The other day I thought I was a bit down … a bit depressed. A few things have been going on lately that I thought had triggered Betty the depressive demon out of the garage to pay me a visit.
Wrong.
I was so filled with self pity that I had a little wallow in the gloopy soup of misery. What however I failed to recognise, is that it’s ok to sometimes just be a bit blue. That’s life. That’s normal. What however is not normal is how I dealt with it. I wasn’t quite hiding in the understairs cupboard with a vat of wine and a twin packet of ginger nuts, but it was looking rather appealing.
So, with a gentle nudge from the Colonel, my long suffering husband, I took to cleaning his pride and joy, the car. It was due to be sold so this was the moment.
Now, to explain, this is a car that should I leave hair bands, hand creams, spare water, emergency biscuits in, they are removed by my husband with a grimace whilst holding his breath. This is the car that should I accidentally put a grubby finger on the windscreen, causes a reaction in said husband that is somewhat akin to what I assume would be being tasered. It renders him speechless and incapacitated for a few moments, and finally as the shock wears off he disappears with considerable haste into the boot to find cloths and cleaning products. Strangely he doesn’t find my stifled guffaws of laughter and snorting giggles of apology help the situation.
So a few days ago, I took my blue mood out to the car and cleaned.
I spent seven hours cleaning that car. Yes.
I washed, polished, waxed, buffed and buffed again. I cleaned under the bonnet, inside the door frames, inside the petrol cap. I hoovered and sucked and sprayed. I used every single bottle from the vast array in his car cleaning box and then went and bought more. I replaced dust caps that I had lost when puffing up the tyres, I tried (and failed) to clean up the teensy scrapes along the alloys (ok, darn big chunks were missing). All in all, that car hadn’t looked that good since we bought it (bar the alloys).
A day in the autumn sun being busy, active, chatting to random strangers who passed by the house, and not only was a left with a sparkling car, but my mood was completely and utterly rectified. I felt marvellous.
The Colonel returned from a hard day of doing whatever it is that he actually does, and it was a ‘taser moment’ all over again. He was speechless and just stood staring. I grinned and squealed rather a lot, hopping up and down with crossed legs in excitement at his wonderful reaction.
After showing him every inch of the car, he emptied the garage and insisted that it stay inside protected until any potential buyers came to view it. Suffice to say, we have sold it to the first person at asking price but sadly my dear husband has now delegated any car cleaning duties in the future to yours truly. Not every cloud has a silver lining.
Katie x
Do you have a car and who cleans it?? Do you love or loathe the job? Or is it some kind of therapy?
Wow that was a cleaning marathon! I’m very impressed as car cleaning is a job I hate
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Ha! Normally I do it with very bad grace, but this time I really got carried away and weirdly it was great fun!!
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If you had fun that’s all that matters 😉 x
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Wow. One is supposed to clean cars? Surely, life is too short!
The bloke across the road washes his midlife-crisis Porsche every day, whether it has been out or not. Needless to say our styles of vehicle management differ somewhat.
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Ha!! I do think that men of a certain age with Porsches are trying to fill some sort of void in their life! I’ve done enough cleaning now to last a lifetime and am milking it for all it’s worth. Katie the Angel with Six Pairs of Wings. 😇😂😂
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It is a bit of a cliche though isn’t it, the porsche thing?😄.
Enjoy those brownie points Katie!
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Isn’t that why for men it’s called the “Meno-Porsche”!
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😀😀😀
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I’m going down the comments, reading them all before I add mine and I can’t get past yours because I’m laughing too much. ‘Mid-life crisis Porche’ – – That’s so funny!
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Ha! Very true though!! Men of a certain age … 😇
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Thank you 🙂
Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
x
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I used to love Mercedes, I could never afford a new one, but I loved the models from the seventies and eighties. I used to have a 1974 230E. It was my pride and joy. Mustard with brown leather and woodgrain veneer.
I used to clean old Otto thoroughly from top to toe every Sunday. It was my quiet contemplative time, when I would think things through and get my head screwed on good and tight.
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How absolutely lovely … you’re right, it’s good thinking time isn’t it. I used to have a little 4/4 Morgan which I loved … it was new but the old design and you can go and watch them make the cars. Beautiful. Katie
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Im so glad I read this, my man of three years just recently arrived on the drive in his shiny new mercedes, then proceeded to walk round it checking for any specks of dust etc.. I looked on feeling the stress, wondering if there were baby wipes on my seat to wipe my shoes !!! No one would take my battered little beetle away from me, it has style but I can happily tootle around with no anxiety. As for cleaning hmmmm… but being out in the autumnal air is a must.
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You have a Beetle?! How wonderful! I love them and the noise they make! I’d love one … either that or Citroen 2CV. Heaven! Yup, I reckon you’ve got mega style with your Beetle. 🙏🙏👍☀️
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Yes an older shape one which I actually prefer. Its blue and has a huge daisy on the bonnet and the name daisy on the boot. I love her so much. I went to Austria on honeymoon in a Citroen 2cv many moons ago and always fancied getting one again but the beetle won the day.
