Yes, we have in the last year dearly wished that we could get a new vehicle, and by new, I don't mean it has to be brand spanking, out of the box kind of new, but just new to us...and yes if it has 4 wheels, an engine and can safely get us from A to B and back again, that would really be an advantage.
We have had a few vehicles in our years together....we started off married life in 1982 with a Volkswagen station wagon that Johan picked up somewhere and he carefully restored to running order. I remember when we first started dating and I sat in the front passenger seat, he would every now and then fiddle under the seat and I never knew what the heck he was doing.....it was only months later that I discovered that the car battery was positioned under my seat and when I sat in it, the connection would sometimes work loose....all the time I thought he was trying to feel my leg. lol. We eventually donated it to a missionary who used it for many more years after that.
Not long into our marriage we bought a 2 litre Rover...it was yellow and made my dad very happy. haha Being a Rover fan himself, and lovingly caring for 3 of his own, he convinced Johan that if we wanted a good solid, reliable vehicle, we should buy a Rover. It was a good car, had a very smooth ride, we just didn't use it enough. We lived in town in those days and both walked to and from work, so the only time we used the Rover was to go to Church on a Sunday and prayer meeting on a Tuesday evening. That was until Matthew was born. When Matthew was 3 months old and I went back to work, then Johan used to drive every week day all the way across town to my mum, who looked after him during the day for us. When I eventually stopped working after our second child, Mark was born two years later, my pension payout paid off the remainder of what we owed on the Rover. I must say, of all our vehicles, the Rover cost us the least in servicing and repairs.
Next came the Mini....a maroon, two door, that Johan bought for me to drive. Let me point out that up until this time I did not have my drivers licence and was petrified to drive. I cannot remember how many times over the years I had written and passed my learners licence test and each time I let it expire before going for my drivers. I managed fine for many years...walking to work...walking to the shopping centre...walking to town and to the doctors and even walking the boys to pre-primary school. It was only when Matthew started at Primary school, that I realized, if I didn't want to rely on organizing lifts every day, then I would have to do something about getting my drivers licence. So along came the purchase of our mini, the only car that in my mind I would be capable of driving in order to get my licence. I loved that car, it was neat and tidy and I could zip in and out of parking spaces with no problem at all. The only downfall to the mini was its brakes.....oh my word they were bad. To make matters worse we lived in a valley after we moved away from town, so every day when going home I would have my foot on the brake pedal all the way down the hill. I can't remember how many times Johan would change the brake pads and then he would scoot in under the car while I sat for what seemed ages, pressing the brake pedal up and down in order to 'bleed' the brakes. Sigh...the stories we have regaled over the years about the mini, some of which were real movie making material, but what an awesome little car she was. We even moved with the mini, going up and down the hill with her bursting at the seams filled with boxes. lol Years later when Matthew was in high school we sold her and replaced her with a Mazda Midge....I will never forget that we bought her for R5000 and sold her for R5000, we didn't lose a cent.
Anyway as Johan worked longer and harder and was promoted, he became eligible for a subsidized car from work. We sold the Rover and bought a Toyota Corolla. I drove the mini and Johan drove the Toyota. We still lived in town at that stage, I was a housewife, fetching and carrying the children to and from school and sports activities....as well as half the neighbourhood. By this time we had NiQi too, so with Matthew in the front passenger seat, Mark and NiQi in the back, we could still fit two more children in the back...and we did, often. Johan was travelling a lot for work and used the Toyota every day. I remember the first time he let me drive the corolla, I scratched the side of the car trying to get out of the garage. We had a weird garage where you didn't drive straight in and out again, but actually turned in...round a pillar. My goodness, over the years I became a pro at going in and out, but that first day, I misjudged the closeness of the pillar with the turn and I scratched the car. It was a terrible feeling and I had a knot in my stomach waiting to tell Johan...it was the days before cell phones so I had to wait till he came home before telling him.
Johan then progressed after just a few years from the Toyota to our present day Nissan double cab...the year was 1997, so you can calculate how old she is today!!!! We sold the mini in 1999 and bought a Mazda Midge. By this time, Johan was working away from home during the week and the mini, was battling to start on our cold winter mornings. Mark had passed away by this stage, Matthew was in high school, NiQi was in Primary school and I was working a half day job in town. The morning run was long, Matthew's school was on the other side of town to NiQi's, and to get the children to school on time we had to leave at about 6.30 am. When we moved we had no idea at that stage how useful and at the same time, painful, our steep driveway would become in later years. I would put the key in the steering and then let the mini run down the driveway trying to jump start it with the run...it never happened first time round, so Matthew and I would push it all the way back up the driveway with NiQi steering and ready to pull the hand brake up when we reached the top. Every day this became our early morning ritual and we never knew how many times we might have to push her back up the driveway before she would start. She was nicknamed 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' by Matthew's peers and as much as I had loved driving her over the years, at that point I wasn't sorry to let her go. The mazda was the first car we bought ourselves, brand new. We extended our home loan to buy it, but I remember how proud we were to be able to buy it. What a relief after all the early starts with the mini and it added at least half an hour to our mornings by not having to get outside so early.
When Matthew was in his final year of school, Johan left the government service. He gave 20 years of his life to working for the government but with changes in the country and further promotions now null and void, he decided he could be more useful elsewhere. With part of his package we bought the Opel Astra, having sold the mazda to tide us over until Johan received his payout....the year was 2001.
That brings us to today, 2013. The Nissan is 16 years old, has driven more than 200 000 km, taken us on our one and only holiday to Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe and is now gasping for air. She is an old lady...we have as many tales we can tell of travels with her but she is on her last legs. Having taken her down to the wedding packed with NiQi's oxygen machine, oxygen cylinder and other paraphernalia, her gear box broke...she now stands behind the house not able to be used. The Astra is 12 years old and although still running, is in a bad state and need of repair. One night last year, when NiQi was in hospital, whether it was by just one person or more than one, we don't know, our vehicles were vandalized....windows smashed, wiring pulled out, batteries stolen, seats ruined and all the locks damaged. The poor old ladies have never been the same and years later we are no longer in a position to replace or repair them.
So NiQi's prayer is a family prayer. It's not a prayer of want or greed, it's a prayer of need. Hospital trips come round so quickly and the 80 km trip there and the same back again is a concern. As with everything else in life though we believe that God's plan, though known only to Him, will in His time, be an answer to our prayers....patience is a virtue that we learnt many years ago, and when our patience is waning He delivers as promised, so that once more we can give Him the glory. Larkwood life has been around for many years with many tales to tell...and it will be around, God willing, for many more.
I pray for a car for you.....
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