In order to do something different each week of the year, I have a list of challenges to undertake...

Sunday 26 May 2013

Week 21 - Clean the Car

I reckon that there are two sorts of car owner in the world - the first category is those who clean the car on a Sunday, never miss a service (probably at the main dealer), check tyre pressure and fluid levels regularly and generally treat their pride and joy with respect. The car will be perhaps 3 or 4 years old, and they keep an eye out for scratches which they get fixed, so that the car keeps its value. They may even have a name for their car, and imbue it with a personality.

The second category is those who treat the car as a tool - a means to an end. They grumble at the running costs and put any essential servicing through the local grease monkey garage. They don't check under the bonnet unless a light on the dashboard comes on. They turn up the radio to drown out any inconvenient noises that the car might make, and realise that at ten years old, its resale value is negligible - and as for the odd scratch or dent, well, that's life, isn't it?

I fall into the second category, and as such, cleaning the car is the same level of priority as painting the shed. It has to be done every couple of years in order to stop it becoming a total eyesore, but it's a vile job which is to be put off for as long as possible.

But that's what the 52week challenge is all about - doing things that are different. So today, the banana car got the clean of it's life - outside a wash, rinse, alloy wheel scrub, window wash and e-cloth dry. Including sills, door frames and wheel arches.

Inside, the inventory included a lumphammer, pencil, plant labels, pair of secateurs, pliers, wire (thick and thin), string, drill, towels, two sticks of rhubarb, bradawl, sweet papers, parking receipts, a desiccated radish, two old bathtowels, a couple of rubble sacks, a potato sack, an umbrella, road atlas, cassette (no case), cd case (no cd), paintbrushes (1 for fence painting, 1 tiny thin one), 4 hooks, a 'car box' including tow rope, windscreen de-icer, 3-in-1 oil can (but no jumpleads as my brother has borrowed them), a miscellaneous round token, presumably for a parking barrier.

All that lot was cleared out, and the mats too, and I vacuumed all the inside, polished the dash, washed, dried and de-smeared the windows. Useful gardening things went back in (confined to ONE small trug which fits in the boot), along with the umbrella and the 'car box', but that's it.

Now it doesn't quite feel like I'm driving my own car.....


Week 21 Challenge: done!

5 comments:

  1. I think we fit into the in between category.

    We have 3 cars which are all over 20years old ( the Morris Minor is a 1957 model) and although Hubby does the minor servicing on them and wash the 4WD on a regular basis, they only get cleaned out inside when we really need to (about each season probably). We pull a caravan with the big one and mine is only small and as you say we would get peanuts for them if we had to sell.
    BTW, they are all red!!!!!! Well done for this week.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow - I love the sound of your MM - a classic car!

      Delete
  2. I'm inbetween too; pretty good at main dealer servicing, tyre pressure etc but the inside is a fright! It's "configured" for Daisy and fell-walking which means I can't take a passenger other than the front seat. As for washing the outside - isn't that what regular Cumbrian rain is for?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love your rain theory Bilbo.

      Delete
    2. No, rain does not count! If it did, I would never wash the car, just squirt a bit of detergent on and let it get on with it!

      Delete