rikibeth

I have midweek days off, so I can help get

eternaleponine's car to a mechanic.

I have a working car, so I didn't have to drive her muffler-lacking car anywhere EXCEPT to the mechanic.

I have friends who are knowledgable about cars, who don't mind carrying on involved text message conversations to give me a reality check on what repairs are reasonable. Thanks,

mhaille!

I know a mechanic who's willing to entertain the notion that some repairs CAN be put off, even if ideally everything back of the manifold should be replaced, and quote me on just doing the highly ventilated muffler and not the rusty but still fairly solid everything-else.

I have parents who can help sort out financial snafus, and who are relieved when a midweek, midday phone call is ONLY "help, money, car exhaust system," and not any sort of health or trauma crisis.

I am healthy and able-bodied enough that a 3.6 mile walk home in the warm sunshine from the mechanic's is merely an inconvenience, and not a danger to my well-being or a flat-out impossibility.

I remembered to bring a water bottle and put orthotics in my sneakers, which helped significantly on that last point.

I have a boss who's not upset when I call to warn him that I might be 15-20 minutes late tomorrow morning, because of the roommate's-car-in-shop situation.

I have friends who are willing to pitch in on the car-retrieval problem that was beginning to look like the logic problem with the fox and the geese and the rowboat, because my awesome mechanic is a BUSY mechanic. Thanks,

matociquala!

All in all, though there's a lot of suck involved in a car with a broken muffler, things could be a hell of a lot worse.