… I can’t even afford a free automobile.

I found myself dealing with this twisted irony of poverty: that for those living in poverty the cost of a free car is prohibitively expensive.

Now one would think that ‘free car’ and ‘prohibitively expensive’ are mutually exclusive phrases. Not so for those who are living in poverty, or the poorest in our wealthy society.

When fate offered me a new to me car that is younger and in better shape than my 1987 Duster it was this reality I found myself facing.

For me and others a car is a wellness tool that is integral to recovery by allowing us to be involved in programs, community, part-time employment etc as we seek wellness and to become self-sufficient. It is having a car that permits me to be as involved in the community (Abbotsford) as I am and to work; to get to and from a variety of widely spaced locations in a timely manner that is just not possible with the current bus system in Abbotsford.

When the Duster was incapacitated for almost a week while I dealt with an alternator replacement it had a devastating effect on my life. I became housebound and isolated which was not only unproductive but was/is a situation detrimental to my mental health.

Sunday evening the phone rang and I was offered a 1991 Cavalier which had to be moved out of the apartment parking lot by Tuesday, Tuesday being both the last day of the month and moving day.

My first thought was not of the costs associated with a free car but of Fate. The last time I was offered a great deal on a car, the faithful Duster, I said ‘No thanks’. Within ten days the VW was not running and the cost of repairs was well beyond my means. It was only luck that the Duster was still available for me to purchase.

With the offer of a “free” car my first thought was that the offer meant the Duster was on its last legs if I said no to the Cavalier and kept driving the Duster. Even now, days later, I am hesitant to tempt fate by abandoning the Cavalier even with the headaches and problems that have come along with getting it running and on the road.

It was sober second thought that considered the cost associated with getting the “free” Cavalier on the road.

I found myself on the horns of a dilemma; offered a car in better shape and with a (probable) longer life than the Duster, but I could not cover the expense of getting a free car.

My budget is such that at the end of the month, next months rent and my bills are paid and I have $20 to spend as I choose. I estimated I would need a minimum injection of $2001 into my budget to get the Cavalier on the road.

Though I had no plan for where the $200 would or could possibly come from I said Yes.

Not automatically saying no, feeling the fear and doing it anyway, is a measure of progress into recovery and wellness. It was not that many years ago that confronted with such an offer and such a situation a panic attack would have been triggered.

So I found myself at 2:30 AM, very early Monday morning, contemplating not only the logistics of getting the car out of the apartment garage by Tuesday evening but where I was going to find the money to cover the costs of the ‘free car’.

During my 25 years as a Chartered Accountant in public practice and business $200 was pocket change. Now, a $40 oil change is a major budget item that must be planned for and for which money must be set aside to pay.

Until I experienced it (an experience I would gladly end) I had no idea or appreciation for just how grinding poverty is on someone. Poverty grinds away at you physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually; grinding you down and down, robbing you of will and spirit.

The plan that I came up with was to ask for help in the form of a loan or loans and I sent out an email request explaining the situation; the backup plan was panhandling.

It turned out that while I may be living in poverty with respect to money, I have a richness of people in my life that will help me out. By the time I got up the next morning and checked my email for any replies to my request for help I had offers that covered the $200.

It turned out that obtaining the $200, which I had seen as the major obstacle, was the easy part.

Once I had the $200 in hand the Testing and Lessoning began. Testing? Lessoning? Every so often it seems as if the Universe feels the need to test my progress on my journey of recovery and wellness and/or teach lessons I need to progress on that journey.

And so the Saga of the Cavalier began in earnest.

Unfortunately the Universe seems to deal with me in a manner in keeping with my own skewed sense of humour and the absurd. Giving one the impression the Universe is playing with my head in an absurdist assault on my Sanity.

I met with the owner and picked up the signed documents needed to transfer the car to me… at least in theory. Arriving at the insurance broker revealed the registration papers were missing. A phone call determined they were lost, requiring a trip to the seller’s insurance agent to secure a new registration.

Quickly zipping the seller back to the move and with registration in hand I returned to the insurance agency only to find out that a correction made on the transfer document made the document invalid. Being a legal document ICBC insists that the transfer document be perfect.

Filling out a new transfer document, with a great attention to detail, I once again returned to the seller to get the new (and perfect) transfer document signed.

Returning to the insurance office I got a 3 day insurance permit since a 3 day permit was cheaper than 2 permits good for a single day. The Cavalier had to be moved Tuesday but it was now late on Tuesday and with Wednesday being Canada Day the Cavalier could not be run through AirCare until Thursday.

Armed with the insurance permit I sent out a request for someone to meet me at the owner’s old apartment building to jumpstart the Cavalier; being grateful that, considering the delays, I had not scheduled this activity.

