Just Another Thursday

It's been months since I washed my car. Months of rain, sunshine, dirt and pollen from the big oak tree shading the driveway where I park each night.

Today at lunch, I decided to do something about that. I grabbed my homemade PB&J from the breakroom fridge, grabbed a can of soda and headed across the street to the automatic drive-through car wash.

Ordinarily I'd take my car to a washing bay and pop quarters into it until I had scrubbed it clean, but since I was going to eat my lunch simultaneously, I thought it would be nice to be pulled through the car wash, thereby saving my work clothes from getting splashed with dirt and soapy water.

The first sign of trouble was when one of the attendants who was pre-washing the outside of my car knocked on my window. I rolled it down and he pointed out that the sunroof didn't appear to be fully closed. I thanked him, rolled up my window, and hit the 'close' button on the sunroof.

Then I was into the car wash, happily chomping away at my homemade PB&J, and alternating with carrots sticks to add a little crunch.

It was pretty cool to just sit back, my car in neutral, and let the conveyor belt pull me through the 100 yards or so of swirling brushes and spraying water.

At about the halfway point, it all went bad.

That's when the water started pouring out of the sunroof hatch.

I'm sure it would make for a better story if I described the water pouring down on me, soaking my hair and clothes, but (thankfully) the flood was limited to the passenger side, making me immediately thankful that I'd decided to make this trip alone.

Still, I was helpless to do anything but watch as a few gallons of soapy water poured down on the passenger side seat and floor, soaking the rest of my lunch with along with it.

As soon as I was out of the car wash, I rolled down the windows, opened the sunroof, salvaged what I could of the rest of my lunch, and drove around for a while in the ninety degree heat of the day, trying to help the drying process along.

But honestly, after a lunch break like that, I was happy to get back to the office.