the adventure

the cast of characters:

*mr w and myself
*the in-laws
*one telephone operator of BC Road Assistance
*two very helpful young women
*one uncharitable young man
*dr. judy - neighbour to the inlaws
*one demon possessed HONDA CRV

The background:
Due to a scheduling mishap - We were voluntold to drive the inlaws to the airport to catch a flight to Toronto to visit their daughter and the husband of their daughter and their two young sons.
They offered up their new Honda CRV as they had just filled it with gasoline. After dropping them off at the airport we visited with my sister in the city and then drove to the park to see King Lear.

The father in-law drove the vehicle to the airport as it would be less stressful...

My husband took over after we dropped them at the departure terminal.

The lights were on. We had no idea.

This is a 2007 Honda CRV. you would think that if you leave the lights on in this vehicle there would be some king of sound - ting - ting - a beep or a blip or something... there are enough other bells and whistles... but apparently no.

So - the story goes something like this:

We dropped them off and wished them a safe trip. We hopped back into the vehicle and headed off to visit my sister. We shut the car off but we didn't turn off the lights because we didn't realize they were on. We visited for TWO hours... hopped back into the car and drove to our final destination. It is now about 6pm. We leave the vehicle - lock it and line up and eat our lovely deli sandwiches and visit with some rather lovely Texans who are visiting the city. After our picnic Mr. W walks back to the vehicle and puts away the picnic basket. Again not noticing the lights are on... and again no warning. Nothing - nada - zip.

After a rather odd production of King Lear we quickly departed the theatre and found the vehicle would not unlock using the little orange button on the key chain. So we used the actual key to unlock the door attempted to start the Honda. Low and behold the car would not turn over. We started to troubleshoot and ask ourselves the questions? How can this be? Oh, look the lights were left on? Yes indeed. So after a few expletives and comments about how unbelievable that a new car would not have automatic shut down of lights if they are left on or no warning system we moved on to how we would get ourselves out of this pickle. We called roadside assistance and were told - at least 60 minutes - gah!

OK - in the mean time we started to canvas the area for people who might have jumper cables. Two young woman had cables in their car and were willing to help... but they were concerned as to how long it would take as they didn't have much gas; it shouldn't take but a minute we said. They suggested we ask the young man if we could use their cables and his car. No. He was not interested in helping one bit. He really had to consider our request and decided after about 30 seconds he was not interested. No matter - the young women stayed and we quickly jump started the Honda and this is where the adventure gets very interesting.

The Honda is equipped with an anti-theft device - this came on full blast once the car was started - with a lovely message flashing on the dash "INPUT CODE". It is after midnight now.

The alarm is going on and on and on and we have no idea how to shut it off and we don't want to shut off the vehicle less we lose the charge and it is very tense and stressful... finally the alarm is silenced but the inside dashboard is still flashing a warning signal INPUT CODE. My husband is quickly explaining that we were driving our in-laws car and we had dropped them off at the airport and they loaned us their vehicle but didn't tell us about the alarm and we were really not stealing something that wasn't ours. I think they believed us.

We pulled out of the parking lot and headed to the freeway for home. The in-laws home. We kept wondering if the anti-theft would just start up again; or would the vehicle just shut down... how we would get the code?

We made it home. It is now almost 1 o'clock in the morning and we pull into our inlaw's driveway and shut off the vehicle and the bloody alarm starts all over again. Oh my God. How can this be happening? It is so very loud and obnoxious. Dr. Judy - the neighbour appears out of nowhere - she thought it might be us... and we scramble pushing this button and that button and finally the alarm shuts off. We grab our possessions and lock the doors and back away.

I will never borrow that vehicle again.