First time refueling the new car. I think I cut it extremely fine this time. Might have to be wiser in the future!

Day 1: Biblical deluge on the freeway.

Day 2: 3 crashes on my path to work.

Day 3: I am about to be towed by AAA Roadside assistance.

Displayed my manhood and changed it. Now we have to get the bloody tire fixed. All this on an action packed / tightly scheduled Saturday morning.

90 > 65.

At least, this is what the very polite CHP Officer just explained to me… First ticket ever!

Some people have it, some people don't... but one thing is sure... I am not a car genius... And so far, I have been plagued by tiny annoying problems.

So the last installment of the "Cyril's not a car's best friend" started over a month ago, when coming back from Amsterdam, I tried to start my car and faced an empty battery issue... So the first step was to try to find jump start cables. Once this was done, I started to look into the process... very scary at first... "Attach the red wire to the + bolt of the dead battery, then the red wire (the other end obviously) to the + bolt of the active battery. Then the black to the - bolt on the active battery and the black onto the... oh, no... not the the - bolt on my car's battery... "Please find a piece of metal that is grounded, as every battery made after 1991 are meant to be grounded, etc... "... But where? Block Engine? Ah... What is the block Engine? I guess, the big thing in the middle... "Avoid connecting the remaining wire to the pipe leading to the carburetor"... Well, so on the block engine, but not on a pipe? Oh and not on the side of the car either...

So after 20 minutes of shaking hands trying to connect all these things, Sarah found where to connect and off we went, my car did start. We then went for a little ride for approximately an hour, trying to recharge the dead battery.

A couple of weeks go by and boom... again... Getting good at it, it only takes few minutes to jump start the car and off I go, another hour spent on the road...

Then 2 weeks ago, I drive to the office (planning to buy an anniversary present for Sarah during my lunch break) and park on the roof of the building. I then go back around noon, cars on the left, cars on the right and A DEAD ENGINE! Arrrggggg...

After 4 days (it took that long to find a time when no one was parked on either side of my car), a colleague of mine, Miles, kindly helps me to jump start the bloody car and I can go home. No time for driving around.

And then last week, still having to buy a present for Sarah and having meetings in various locations that day, I decide to take my car, but this time... I am clever, I park at a corner, making sure that any car could park next to me and jump start me... Which didn't fail... Car dead... Sarah had to come to the rescue...

I then finally decided to admit that my battery might have an issue and that it was time to seek help from a specialist! So I ask around and Yoshi points me to some garage. Went there and 30 minutes later, my car had a new battery and engine was starting perfectly all the time...

It only took me a month to reach that point!

Does anyone want to be what the next problem might be? (so far we had a large scratch on the right side of the car (still to be fixed), a failing sun roof, a defective passenger seat and a dead battery...)

Well, it had to happen at one point or another, but here it is! I have got the first scratch on my car! I know I am not yet a great driver but I wish I could have managed to get a little scratch... Not the ENTIRE rear panel as it is now!

So how did this happen? Well, simply. Am in a rush, have to be in the office within 10 minutes for a call... and my car is stuck in the car park between a huge pickup (Yukon) and a a big pillar... I did really well avoiding to scratch the Yukon and I don't know how I did it but I managed to get my car simply totally stuck between the pillar on the right and the wall at the front... And suddenly, the deafening noise and the realisation that I must have damanged my little pimp mobile... Another 10 minutes and I am finally out of this bloody parking space and I can asses the damages... :(

So any help about getting this fixed will be really appreciated as I have absolutely no clue where I shall go from here! :)

Hell froze over! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, 20 years after I first started to learn how to drive, aged 17, in France, I now am officially allowed to drive as I got my driver's license today!

Next steps: buying my car and then trying to survive for a couple of weeks on the streets of California!

As you might know, I am in the process of obtaining a Californian Driver's license, well, once I'll have managed to get the behind the wheel test, as it seems that the local administration has lost all evidences of my appointment with them next week...

Test has to be rescheduled... :)

Anyways, while both Sarah and I were learning for our written test, we couldn't help but noticing (and then marking) some pretty interesting rules and recommendations of the dos and don't for California drivers which I'd love to share with you...

