The Car from Hell

well, after 5mo, my car has officially been banished. the brakes failed (again!) and after 2hrs of trying, the mechanic called me to tell me he couldn't even get it on the hoist without it bending. turns out the floor, rocker panels, and frame are shot to hell and gone: they're badly rotted and it looks like the car was in an accident.

the owner of the time, instead of doing the right thing and scrapping the car, had the damage glossed over and puttied with fibreglass. i'm thinking, too, the guy probably didn't even know that had been done: he went to a "buddy" mechanic and paid pennies and expected a full-dollar job because the mechanic who certified that damned thing certainly knew the car was dangerous! what makes it even more inexcusable is they KNEW the car was for someone with a baby who lives in a remote area! the mechanic i had the car to said if i even hit a speed bump too hard, the car would literally break apart. if i got into a low-impact accident (30k, even), the car would fly into a million pieces and - this is a direct quote - "people would die". he said in ten years as a shop owner, he's never seen anything like it.

needless to say, at the first opportunity, i'm reporting the certifying mechanic to the MTO although it's probably reasonable to assume that the identifying info on the paper is false too.

so now i'm back where i started - hitch-hiking and bumming rides - but it was -26C out there this morning. the guy who eventually stopped for us said he thought i was a lot older because frost had turned my hair white.