If you asked anyone who knows me the one thing I know absolutely nothing about, there’s only one answer my friends will give.
Well, there probably is two as some would quickly answer cooking. Pending mood or opinion, I might be accused of knowing nothing about camogie every once in a while 🙂 . But the main answer the lads will give is cars.
Now that is obviously not including driving. But don’t ask me anything else. Bar Formula One cars, I couldn’t tell you the type. I only recently learned what a hatchback was. And even though I know I have a Vauxhall Corsa, I couldn’t even tell you what Sinead’s car is bar the colour.
It’s often a running joke. We’re sitting in the pub. All the lads are chatting about cars. There might be a magazine in site. And I’ll sit there look confused.
My favourite person to be around in these situations is my friend James Nevin. He has one of those infectious smiles that brightens up anybody’s day. And in this scenario, he’ll smile and say “Darren, it’s a blue car.” I’m none the wiser but now I feel I’m involved in that conversation.
It’s not always one way. I’ve done the same to others talking about sport or chess. But when it comes to cars, I’m the person who’ll struggle to stay in the chat looking to throw in key words every now and then to feel like I understand what’s going on 😀
Why am I telling you this I can sense some asking? I’m glad you asked. Today, I headed into town to pay some bills and register our chess and draughts teams for the Community Games. And a light in my car started flashing brightly putting the fear of God in me.
It’s going to be a busy week. I have four matches between Friday and Monday. I was heading to Loughgeorge tonight to meet the Galway camogie team. My car will probably use €80 in diesel. I didn’t need hassle.
So, I pulled in. Reached in the back to find the manual. Spent about 10 minutes looking for the symbol. Why on earth is something resembling a spring flashing at me? Oh, here it is. I need to clean the diesel filter or something like that.
Damn it. That sounds like hassle. What on earth am I going to do? How the feck am I going to do that? Answer on page 150. Flick a few pages, here’s the solution. You need to drive the car for a trip around 20 minutes and keep the revs above 2000.
Phew. I understood that. I knew about revs. I did it to cars plenty of times when I learned to drive and still do occasionally. I think I can manage this. Drive at a lower gear for a journey and it’ll go in its own time.
I was heading to Loughgeorge and stopping off to see my mother beforehand. Off I headed towards Mullagh never going above fifth gear. I dropped it to fourth gear during the 80kph zone. And low and behold, by the time I reached Cappataggle Cross, the flashing spring was gone from the car.
cuz i quit smoking cigarettes, and gave up drinking to forget 🎶
— 𝚃𝚊𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚗𝚊 ⚡️ (@TacianaBilek) March 8, 2018
That wasn’t the only thing that happened today but it was the most stressful. It wasn’t a day without cravings but thankfully the bad moments from the last two days were gone. A couple of gums, a productive day and the car took its moment to shine to take a place in the diary.
The lads would be so happy with me. Trust me, if you know me, this is a big deal. Darren got rid of flashing light in his car all by himself. Who’s the best boy 🙂 . I can see James’ smile acknowledging my achievement as I write.
This has been a good day. I didn’t even get time to write about the camogie but am sure we’ll talk about that before Sunday. Got home from Loughgeorge early and sitting here in Taughmaconnell having a coffee. Mullingar tomorrow to start a busy week. Will tell ye the rest tomorrow.
Darren
