if we play music to scare the gnomes away? She responded that is a great idea. Cue the music, playing Frank Sinatra's Greatest Hits solved the gnome infestation.
I had another post written for today, and decided we really needed something more fun.
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