Mr. Doug answered my appeal but in order to jumpstart the car, we had to push the Cavalier out of the garage as his truck was too tall to fit in the garage. It took patience to get the car started and running since it had been sitting for a year, but we succeeded.

Getting the car started revealed the car was a 5 speed. Fortunately I not only can drive a stick, but prefer it over an automatic. Happily Doug provided an escort back to my place; in the process providing jumpstarts as needed (ie after a stop to add fresh gas to the tank – which helped the car to run better).

He also, most kindly, returned latter that evening with a battery charger to breathe some life into the dead battery.

I spent Wednesday afternoon making hats, bookmarks and/or colouring while volunteering at the Canada Day celebrations after which I went home and took the Cavalier out for run in preparation for AirCare the next day.

Thursday morning Cavalier barely started, demonstrating the battery’s inability to hold a charge overnight. After taking the Cavalier out for a highway runI proceeded directly to AirCare where the Cavalier passed muster.

Having several places I needed to be from noon on I did not get the plates and insurance until late Friday afternoon; which turned out to be lucky.

With the plates on I limped to auto wreckers in search of a used battery. Alas there were no appropriate batteries at the auto wreckers forcing the purchase of a reconditioned battery. With the battery installed I thought that that was that, that I was done. It developed the Universe was not through with the Saga of the Cavalier and I.

Saturday I found I could not remember whether or not Thursday had been payday. Given the way things were going with respect to the Saga of the Cavalier, I decided that it would be wise to check that there was enough money in the bank to cover the insurance.

Checking revealed a $25 Cr(edit) balance. As an accountant a credit represents a debt owed, so I thought I needed to find money enough to cover not only the insurance tab, but the $25 Cr overdraft.

Making for a pleasant surprise when, after cashing cans, raiding my piggy bank etc I returned to deposit $70 I had managed to scrap up. I could have danced a jig out the door when the teller’s statement of the account balance reminded me that a Cr was the bank recording the money it owed me and that after depositing the $70 there were sufficient funds to cover the insurance charge.

As I said, it turned out to be lucky I was running late on Friday since the insurance charge against my bank account was not processed until Monday and I avoided being guilty of having insufficient funds.

Leaving the bank Saturday I was relived, pleased and relaxed; which made the emotional crash and mental stress of the car stopping and refusing to run – leaving me stranded on Lakeview Terrace most upsetting.

With no money for a tow truck or anything else what was I to do?

Call a skilled mechanic I know who was interested in my old VW. While a non-running metal sculpture for me, it was a puzzle and a project for him. A deal was struck and in exchange for the VW I ended up with a used, but working alternator, and the ability to get the car home.

Aside: Best friends know how crazy you are and choose to be seen with you in public. They also lend you driveway space to store a VW; understanding your having an emotion bond with a VW you lived in while homeless in abbotsford and the need for time to be able to let go before disposing of the VW.

Now back to our Saga: starting the car up resulted in the battery quickly getting hot as did the alternator. I was told to turn the car off and was loaned a battery to get the car home. He explained that if not properly conditioned, reconditioned batteries can be hard to charge, causing the battery to heat up. This situation also puts a lot of strain on the alternator – in this instance frying the old alternator and leaving me stranded.

Getting back to my home Saturday evening we switched out batteries and I was lent a trickle battery charger. I got several phone calls during the evening sending me out to check on whether the battery was getting hot. It was not.

The fact the Duster is running and insured made this situation much easier to be sanguine about; allowing me to leave the Cavalier charging. Which I am told, will deal with the sulphides in the battery resulting in the battery functioning much better and (hopefully) sparing the replacement alternator the fate of its predecessor.

Of course, in keeping with the spirit of the Saga of the Cavalier, the Duster has been temperamental, threatening to cease to run any second. Indeed, I have no doubt that if I continue to drive the Duster it will gasp out its life quickly. If I pass it on to someone else the Duster will likely run for years.

The final twist of irony is that the Cavalier has been sitting there with charger hooked up since late Saturday evening inasmuch as I have been to apprehensive (or is that superstitious?) to tempt fate and start up the Cavalier.

So tomorrow (Thursday) I will force myself to see if this phase of the Saga of the Cavalier is done. Unplugging the battery charger, firing up the Cavalier and finding out if the road ahead will be smooth or whether the Universe is not through testing and tempering me yet.

As an addendum I want to take some of the 86,400 seconds I have available today to say thanks to those without whose generosity and assistance I would have been left wondering what “could have been” the Saga of the Cavalier.

>>>>>>>>> <<<<<<<<<

1Actual Cash Outlay

$$$
28 Transfer fee
53 3 day insurance permit
30 Gas
23 AirCare
134

55 Battery
88 Insurance
277

100 Alternator*

377

* a price of $100 had been agreed to as the sales price for the VW traded for the replacement alternator; this resulted in the removal of the $100 from my budget in the same manner as paying the $100 for an alternator would have.