It was that time of year when we should do regular annual technical inspections of our car and vehicle registration renewal. In fact, the day before yesterday (the last day in June) was the deadline date when we should do it, but...
Yeah, there is always that bloody "but"!
Although it's the car registered in my name, for the last couple of years, my husband has been the one who is driving it the most or even only. But when it comes to registration renewal, I have to be present and show my ID, but...
Here it comes, another bloody "but"!
This week I've got otitis, my ear truly hurt a lot, and I was more or less out of function. For my husband, regular maintenance and inspection of the car, even just checking the oil or the water for the windshield, same as visiting the car wash, it's not an option.
When it comes to car wash, in the best-case scenario, he would go, but only if I'm going with him. Being aware that in the center for technical inspection of vehicles, they can turn you down if your car is too dirty, and knowing that my husband didn't visit the car wash for months, it was a must-do task before we went to the center for technical inspection.
Therefore, and as well as not leaving it for the last day, I put myself together somehow, and on Thursday (the day before the deadline) we took the car to the car wash. After that, I checked the backlights, including stoplights and blinkers, and as my ear really hurt a lot, I was crying to move out from the wind and lie down in bed ASAP. Therefore, I asked him to check the front lights before entering the house. He promised he would, and I ran home.
At home, we agreed to go to the vehicles' inspection center the following (Friday and the deadline day) morning, earliest possible, just in case they would find some minor faults on the vehicle (as the car is not a new one), so we would still have time to make the fixes during the day and get back by the end of their working hours, but...
Yeah, another bloody "but"!
The following morning, my husband woke up early as he usually does, being an early morning type, but he decided not to wake me up what I was relying on as part of yesterday's agreement.
Why? - The explanation was he was sorry as I suffered a lot of pain because of my ear and was sleeping so nicely. (He told me all of that, later on.)
However, when I finally woke up by myself, and before even realizing what time it already was, he told me he had some other obligations that day he should do now, and therefore we would need to postpone going to the technical inspection center until later that day.
OK, I thought, if his obligations wouldn't take longer than he said, we might still have enough time for everything, but...
Yeah, unavoidable, another bloody one "but"!
Just about the time when my husband was returning home, another unplanned event occurred that took us the following four hours, and then...
All in all, and in short, believe it or not, what was planned for early morning turned out into the late afternoon or, better to say, early evening.
It was the time when we finally occurred at the technical inspection center.
It should be the (happy) end of that day story, but it's not because here it comes another whole series of bloody "buts"!
On both headlights, one bulb wasn't working. Of course, my husband didn't check the front lights. He forgot it! How come? How so fast? It was the only thing he should do after I went home and before he entered the house!?! I was pissed!
Additional bad luck was that we couldn't replace the new bulbs there. The headlights are somewhat complicated, and the bulbs are not easily reachable without proper tools.
On top of that, they told us that headlight lenses were way too dull white (for their taste), so we were asked to replace them with new ones or to polish them.
In short, the car didn't pass the inspection, and it was too late to fix it all that day.
The following day was Saturday, the day after the deadline, meaning we were not allowed to drive the (unregistered) car, and if caught by the police, we would have to pay a "nice" fine, but...
Aha, here it comes again (the bloody "but")!
We can't pack the car in the suitcase and bring it to the mechanic who would replace or polish the headlights. Paying an expensive towing service (what would be the only available, allowed option) wasn't an option for me at all.
Another issue was that on Saturdays, the auto parts stores and mechanics work only in the morning, till noon or, at best, till 2 p.m.
We returned home, and I just started searching online for a mechanic who would properly polish the headlights (as buying the new ones would be way more expensive) when the "icing on the cake" arrived.
My husband informed me that he already has some plans and obligations for Saturday morning, so...
Enough! Done with "buts" and "so(s)", all sorts of "icings on the cake," and similar. I was pissed to the moon and back (for a couple of times) 😠 with the steam 😮💨 going out from the top of my head.
Am I the one who doesn't care about the regular maintenance and inspection of the car?
Am I the one who can't go to a car wash at least once per month?
Am I the one who didn't perform any prior checking before going to a technical inspection?
Am I the one who left it all for the last moment?
NO!!! - For all of the above questions.
I'm the one who suffers a terrible earache and should care only about the recovery.
So, I don't care about driving around with an unregistered car and eventually paying the fines for that. I also don't care anymore about prior plans and obligations for Saturday, or even less about running around on Saturday morning, from one mechanic to another, begging them for some emergency fixes.
BUT I want that technical inspection and car registration thing to get done on Saturday! 😮💨😠
Guess what!?!
We have done it!
Mr. husband, of a sudden, managed to squeeze and reschedule his otherwise irrevocable, non-postponeable, non-squeezable, and unscheduled plans and obligations in the way that all was done together with polished headlights and exchanged bulbs, so at noon, we were at technical inspection center, passed the inspection, and about half an hour later driving home in the car with renewed registration.
I love him a lot! ❤️❤️❤️
But... 😉