space
Just like the rest of the world, I've been locked up during the lockdown. I know, some people binge-watch on Netflix at a time like this, or piece together insanely large jigsaw puzzles, or pray for schools to open up immediately. Not me. I stay glued to my computer, just like I do when the world is not hiding from a nasty little virus that originated in China. I always have work to do on my computer. And so, while I have no real distractions to pull me away from home, I have been writing and illustrating two more children's books while listening to countless videos on YouTube. I've heard some people say on these videos that this is a good time to learn something new. Take advantage of the time at home to expand your list of skills. Pick up a guitar. Find out how to fix a broken toilet. Take up yoga. I have no interest in any of that. Now, if something breaks at my home, I pick up my telephone and call my brother. You see, I already know how to fix anything. I call my brother.
I have really made the effort to keep my social distance and maintain my health. So far, so good. I have my mask and rubber gloves for those occasions when I sneak out to go shopping, during off-hours, of course. And, that happens about once every other week. So, that's how I found myself in the parking lot of a shopping center one morning. Mask on, gloved up, and actually with one of those elusive jars of hand-sanitizer inside my car, just waiting for me. I use it after every time I've been in a store.
My car is a Fiat 500, which I wrote about a few blogs ago. It appears there are not many of them in Columbus, Ohio. I have come to that conclusion because it gets comments everywhere I go, which is certainly a new experience for me. Of course, it received more comments in the good old days - just a few weeks ago - when people took the time to possibly talk to someone at a gas station, in front of a coffee shop, or in a church parking lot. (I live in Ohio. We do that in Ohio.) Yes, complete strangers commented on how small the car was. They wanted to know what kind of mileage it had. One man was even curious if he could tip it over all by himself.
But, looking at the car from the outside doesn't give the observer the full truth as to just how tiny the car is on the inside. The driver's seat is set as low as it possibly can be set. I still have to scrunch about an inch so I can properly see out the windows. And honestly, I don't even know why there is a back seat. Nobody will ever sit in the back as long as I own the car. I have my driver's seat moved back as far as possible so I have the necessary legroom to drive. The passenger seat is moved back as well. And, when those seats are in that position, there is no room for another body in the car. Now, I've been in taxis in Africa that would certainly squeeze bodies in the back. But, I don't know how it is humanly possible.
In my previous car, I had some items that I always carried in the glove compartment of my SUV. Just saying those three letters and you know there was extra space. There was even a handy-dandy compartment between the two bucket seats. All of that space is missing in my Fiat. But, I still need all of those certain items that used to be in my glove compartment. So, I purchased a little bag for them. I placed it where your feet might go in the backseat if you ever tried to fit back there. To give you an idea of how tiny that space is, I cannot just reach back and bring the bag up front. No, I have to stop the car, pull the latch that makes the passenger seat fall forward and only then can I access the bag. There is no other way to get to the bag. Yep, the space is just that tiny.
Meanwhile, back at the shopping center parking lot . . .
I strolled my shopping cart up to the trunk and pushed the button to open the hood. It didn't open. Of course, I tried it again and again. It didn't open again and again. For whatever reason, the hood was in no mood to open. I stuffed my purchases in the passenger side of the front seat and headed home. I couldn't call my brother as I normally would. He was also on coronavirus lockdown. Sadly, resisting the whole way, I headed to YouTube. Like it or not, it was time to see how to open up the trunk of a Fiat 500 that didn't want to open. It was time to learn that new skill that I really didn't want to learn.
It appears that this seems to be a common problem with my car model. There were several suggestions on what to do. The first video showed that if a screwdriver was applied and twisted in just the right location, it was possible to pop the trunk open. Of course, that right location was inside the car, located in a space inside the trunk. Now, you already know that my back seat area is not much of an area at all. I pushed the passenger seat all the way forward and somehow crawled into the back seat where nobody my size was ever meant to crawl. I kind of had an idea where I was supposed to put my screwdriver. It was so much easier said than done.
On YouTube, the mechanic had an actual screwdriver. Mine was a tiny attachment to a baby Swiss Army knife. I don't think it was more than two inches long. (I guess I need to add a real screwdriver to my emergency supplies in my trunk.) Anyway, if I ever got that baby Swiss blade placed in the proper space inside the lock, I'll never know. I couldn't see anything. Yes, I had a flashlight in that bag in the back seat, but the lock was covered with carpet. I couldn't see anything. Everything was done by touch. I've always suspected that my sense of touch wasn't fine enough to read Braille. I know for certain that it isn't good enough to pop a lock with a screwdriver.
I went back to YouTube for further videos.
In another video, it showed a button that only needed to be pressed in order to pop the hood. So, with that in mind, I squeezed once again into the back seat. I had to flatten down one of the seats in order to better reach into the trunk in search of that elusive button. I pushed. I struggled and pushed some more. By the time I gave up in frustration, I was fairly convinced that my model of Fiat didn't have that button. And, I later learned I was right.
I went back to my computer one more time.
One article I found said that there was a good chance some auto part would have to be replaced. Hoping that was an article written by an auto service store, I continued my search. Another person said that sometimes the mechanism gets stuck and just needs some oil. That provided hope, but I still had to access the dang lock. One more person wrote to say that they stopped their car, restarted it, and then the lock worked. That was worth a try.
Just so you know, I don't usually start my car inside the garage when the door is down. I guess if you do that too often or too long, you're eventually going to run out of opportunities to do it again. But, it was cold and the car wasn't going to run very long. I gave my car a start and then tried to lift the hood door. Low and behold, it opened up about as fast as the ignition was turned off! Much to my shock and delight, I fixed something without calling my brother. That truly rarely happens.
I thought, "I really should spray some oil inside that lock to loosen things up." I added WD40 to my mental "to do" shopping list. Then, I realized that I actually had some in my emergency box for my car. I bought it after I had the flat tire that I blogged about in December. Yep, I was a boy scout and actually prepared. I sprayed up that lock but good, and I haven't had a problem with it ever since.
Finally, I called up my brother to tell him he wasn't needed. I fixed my car without him. But, I promise, the next time the toilet breaks, I'm calling him again. There is no need for YouTube. He's already fixed this problem twice. I have no desire to ever learn how to fix a leaky toilet.