Car Woes

One of the few things I didn't like about Nigeria was not being able to drive. 

Besides not holding a driver's license (although my dad was all for my brother and I getting one), the roads are also way too narrow for my liking, and finally, drivers in Nigeria are a bit crazy. Their hands seem to be permanently glued to their horns, and there's a lot of speeding, abrupt stopping, and driving on whatever side of the road suits you at the moment (after all, you gotta avoid those pot holes!). 

While I am known to be a bit of a fast driver, I am NOT an aggressive one. And aggression is one trait you need to survive the roads back home. Thank God for drivers! 

But while I was absolutely grateful to have Mr. Tunde and Mr. Remi at my disposal, I kind of missed getting in my car and going wherever I wanted, whenever I wanted. And since they were really my parents' drivers, it's not like they were honestly at my disposal. And then there is the guilt factor. Once, Mr. Tunde took me to Lagos and I felt so bad leaving him in the car while I went about with my friends. 

Anyway, I was pretty excited to come home and get into my sweet old Honda Accord. Although, it was a bit weird at first. Even though I had only been gone for about three weeks, driving felt very weird at first. It's almost like I had forgotten what to do on these clean, wide, pothole-less roads! 

But even with the first few days of oddness, I LOVED having my car back. I loved driving myself places. I loved being ... free.

Well... guess what? I'm car-less again.

My transmission is failing... yet again. Not sure what to do about it. It'll cost about half of my summer salary to fix. But also, I bought the car in January '09, fixed the transmission once already in November '09, and now it's failing again?!?! Not cool! I'd rather buy a new one than throw money into this car if it's just going to try dying on me in another year and a half.

But... without a full-time job, a new car is kind of not in financial reaches for me. 

Story of my life.