New wheels

We bought a car... hurrah, no more walking 6km a day to work and back :)

We actually had the car delivered yesterday but as Simone was on call it stayed at the hospital and I had a lift home with my driver.....  well actually our Landlords driver but I like to think he's mine too.

I was all tucked up and ready for bed last night when Simone called to say he was outside the house with our new car... I was so happy he had come home to see me..
"Yay I'm so happy you came home to see me"
"Yeah I just got out of theatre and I'm starvin, nowhere is open at this time to get food"
"Ah ok..... I'll get cooking then..."

So I walked to work this morning for the last time... this car could possibly have saved my life.  I have grown tolerate a lot of things since arriving in India.... But the sniffing, hacking back and spitting of the phlegm at 0700am still makes me heave every morning..

I met Simone in the afternoon at work today and I knew I only had a couple of cases left in cath lab, therefore would be finished around 4 ish.  At 3pm, Simone was going to theatre to start a fallot.... Ok at least 4 hours... So he gave me the car key to drive home when I finished.

One problem.... I got in and the petrol gauge was on empty.  Damn.  I had 2 choices:
1)  Drive home anyway and hope for the best and get petrol later when I picked Simone up (but knowing me, would probably run out of petrol in the middle of the road, 2km from home and have to push it....  I think I get stared at enough already)
2)  Go to the petrol station and fill up (which I HATE doing in the UK, let alone in India, on my own.)

I decided to brave it and headed for the petrol station....

So I drive in and realised I had no idea which side the cap was on.  Luckily there are guys who fill up for you, so I wound down the window and asked him which side it was on.  Of course it was on the opposite side to what I thought.  So I moved.

I got out of the car and the gentleman looks at me
"You need to open the cap for me"
"Erm...."
"It's inside"
"Erm..................."
"I show you ma'am"
So he takes me on a tour of my own car to show me how to open the petrol cap. Mortified.

"Petrol or diesel ma'am?"
Oh FFS who knew going to get petrol was such a bloody drama...
"Erm...... PETROL"
"Are you sure Ma'am?" as the WHOLE petrol station full of men is looking at me. M O R T I F I E D.
I couldn't help myself, I burst out laughing, looked at everyone and said "hahahahaha can you tell this is a new car?"
So he sniffs the cap and informs me that it is indeed petrol.
"Are you from America Ma'am?"


I have never been so happy to be asked if I'm from America... At least they might still hold out some hope that British girls know their cars...  

Jody will be so ashamed of me to read this...

The good news is that the car has blacked out windows, so NO-ONE stares at me..
The bad news is that the indicators are on the opposite side to my car in the UK, so I put my windscreen wipers on at least 4 times today.... which probably looks quite ridiculous in India where it hasn't rained in 8 months.... Praise the Lord for blacked-out windows....