Miata Mailing List: May 1999, Message #11

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It was 5:01pm on Friday and I was ready to call it a day (or week)...

"Chris, do you know this... [blah blah blah...]"

Twenty minutes later, I can finally pack up and leave.

"Damn, the bridge should be conjested by now. OK, let me take my alternate
route. Maybe go to Canadian Tire store for a while. I should have enough
fuel"

I absolutely hate that there's no self-serve gas station in the entire
Richmond area. And of course I absolutely hate full-serve since my bad
full-serve experience on my miata.

Half an hour later, I left Richmond in rush hour traffic and the gauge was a
bit below E mark.

"Shit! I should have turned off at Cambie." There's a Chevron a km up the
hill. "Well, there should be some Chevrons on Marine Drive just a km down."

Drove into an old Chevron a minute later, "What the hell, they're still
using these analog counters like my odometer?" And of course there's no
pay-at-the-pump service. Drove off but found no Chevron a km down.

"Well, I can take the Knight St. Chevron a km down [Or I should say up the
hill]. Hopefully I'll have enough fuel; otherwise, I won't know what to do
uphill on the leftmost lane." Fuel gauge past E mark even further.

Finally, drove in to Chevron and looked at the gauge. "Didn't run out of
fuel. hehe."

"Holy Cow! Who said April 30th is no-gas day"

Just when I found out the only available pump at the far end, I shifted into
reverse and looked back, just to see a Neon tried to beat me to it.

"Damn it! ... whatever you do, just don't die right here. I'm in an uphill
position!" And there came a Prelude right behind me, with its bumper just
out of the traffic.

Probably because all the pumps are working at once, it seemed like these
people are pumping gas forever!

Finally, there's one person finished first and I took the spot, but I was
kind enough to let the person in the same roll in fornt of me finish so that
the car behind me and myself both get a pump.

"Whew! I made it!"

Swiped my MasterCard but it beeped. "Pay-at-the-pump is not working. Please
pay inside." scrolling on the screen.

Looked all around. Only me has the problem. When too many people pay at the
pump, it's always me who gets rejected.

"F%$k! Why is it always me!"

So I picked up the nozzle and pressed the "94" button (octane select) but
nothing happens. Usually, the counter resets itself after I select octane. I
had to leave the keys in the ignition and go inside. (Car-jacking is getting
common nowadays).

"Hey, the damn thing doesn't work!"

"You have to pay here afterwards!"

"But I CAN'Tselect octane!"

"John [or whoever], want to take a look?"

He took out the nozzle and pressed the octane button. "See, it works."

Filled up. Looked around. There was NOBODY left at the pumps.

"What? Is this some kind of Truman Show?"

I was so pissed off that I used my parking brake handle as a sandbag. Pulled
it hard before releasing it.

"Oh Shit!"

I totally forgot that I haven't fixed my parking brakes such that if I pull
the handle more than 5 clicks, the right rear would lock up. (No, the
caliper slide pin is like brand new, well lubricated). It's the parking
brake rotating lever thing that gets stuck some time. I'm now an expert to
pull the lever back thru' the spoke of the wheel. But to make the trick more
challenging, the car was on a slope and I had to release the parking brake
before trying out the trick.

No! I wouldn't take the chance. I brought the car forward to the 25-cent
vaccum thing with the right rear brakes dragging. Unfortunately, I would
have blocked two parked cars and one of the cars already had its backup
lights on. So I drove around and find the open space for the air pump.

"Damn! It's a slope again. I just don't understand why they're allowed to
build a gas station and even gas pumps on a slope." I swear I'll never come
back to this Chevron.

I decided to drove off the gas station and turn into a side street (no
stopping allowed right off the gas station). Of course I forgot to drive the

"best line" out of the gas station to avoid the ridge and dip. "CCRRSSHH!"
First, went the exhaust over the ridge. "CCRRSSHH!" Then the chin spoiler.

Finally, I managed to once again do the trick thru' the wheel spoke and get
home uneventfully for the rest of the trip. Took a shower. Took my dinner
and lay on the couch for a while to cool me down before I finished off with
this post. Man! Is this the punishment for filling up gas on April 30th?

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Chris Chu
'90 Championship-White Miata
BC Region CSP #7
Naturally-aspirated
http://home.infinet.net/chrischu/
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