The car saga

On a Tuesday morning in mid-December, Dr. T rushed the kids out the door – we were, as usual, running late – and into the car.
Except the car was not there.
We don’t have a driveway or a garage, so our car gets parked on the street in front of our house, except on the two mornings a week that parking isn’t allowed, when we park around the corner.
This was not a restricted morning. Nor was there any snow clearing planned. In fact, our neighbours’ cars were parked, as usual, in the spaces behind and in front of our car – or the now-open space where our car had been.
We spent a few puzzled minutes asking each other if we’d absent-mindedly parked around the corner, or gone to the grocery store by car but walked home, or lost the car in a bad poker game…
None of the above. This was grand theft our car. Our nice, new, wonderful car.
We bought (more specifically leased) this car in April. Our last two cars were Corollas, which were fine, but not great, and although Dr. T would have happily kept our 2004 Corolla, I was not really comfortable driving it, and we’re now a one-car family, since the death of my deal-of-the-century Subaru. Last Christmas, we talked about our options, and in the spring, on the advice of my dad (who owns more cars that one person can possibly drive, and is currently in the process of building another one), we test-drove the Saturn Astra. I called my dad:
Me: We drove the Astra.
Dad: Hmph.
Me: We like it a lot – feels good, drives great…
Dad: Hmph.
Me: So we think we’re going to get one. Thanks for the tip!
Dad: Try an Impreza.
Me: What?
Dad: Don’t buy anything until you’ve tried the new Impreza.
Me: Hmph.
Fine. So we test-drove the Impreza. And, of course, we fell in love. I called my dad again:
Me: We drove the Impreza.
Dad: Hmph.
Me: We like it a lot – feels good, drives great…
Dad: Hmph.
Me: So we think we’re going to get one. Thanks for the tip!
Dad: Try a Honda.
Me: Hmph.
We did not try a Honda, and we stopped calling my dad. Instead, we signed on the dotted line and drove home in our new AWD Impreza hatchback (although now car dealers call them “5-doors” for some reason).
I managed to resist the urge to sucker-punch my dad when he looked at the car, grunted, and told us it looked like a Mazda.
When the snow started falling this winter, we discovered just how great our car was – no shovelling required! We felt safe driving in the snow and slush.
But then, that fateful morning, no car. Car gone. Nine days before Christmas.
Fast-forward a month, and everything’s settled – the car is probably on the other side of the planet now, and our insurance people took care of everything, and given that this happened over the holidays, everything went pretty quickly, and on Thursday, I drove home in our new Impreza hatchback.
We decided to take advantage of our do-over, and opted for the sports package, which meant our lovely blue was no longer an option, but we’ve got a few extras we didn’t have the first time around, including fog lights, a sunroof, wiper de-icers, 6-disk CD players with extra speakers and satellite radio, and audio controls on the leather-wrapped steering wheel.
Best of all, we now have heated seats. Since the temperature over the last few days has hovered around -25 (so far, 19 major water mains have burst on the island of Montreal. it’s cold), heated seats are a good thing. Nothing beats warm buns on a cold day.
Yesterday, I took our new bun-warmer to a local garage and had a GPS-tracking anti-theft system installed. Keep your fingers crossed.