Monday, April 13, 2009

Board and Tired

Well, I suppose at some point it will be necessary to introduce the van after which this weblog is named.

I never wanted to drive. I mean, don't get me wrong; I actually love to drive. I love going on tour, I love road trips, and I even didn't mind delivering pizzas a few years back. It's just that for environmental reasons, I think that one should strive to live a reasonable distance from one's work, and most places one wishes to go.

I own a modest van which was originally purchased for the purpose of going on band tours. Exactly two full tours and a couple short trips have occurred in the past six plus years. Now I have a van that has been parked outside, not being driven, for years. I'm comfortable with this lifestyle choice. Let's just say that although I've kept the miles off, the thing is pretty haggard. It also has some rather charming features, such as windshield wipers that never stop.

Now I could spin a yarn or five about the van, but I will leave that for another day. Suffice it to say that when one owns a vehicle, but considers said vehicle to be a low priority, or is simply poor, the result is inevitably poverty on wheels. My van definitely exemplifies this principle.

Case in point: Ever since I put it on the road with the thought that I might end up sleeping in it, I've noticed a rather ominous scrunchy sound whenever I've gone over a curb or speedbump or one of those barriers one isn't allowed to cross. Today, this sound was interrupting one of my favourite songs (Transistor Radio by the Methadones), so I got annoyed, and went to the rear passenger side to investigate:


As it turns out, my running board was bent so severely that the pointy corners were scraping the tire. Um...I think that's bad. I took a tire iron and pried it away maybe a couple inches. It didn't move much, but it stopped making the sound. Crisis averted, I guess.

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