Waffle Time!

Last weekend, I had the fortunate opportunity to drive my parents’ utility vehicle.  You know, the one that everyone uses to do the most menial (the early morning wet market runs on the weekends) to the most irrational (cramming in four sets of truck tires).  After doing the pre-departure checks (motor oil, radiator water, power-steering fluid, clutch and brake fluid), I found out that the radiator was empty, motor oil level on the borderline, power-steering fluid flew with the steering, clutch fluid was minimal and, alarmingly, there was no brake fluid.

This got me worried because they use the Tank (as I affectionately call this sturdy piece of machine) almost every day.  And in the state that it was in, this was a disaster waiting to happen.  And I was going to use the Tank to drive north to go fishing!

I wouldn’t be surprised if you also have your fair share of horror stories about loved-ones (aka spouse and child/ren) who just get inside their vehicles and drive off to their destinations without doing the basic WAFFLE check (Water, Air, Filter, Fuel, Lubricants, Exhaust).  Even if we remind them periodically to check their vehicles, all they’ll do is nod and drive off.  I can give you two reasons why they don’t do what we instruct them to do.

Reason Number 1, we are always around to do this for them.  Our loved-ones are pretty confident that our unconditional love for them programs us to be the ones to do all these for them anyway.  Not to mention the possibility of ruining the nice paint job done on and/or possibly chipping their nails.  And I don’t need to stress how much of a bigger disaster that is versus an overheated engine.

Reason Number 2 (which is the most probable reason), they have no idea what to look for and where to look.  In all the years we’ve spent under the hood of different types of vehicles, we’ve come to understand that (except for the radiator) every other component gets moved around every year.  In the pursuit to improve engine performance, fuel economy, and environmental compliance, car companies move the components of the engine around to make sure it fits in the ever-decreasing space allocated for the front.  And the different vehicle manufacturers don’t give you fold-out maps to guide you where to go.  Well, actually, they do.  It’s called a driver’s manual.  It’s a nifty little book that they tuck in, to be forever forgotten, in the glove compartment.  To give justice to the acres of rainforests that were cleared to put together a multi-lingual manual for a single language speaking country, we should take time to read the manual thoroughly.

We’ve come across news stories about vehicular accidents causing injuries and even death.  They always say the cause of the incident is either mechanical failure or human error.  For me, it’s 99% of the time caused by human error.  A machine cannot fully self-diagnose and fix the problem themselves (until Skynet goes online and starts creating T-1000’s).  Humans have to step in and make sure everything is fine before they drive their vehicles into public roads.

Let’s not wait for our loved-ones to be the ones making that kind of a headline.  Take time to teach them the value of WAFFLE.  A few minutes of a simple once-over every day can keep them safe and save them the hassle of a breakdown.

So, this I did with the Tank.  I filled up what was needed to be filled up and I was on my way.  When I got to my favourite fishing spot up north, I leaned over to the back seat to grab my fishing gear… and realized I had left it at home.  I was so concerned about the welfare of the Tank that my attention was focused on making sure the vehicle was in good condition and totally forgot to pack my fishing rods.

Since going home and getting the fishing gear meant that I would have to make an hour and a half round trip, I decided to put off fishing for the day and spend the whole afternoon in the quaint little food place that was beside the fishing hole.  I asked what they had available for a quick snack and the attendant smiled at me and said, “Waffles!”