This past week, I realized how easily I get spoiled. During the cruise, it was having all my meals cooked and ready for me to eat; having my bed made and my room cleaned without any effort on my part; and having the bathroom seemingly clean itself. I could get used to cruise life very easily. I now understand why some elderly use cruise ships as assisted living facilities.
After I got home from the cruise, I was sick with Covid and all my meals were made for me and left at my door. Hubby referred to it as like the scene from Ben Hur where they take food to the lepers in the arroyo and leave it there.
Now I’m well, and I’m back to cooking and cleaning, not things I enjoy much anymore.
I’ve only had my new vehicle for six months, and it’s spoiled me rotten! I like driving my own vehicle, the one that needs no key, locks automatically when I walk away, lets me see what’s around me while driving and backing up, and has windows that go all the way up with just a quick pull. Life is so much less stressful with those conveniences.
The past two days, I’ve driven Hubby’s 22-year-old truck to deliver and pick up him and his bike to different points on the trail. I have to use a key to unlock the doors and start it. I got out of it the other day, and it started beeping at me. Oh dear, I forgot to get the key out of the ignition. To back out of the driveway, there is no camera showing me the way is clear, and the topper with the dark windows I can’t see out of make it feel like I’m driving a moving van. How do I know if there’s someone in my blind spot without those little lights on the mirrors or doors? If I want to change lanes, I have to hold the blinker thing down rather than just hit it. And worst of all, I had to hold the button on the window to make it go all the way up. Like I have time for that!
I remember my first car that didn’t have power anything: no power steering, no power brakes, no power door locks, crank windows, needed two keys (one for engine, one for trunk), and a gas tank in the rear filled behind the license plate. The only upgrade it had was lap seatbelts. There were across-the-shoulder seatbelts that were folded up and stored along the roof, but I never used them. They weren’t the automatic kind. They were like the airplane seatbelts: buckle and pull tight. Once strapped in, you couldn’t move unless you lifted the metal release button. They made me claustrophobic. That old car was a solid-metal tank on wheels.
I’m glad I don’t have to drive the tank anymore. My old arms aren’t as powerful as they used to be, although if I think about it, the old tank might provide a great workout for them. Turning the wheel multiple times to turn a tight corner, cranking those windows up and down while going by a drive-through window would really work my upper arms…………….naw! I’d rather do reps with dumbbells.
We once had a hybrid truck that ran on gas and propane. I was always afraid we’d be in a crash and the tank would explode, blowing us and anyone near us to kingdom come. We could drive all day long without ever stopping. We used to could do that, but at our age now, we need lots of pit stops. It too had nothing power in it except power steering. Window cranks aren’t something I ever missed, although I remember Hubby and I discussing power windows were just another system to go wrong on those new-fangled vehicles. I’m glad we finally overcame our skepticism.
I don’t know if I’ll have this vehicle for 20 years like the last one. I may not even be driving in 20 years, but if we get another car, I want an electric vehicle. Before you gasp, swallow your gum, and declare me terrible, I’ll explain. To me, electric cars are just another option of vehicles like diesel-, gas-, or natural-gas-powered vehicles, or hybrid ones. It’s just an option, and I’d like to try one. I hear the Teslas are pretty powerful, but I’ll drive them myself. I don’t trust the auto-drive feature I’ve read about. Just another system to go wrong in those new-fangled machines.