Planet Knucklehead

OS was visited by an insight sometime in the wee hours this morning. It came about as a result of a near-death experience the day previous.

The sainted Mrs. OS owns a Volvo station wagon, bought in the wake of her previous Volvo station wagon being used by a despairing nine-point buck who decided to end it all by walking in front her vehicle on the highway one late night. The buck died, and the occupants of the car walked away. World's best advertisement--survival.

Mrs. OS drives to Louisville about two weeks ago, and on the way discovers a major oil leak in the engine. Off to the mechanic it goes, only to find out that the problem is not desperate (like a head gasket job), and can be repaired. So, OS sez--repair it, we'll go up when it's finished, and I'll drive it back. No biggie.

OS drives said Volvo home, and 100 yards from the house, the car dies. Oil pressure light comes on, car will start, but car won't go past about 10 mph. He raises the hood, and there is oil everywhere in the engine compartment. He limps it home, calls his trusty local mechanic. Tow truck takes car, and the local mechanic looks it over.

One person who worked on it in Louisville had checked one hose leading to the turbo, perhaps to see if it was the source of the leak. Problem is, he didn't remember to tighten the clamp that held the hose in place. Hose pops off 100 yards from home, car dies. Home mechanic clamps hose in place, test drives it, charges $53 for his troubles, which OS gladly pays.

Had said hose popped off twenty minutes earlier, Mrs. OS would now be finalizing funeral plans for her husband, and no one would have ever known why that Volvo wagon suddenly stalled in front of that semi going 75 mph.

It was a near-death experience. OS nearly died because one knucklehead did not take the time to tighten one clamp. He's alive because a Volvo line worker did take the time to make sure the airbags were hooked up properly in 1992, on the previous Volvo.

Planet Knucklehead.

The second insight was: 'This feels familiar, this grinding sense of what's-going-to-fall-apart-next'. Last time he had it, he was living in a third world country. He coped with it, knowing he had his passport to a first-world country.

He doesn't have a passport out of the third-world country in which he now lives.