So I think I need to tell you this story, even though it confirms rumours that I am, in fact, not always the sharpest tool in the toolbox. But it really is so funny, it'd be criminal not to share it!
When I arrived in Brisbane last Friday morning, I had arranged to meet my friend Sally so we could drive down to the Gold Coast together. I hired a car - a Tarago - so that we and six others could go shopping at a scrapbook shop we'd heard rave reviews about (and it was worth it!). It was an automatic, which is fine although I normally drive manual transmission.
So we load up the car, I jump in the drivers seat and turn on the ignition. All systems go. I reach down and make a shocking discovery - there was no handbrake. I look on the dashboard - still no handbrake. I look to my feet - cant see anything. Hmmmm.....
So I ask Sally - where's the handbrake? She looks at me, looks around and is no more wiser than I am. We see an attendant but the small amount of pride I have wont allow me to call out for help. We keep looking. Where's the #$*%$^! handbrake???
Finally the guy comes over and I realised I had to ask. He points out a lever thing at my feet which I couldn't see before. Then he laughed. Can you believe it? After all, its not a freakin' handbrake if it has to be operated by my foot, is it? How friggen STUPID to put it there - would be completely useless in an emergency brake situation.
But worse than that - and lets just say safety is important to me, especially with pregnant passengers - my pride was dented. I remain shattered that I couldn't find a handbrake (well, secret footbrake anyhoo).
THIS is why (a) I drive manual and (b) I am never getting a family truckster.
