I'm often asked, "Your car is always so clean. How do you do it?" The question baffles me, and usually leads to a dialogue, in the tradition of Plato.
Me: Clean? It's not clean. Have you seen it latetly?
Them: Well, there's no snow on it. Do you park in a garage?
Me: Oh. Snow. That's different. I just brush it off.
Them [confused]: ...Brush?
Me: Yeah. Get this: They have these things called snow brushes that help get the snow off the car. It's amazing. You can get all the snow off the windows so you can see where you're going. And at some point, it ocurred to me that I could brush the snow off all the lights, so other people could see me...like, my brakelights and stuff, y'know? And at night? When it's dark? The headlights work way better if there isn't any snow covering them.
Them: Wow. Still sounds like a lot of work.
Me: Nah. Couple minutes, tops. Let the car warm up while you're doing it.
Them: Tell me more about the headlights. What are those for?
Comments (2)
I just used my snow scraper brush (with adjusting telescoping arm!) to brush the leaves (and other crap) off my back window. What does that mean for me? My car's still really dirty. But at least I can kind of see when I'm backing out of the Trader Joe's parking lot (the only time I drive).
Headlights? Huh?
Posted by Kate | December 10, 2005 5:03 AM
Posted on December 10, 2005 05:03
What it means is that you can abstract use from purpose (important to all animals that use tools). And that you clear the leaves off is a sign that you'd remove the snow from your car, instead of waiting for it to melt or blow off and hit someone behind you, like the motoring carbuncles in Massachusetts tend to do.
So, hearty kudos and good karma to you.
Posted by rotorglow | December 12, 2005 2:20 PM
Posted on December 12, 2005 14:20