courtesy light illuminated. Luckily this light was not enough to drain the
batteries but probably was enough to put burglars off from approaching.
Obviously all these 'adventures' were not exclusively due to the vehicle being
unfamiliar to us - most resulted from mental lapses by Emma and I. The time
when our lack of knowledge of the vehicle was most striking was when we
had to have the oil changed.
When we had picked up the van Zak had told us we would need to
have this done due to the distance we were planning to drive. We dutifully
found a garage when we had travelled the appropriate distance to have the
work done, we even managed to get the bonnet open, and then we started to
encounter difficulties. The mechanic's question 'what sort of oil do you need?'
sounds simple, but he may has well have said 'what grade spigot do you take
in your gizmo spreegle?' Zak had not told us, and the manual we had been
supplied with had a paucity of details concerning the van engine itself - telling
us we were driving a 2003 Euro Cruiser, and then moving on to things like
‘how to open the microwave door’. In the end we took expert advice and just
put mid-grade oil in.
When it came to driving the biggest adaptation required was to the size of the
van. Our car in the UK is a little one, a Toyota Yaris. However, Emma
modified her driving well and once she was used to the van was able to get it
to manoeuvre more like a small car - or a formula one car, complete with tight
u-turns! Getting used to driving such a different vehicle was obviously the
most essential adaptation we made, but we also had to alter our living