The Old Coot cleans up.
By Merlin Lessler
I washed my car the other day. Actually, it was my wife’s
car – mine is in Florida, braving the hot muggy weather, much hotter and
muggier than here. Which is why I cherish my New York State summer residency,
in spite of all the state mandates we are forced to live with, not to mention
the taxes. Anyhow, I hosed it off, then got at it with a sudsy mitt and a long
handled soft bristle brush.
You don’t see many people in their driveways doing this
anymore. It once was a Saturday ritual for many men, some women and teenagers
lucky enough to have their own vehicles. According to “experts,” only 28% of
automobile owners wash their own cars. It’s off to the car wash for them. It’s
down from 50% thirty years ago. We’ve become a commercial car wash society,
reported to be a 33-billion-dollar industry, with 60,000 car wash
establishments across the country.
Waxing a car is something else again. I suspect the
percentage of people doing that is pretty low. Even I gave that up years ago; clear
coat finishes eliminated the need. Simonize wax was king in the old days. Applying
it and rubbing it in took over an hour. The first time I waxed my father’s car when
I was a teenager, I did the windows as well as the car body. I learned that
lesson the hard way. He wasn’t very pleased when he turned on the wipers during
a rainstorm to face a blurry mess out the windshield.
When I wash my car, I consider it an exercise session. A lot
of bending, squatting, stooping, stretching and reaching and I pay myself the
$20, a car wash place would have charged me. You don’t have to be an old coot
like me to do this. Anyone can.
No comments:
Post a Comment