sorry, Bertha: You don't make the miss-list.

Bertha

There are some things I don't miss about my Nahumba life... and... Bertha is one of them.

Here are a few clippings from a note I wrote after a rough Bertha Day a few months back:

For starters, well, that’s just it—Baby Bertha (the mini bus) wouldn't start. (I could insert many frustrated and unhappy comments at this point.)

So, we push started it (not once, but twice…). 

There are many times when push starting is the simplest and best option. This was one of those times.

... [many paragraphs of frustrating details removed] ...

Maybe that’s why I had a headache and felt unable to interact positively with any other human being for the next 2 hours of my life.

  

Top 8 Reasons I hate very much dislike the mini bus

1. Usually it doesn’t start
2. It has wonky shifting (Champion gear with shifting on the column)
3. It has ZERO power when you let off the clutch into first gear—you have to give it gas to keep it from stalling
4. It sounds (and feels) like it’s going to rattle to pieces every time I drive it down our road
5. Petrol is its choice of food
6. No airbags or crash protection engineering
7. I can hardly turn the steering wheel in car parks/the bush/etc. (no power steering)
8. It is my responsibility: to fix what doesn’t work, to drive or to say, “no” when people ask to borrow it, to make upkeep decisions, to keep it running

I could go on and on…

To try to focus on some positives, I figured I shouldn't just write the reasons the mini bus is a major stress in my life, but also jot some reasons the bus is a wonderful vehicle. Sorry… I only think of five reasons right off the bat.

Five Reasons I like the mini bus

1. It is easy to push start
2. The shifting between gears is smooth
3. It’s white, which is a good vehicle color
4. It has an incredible turning radius
5. It has seatbelts for 16 (well... almost-- some are broken)

oh, Bertha, how I do not miss thee...

*thanks to our neighbor, Jan, for shooting these pics the day I left Choma last week

PS- To Bertha's credit: Not everyone dislikes Bertha to the same extent as I do. She was Heather's favorite :) 

[I would have shipped Bertha across the ocean as a gift to Heather if possible! haha]