On Pedestrians (or "Excuse me sir but could you move your Zimmer frame away?"):

Allow older pedestrians more time to cross the street. They are more likely to die as a result of a crash than younger pedestrians.

On things you must not do (or I must come from another planet):

Do not shot firearms on a highway or at traffic signs.Do not block or hinder a funeral procession.Do not ride, or allow a child to ride a pocket bike on a public street or highway [(...) as ] they do no meet federal safety standards

On driving in the fog (or how would Europe do?):

The best advice for driving in the fog is DON'T. You should consider postponing your trip until the fog clears.

On Safety for Aging drivers (or denunciation is OK if they're old):

Generally, older drivers, especially over the age of 70, have more crash per mile than any other group [...]. Also it is more difficult for older drivers to recover from injuries suffered in a crash. If you are concerned about an aging driver, see "Referring an unsafe driver"

Most of these make sense but just the way some are written down crack me up!

Today was meant to be the day I was resuming my driving activities, after a mere 20 years gap in practicing! And it DIDN'T HAPPEN!

Living in LA is great, the weather is fab, the people seem nice (So far) but their public transport system sucks and lags 50 years behind and one thing that one can't live without is a car and a drivers license!

20 years ago, I started working on my drivers license, back in France, like any other young 17-18 years old did but did not complete the process due to a little motorbike crash, close to the day of my written test. The crash itself wasn't bad. We just slipped on the road, went back on the bike and carried on to my friend "Gob's" and thought we would carry on with our night. Sadly, I had "scratched" my knee and required many stitches to try to cover this patella of mine. Not the end of the world.

The story continues when a couple of days after my cast was removed (they had to put a cast in place to avoid the stitches to pop every time I bent my leg), I decided to go a pay a visit to a friend of mine who was then hospitalized for a minor intervention. And then, shit happened! I simply slipped on a small step at the entrance of the hospital and ended up with a lovely set of torn ligament in the knee that hadn't bent for a couple of weeks. At least, I managed to walk to the A&E (ER) and got seen straight.

The result was simple. I was too dangerous to myself and the surgeon decided I had to stay on a bed for a couple of days before he could explore the knee in more details, which I then agreed with. The dude simply forgot to tell me he had a vacation booked and was shooting off on the following day for 2-3 weeks, which I spent in the bloody hospital! Which meant that I had to definitely put my driving class on hold and wait until I could walk again to resume my activities.

After a week or so, I was joined in hospital by several friends of mine who just got involved in some sever car crash and were treated for various fractures, lacerations and other fun things that added to the fact I wasn't really keen any more to learn the driving thing.

From then on, I passed my baccalaureate, left my home town and moved to Dijon for a couple of years, not needing a car. I moved then to Paris where the "Metro" is fabulous and cheap and almost no-one I knew then had a car simply because of the various costs (including the many parking tickets) and the fact that we were students.

There was as well this episode of my army time (conscription in France at the time). I drove a couple of jeeps here and there (mainly to go out and to buy cigarettes), ambulances but I must have been the only guy who didn't get to pass his license while dressed in green. The reason? Simple. I caught the best friend of the guy in charge of approving the process, smuggling medically retired shoes (due to fungus and other funny things you can find in a shoe) to flee markets and third parties, at a profit as you can guess... The result was simple. The guy's career was a mess and my driver's license authorization got filled in the trash can... Next?!

Life 2.0 arrived and I ended up in London where the "Tube" is everywhere and I didn't plan to learn to drive on the "Wrong" side of the road...

Which leads us to TODAY! Los Angeles! I have to drive! I am stuck between the office and home and am still just a pedestrian. We so far live close enough from the office that I can walk, but by this weekend, this'll be all over and I'll be stuck!

So last Friday, I passed my Californian Written Test (and succeeded) and my FIRST ever lesson was booked for today.

I got up early, Sarah even went out to buy us a McDonalds breakfast to brighten the day. I was getting ready when my phone rung and I was told that my lesson had to be cancelled because the teacher had to go by the office...

So, it is not the end of the world, but after 20 years, now that I am ready for it, they can't even make it!!!

Gutted!

End of grump!