Mastering the new toy

I have always asserted that, periodically, regardless of age or sex, everyone needs deserves a new toy. You do because the routine can be numbing, and the lack of excitement can lead to creeping unhappiness. 

So, a few months ago, I bought a new “joujou”… A 2022 Honda Accord Touring… the hybrid model.

A new man is like a new toy. Fresh and interesting. Almost intriguing. It’s like when you get a new car. Everything is different. The smell, the sound of the horn and seats, and it even ride good for a while. That’s what a man is like to me.” –  Jeanette Michelle

 Everybody knows how to drive a car. “It is elementary my dear Watson…” Well, that’s what I thought, but my previous car was almost 10 years old, and it is surprising how, in just a decade, so many innovations can be implemented.

Today’s car is nothing like yesterday’s jalopy. It is loaded with push-button applications, and it takes a certain time to master them all some. I have been driving this car now for almost 5 months, and (with the assistance of my inquisitive wife) I am still discovering new features almost every week.

 Sure, the new toy comes with a thick owner’s manual, but you cannot read it “au galop” like a “San Antonio” trashy novel. You need to peruse it like a bible, verse by verse… and take a few minutes to reflect on what the scribe initially meant.

And like a piano, you need to practice almost every day to play without partition… which you should not try on the freeway. It could be a little “pericoloso”.

A new car is like a new wife. You have to know which button to push to make it go smoothly… and you don’t learn this in a few weeks. For some people it takes years… Take Adaptive Cruise Control for instance. When you know how to use it, it is great, but the vocabulary explaining it was a little confusing.

Maybe it was the translation from Japanese to English that was a little deficient… But now, due to my persistence, I know how to use it. The same cannot be said for my wife though; after many years of coexistence, I am sometimes still hesitant about which button to press to steer her the right way… I need to review the manual which was originally written in Russian…  « Traduttore, traditore ».

But as long as I can drive my car knowing only 3/4 of its features, I will be happy. And that’s what matters.

See you on the road!

Alain