Cars

Well, today is my day off, so after I dropped Cat at a florists shop - she's doing a (6 hour) day a week for free, to keep her hand in, and to adapt her style to American tastes some - I got to take the car to Honda for a service & oil: due, but also a sensible precaution before our big road trip next week to Historicon.

Up til now, Cat had done all the dealing with the Honda service people, but she was fed up to the back teeth with them: as she was a woman, they would always ask to speak to her husband about any decisions (!), could never adjust to the idea that she has a different last name to me (!!), and generally acted like patronising sexist assholes.

I can't say I love them very much, either, but at least I get less crap to deal with than she did. Still, a 2 hour wait pretty much wasted the morning (not helped by sharing the waiting room with the Woman With The Bionic Jaw - an art teacher with an apparently inexhaustible voice, and store of opinions, mostly annoyingly christian).

Checked the mail, and there are our (replacement) insurance cards - the first set didnt list Cat at all (!), so of course this set does .... but with my last name, again. Despite having been told explicitly. Oh well, try that one again, I guess - and of course I have to call them, not her, as they won't recognise her authority to modify this, despite both our names being on all the paperwork. What is this, 1950? 1850?

Just part of what I mean about the relentless sexism. Oh well: just another reason to try and relocate to somewhere less backward (speaking of which, I reminded my boss about my request, but still no word on it so far).

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And driving home reminded me of something else: I will never get used to the idea you can make a right hand turn through a red light. I mean, I can see the logic and the benefit, but it always feels like I'm breaking the law, fairly pointlessly. Of course, if I should actually forget, and sit there, the people behind me will remind me volubly and frequently of this.