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Aww how lovely! Both the daisy and the 2cv! I should think that the Beetle is sturdier too which is no bad thing. We’ve just been to the caravanning show up at the NEC (weird I know!) and I was mad for the VW campervans … VW are just so wonderfully quirky! Love em!
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Sounds very therapeutic. I actually just had my MOT done on my car this morning and, joy of joys, they washed it inside and out too! Saves me paying someone else to do it 😂.
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Ha!! Oh what a joy! I think it’s the inside hoovering bit that I find a tad dull! The hoover nozzle never fits down the sides of the seats and in all the nooks and crannies! Maybe I should have just had an MOT done!
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No car…I try to live as simply as possible
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And it really is so much easier without a car …. particularly in London. The public transport is excellent and frankly we can always get a cab if we’re going out for the evening! Well, I’m now in the same boat as you … car-less
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Same thing. I’m in nyc….having a car would crush me
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We’re (fingers crossed) going to be moving there next summer which was another reason for selling up. Didn’t think we’d be needing it much!
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🤞
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I really don’t like cleaning my car, I just think there are at least 50 more interesting and useful activities I could be doing instead. And it ends up dirty again within a couple of days, which seems to compound the pointlessness!
With kids you can’t be too precious about cars I think, the interiors especially. Otherwise you’d be freaking out at every crumb dropped or finger print on the window. I remember my dad always saying “keep your feet on the mats!” and it didn’t really make for relaxing or fun journeys.
That said, we did buy a pressure washer last year for a few tasks – car washing being one of them – and that’s pretty fun to use!
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Oooh I’d love one of those pressure washers! You’re right about the whole children thing … mine are now all grown up, well 18 and 19 so grown-up-ish but in the old days, I’m completely with you, I’d frankly never have bothered cleaning the car. Totally pointless!
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I am currently standing outside my car having it washed and hoovered! 😂. Yep, that’s how lazy I am.
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Ha!! You have my dream life – please adopt me as your long-lost sister!!
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That’s got to be worth some serious marital brownie points! My cleaning distractions tend to focus on de-poop-ifying the rooms where the guinea pigs (aka my little poop factories) live.
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Ha! Yup excellent brownie points! I love that – your poop factories!! That’s made me laugh out loud!
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I bought a new little car just over a year ago and I’m so chuffed with it, I still clean it myself. Usually, the novelty wears off, but this time it hasn’t! Find the process quite liberating and feel proud of my shiny little car. It is good to get outside and chat to the passers by too. 🙂
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Yes, I used to be like that with the little garden in the front of my cottage. I’d love doing it and it was a great opportunity to chatter. 😊
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I have an old Mini and love it! Bit like a dodgem. Old and gets the occasional coughing fit but takes me where I need to go. Won’t upgrade until it actually dies on me. Cleaning tends to happen when my teenager needs to earn some cash…. 🙂
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I love the old minis … wonderfully quirky and fun! 😊👍
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Hi Katie – yes I love cleaning my car and it does make me feel great : )
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It’s great isn’t it! And like mowing the grass, the results for the effort make it all worthwhile!
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I wouldn’t be an “every Sunday clean the car” kinda guy, but I like to do it before I do a long enough journey; it reminds me of the day before going on holidays when I was a kid. 🙂 Great post!
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Yes, we always have a big session before a trip so that even though when we arrive it’s a bit mucky, it looks great on the way! 👍☀️
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Wow, 7 hours! How theraputic that must have been. I’d get a little self-concious after an hour and feel the neighbours were laughing at me behind swaying blinds, so well done for persevering.
My hubby gets irritated with my ‘door pocket junk’ as he calls it – baby wipes, nappy sacks (not for stray infants, but putting the wipes in) hand sanitiser (my daughter’s a bit ocd) rubber bands, plasters (…and so am I)
mini First Aid Kit, spectacle wipes, tissues, tammies (oh yes, every size) 8 pens and a notebook. That’s not all shoved in the pocket – the glove compartment gets most…oh yes, I forgot about the spare pair of gloves.
Glad you sold the car. That must have felt so rewarding! 😊
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Oh yes, I was chuffed to bits! The neighbours were definitely giving me some slightly odd looks. One woman who is training for a marathon arrived back after a few hours and was in disbelief that I was still at it! Thankfully however I’m surrounded by other military people who are all perfectionists (polishing boots etc for hours at a time) so I think I’m safe from too many derogatory remarks from them!
Am so with you on all the door pocket junk, I would have so loved to have had all of those very important things in the car …. but what is a ‘tammie’?! Katie x
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🙂 Think about it and you’ll soon get it. What, as a female, would you most hate to be caught out not having on you, or would someone else be most glad you could give to them in an emergency? I’ve come to the aid of many a lady 🙂
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Oh my! I’ve just got it!! Durr me! You are definitely a good (and extremely useful) friend to have. 😀
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🙂 🙂
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