�Why must winter come so soon?�
11:20 a.m.
I also met an acquaintance at the pharmacy on my walk back to the garage, someone I have known since I first moved here, and who I now rarely see. She and her husband, a professor in the psychology department, adopted a baby girl just six months older than Little Princess, and as a result we had much in common for quite a while. We met at an aerobics class I signed up for upon my arrival in the area, and continued our friendship through play group, library activities and preschool. The girls ended up going to different elementary schools (mine in French, her�s in English), and when they reunited in highschool they were no longer in the same crowd. So we caught up on the past in front of the prescription counter between the cough drops and the eye-care products, and I found out that the husband of her neighbour, a woman who also attended aerobics class with us, died last August. I tell you, this growing old thing is for the birds. Live long enough, and look what happens to you!
Have I mentioned the window farts before? Over a year ago we had the front windshield on the Subaru replaced because a stone chip caused a pressure crack that moved very quickly right across the glass. Ever since then, after driving for about 45 minutes in bright sunshine at an rpm of 3500 or so, a farting sound, kind of like a very loud mosquito buzz, starts up. You can vary the speed of the car, but eventually it settles back into that optimum cruising rpm and the sounds starts up again. The first time it happened, my husband was driving back by himself from Ontario, a long trip, and this sound was practically constant, drowning out the music from the CD player. He was going crazy.
So we took the car to the dealership, told them there was a problem, and when we picked it up they said there had been something loose in the passenger side rear-view mirror and they had fixed it. On the next long trip in the car the sound started again. It was not the mirror, but was definitely coming from around the edge of the windshield. So we took it back, telling them we would like it fixed this time, please. They actually took it for a drive on the autoroute, heard the noise, sent it back to the company which installed the window in the first place, and told us it was corrected. I think you know where I�m going with this. It�s still there, a sudden �zzzzzt!� when you least expect it. It actually makes me jump when it happens.
I spoke to Junior about it this morning and asked if he had any thoughts on the matter. He made a few calls, but had nothing definitive. He suggested that the next time it happens, pull over to the side of the road and put wide masking tape around the window edge, and see if that makes a difference. There might be a spot where air is leaking through, but not until it reaches that RPM and a certain temperature. He also said something else could be vibrating and it just sounds like the windshield, but on the last trip I actually put my hand on the glass near the edge and felt the vibration with my fingers.
Anyway, on the drive home I had an opportunity to admire the fall leaves. My good friend coldandgray�s description of her fall drive is perfect for what I experienced this morning. There was a fine drizzle and complete overcast, and the leaves themselves seemed to have an inner luminosity, giving off their own light. The colours were amazing, almost no green is left at all among the deciduous trees, and the ground is littered with a carpet of reds and golds. It is so beautiful, but it is definitely a harbinger of winter to come. Soon there will be no colours at all, just a thick blanket of white shit.
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