We’ve put 1,000 miles on our European rental car over the course of the past two weeks. The great majority of time spent on the road was nice. Especially in the South of France. Beautiful. But then we’d get to Centre Ville…
When we’re in France, we like to stay in historic city centers, where cobblestone streets are narrow and parking spaces are suitable for 2CV’s but not SUV’s. I knew this when I walked into the rental car office.
But I was weak. The sales girl got the best of me, and we came out with a rental car larger, (and more expensive), than what I had intended. I knew better, but oh well.
Ah, Technology
As described here last time, thanks to the latest advances in automobile safety technology, getting into narrow spaces in Centre Ville parking garages was more difficult than I would have ever imagined.
In reality, time spent parking was a minuscule percentage of our time spent traveling. And once the car is parked, it’s parked. Maybe for days. But eventually, it’s time to get back in the car and hit the road.
Pulling out of a space in a parking garage, even if it’s a tight one, should be easy, eh? At least easier than getting in. Ah, but we have yet to discuss side mirrors.
It would have been nice to move the side mirrors into “Park” position. But after dealing with the car’s proximity alarms, I had no desire to test out any new controls. I just left the mirrors alone.
But one time when we returned to our parked rental car, someone had pushed one of the side mirrors into the “Park” position. True, that might make getting out of the tight space a bit easier, but we’d need that mirror eventually.
I tried to move the mirror out manually. It didn’t budge. That mirror wasn’t going anywhere. I didn’t want to break it. OK. I’d try to move it from inside the car.
I started pushing buttons in the door, where side mirror controls are usually located. Nothing. The tiny diagrams on the buttons were indecipherable to me.
It’s Man vs. Mirror
Then all of a sudden, I got one of the mirrors to move out. But then it moved right back in! At the time, this seemed like progress.
I pressed more buttons. The mirror went out again, but then it went right back in. Again! (I ask you – what point could there possibly be in having a control that moves the mirror out and immediately back?)
I pushed more buttons. Quick pushes. Long pushes. Combinations of buttons. Nothing. Then all of a sudden both side mirrors started flapping in and out like the car was a baby bird jumping out of the nest for the first time. Unbelievable!
What possible purpose could this ridiculous behavior serve? Clearly the car is too heavy to fly. I surmise that this flapping was the car’s way of saying “Go away and leave me the hell alone!”
But that wasn’t going to happen. We were on vacation. We had places to go and things to see. And I’m no quitter.
I got out of the car and pulled really hard on the evil mirror that started all this. It would either come off completely or go into a usable position. I won. The mirror snapped into position and stayed put. Whew. We were on our way.
But we’re not done with this car yet.
To be continued…
