Eh-team Menu

17 January 2009

The Death and Resurrection of the Destroyer

Wednesday was the official orientation to Medicine for the international contingent.  There is about to be 430 people in our first year class- 88 from Canuckland, 23 from USA, 2 from Malaysia, 1 each from Singapore, Nigeria and Tobago.  Yikes!  The morning was mainly welcomes and then the school hosted a BBQ for us, followed by a trip to Mt (read:hill) Coot-tha.  The afternoon continued at the Regatta, a drinking establishment.  I wasn't in the financial or tummy mood for alcohol, so I went home at this point.  Then more waiting, as the real classes don't begin until Monday the 19th.
So on Thursday I went for a job interview and later had coffee with Gillian Moses, one of the ministers at the Cathedral I attend for church.  Friday Brady and I had been invited by J3 (James/Janet/Jacob) out to Ipswich to enjoy the pool and have supper.  We headed out about 2 pm in the hot sun.  About 20 km into the journey, on the M2 motorway.  The engine just stopped.  I pulled over (on the right side- some reactions die hard).  The engine would turn over, but would not engage. The Destroyer had died, he has ceased to be, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile! The Destroyer was an ex-car, for all practical purposes at that moment (for those that did not catch the reference: YouTube- "Ex parrot")
Hmmmm...this had never happened to me before.  I had no clue who I should be calling.  Fortunately for us, they were doing road work adjacent to us, and a kind fellow ran over and said "So, she's completely stuffed, then?"  He called a tow truck for us.  It was 35 degrees and the poor fellow was in coveralls, probably cooking from the inside out.  Shortly, a nice towtruck, not the appointed one, arrived to check out the scene, and stopped to pull us off the freeway (there were no shoulders, so we were effectively blocking the fast lane) From there, the driver recommended calling RACQ (Royal Auto Club of QLD)and gave us the number.  I can now report that I am the proud owner of a 2 year membership, as this was only reasonably more than the minimum for a tow and inspection for a nonmember. Oh Geez!  So we waited for the next tow truck.  We had failed to bring any waterbottles with us (as THAT would have been SMART), and the heat was pretty intense.  Our tow truck driver arrived about 20 minutes later, and hauled us off to "Larry's Pitstop" in Wachol.  There we met Maggie, who offered us an aircon space and a drink. Apparently cars had been expiring in the heat all day and arriving via a parade of tow trucks.  Larry hypothesized that the heat was enough to vapourize the fuel, which then was not making it into the combustion chambers.  He put some gas in the carborator, and the Destroyer revived! He said there was no electrical or other mechanical faults that he could see. On top of that, the shop didn't charge me for the work!
By this point it was 4:30, and starting to cool off a bit.  As we were half way in between home and our destination, we decided to continue on.  Narry a hiccup from the car. We had a lovely dinner and hung out in the pool until well past dark.

Brady has decided to stay on and share the house (and rent) with me until November.  It will be good to have company, somebody to cook for, and a study buddy.   Apparently in Australia, sharehouses are extremely common among working people as well as students, as rents in the city are fairly high.
Tonight we are having supper with a 2nd year student from Ontario who was matched up with us as a mentor.  Should be enlightening.  We are also marching through episodes of "Big Bang Theory" in the evenings.  Everyone I've talked to including me is just so eager to get going.....BRING IT!!!!!

No comments:

Post a Comment