Redeeming Monday

‘K, so, something good actually happened on a Monday (yesterday).

My car is due for state inspection this month, and I need new windshield wipers. Last year I was caught for having old wipers. I had bought a new set of braces(is that what they’re called?)+blades a while ago, but hadn’t gotten the gumption to figure out how to detach my old wipers. So I finally decided to do so last night after I got home. In the dark. Well, with the streetlamps for light. In the cold.

I’ve replaced just the blade inserts in the past, which requires a certain amount of manual dexterity, but never anything more than that. To my dismay, the instructions included in the new wipers were mostly illustration and less text, on a two-sided piece of 3″x7″ paper. There were illustrations for 5 different kinds of wipers and how to detach and install, based on how the arm attached to the wipers. I looked at it, looked at my wipers, and decided I probably had type D. The little illustration for it included a screwdriver, so I went to scrounge up a screwdriver from the trunk.

Turns out I didn’t need a screwdriver. If I had actually pulled my wipers away from the car and looked closely, I would have seen that I actually have type A attachments. Happily, they came off simply by pressing down in a metal tab and pulling the wiper off the hooked end of the arm.

At that point, the illustrations started making sense. All the little arrows were not merely pointing at parts of the wiper assembly, they were indicating direction, as in how to place the new wiper onto the arm. I easily connected the new wipers and clicked the tabs into place, and I’m ready for inspection.

Monday did rear its ugly head when I was rummaging in my trunk. I scraped several layers of skin off one finger while reaching into a tool cubby hole. I never found the screwdriver. And then didn’t need it anyway. But I managed not to hurt my fingers or fingernails while removing the old wipers (it was cold, and the tabs were stiff, I could just see my fingernail getting ripped off).

So overall, I’m satisfied. And I have stored some useless trivia about windshield wiper assemblies to pull out at the next office party. :P