Steam heat

We are moving into a house with steam heat. That will be an adventure. I've never dealt with radiators before. But yesterday I had a real life experience with steam that I could have done without. My little Miata, "the happy car," was delivered on Tuesday and we drove it home from Michael's work. On Wednesday I decided to go pick up the drivers' license handbook but never got there. Luckily, I realized that the car smelled funny (like hot coolant) as I was passing by Michael's pharmacy. I do most of my car diagnosis by smell. Sometimes Michael doesn't believe me but hot brakes, coolant and motors all have a distinctive smell. As I slowed down to turn into his industrial park, I could see the smoke coming out from under the hood. I had been watching the temperature gauge like a hawk since we had had problems with it overheating so I knew the engine wasn't hot. By the time I drove the two blocks into his parking lot the smoke was pouring out. I parked it, went into the lobby and called Michael. I knew he had important meetings so I spent a few hours in the lobby working Sudokus and crosswords in the newspapers that were lying there. Lucky me! Cheryl, a co-worker of Michael's from Montreal, and I had a super chouette French conversation while I was waiting. She's so enthusiastic and has the most wonderful Quebec accent. I also got to chat with Doug, the HR manager, who lives just five minutes away from our new house. So all in all, it wasn't too bad as car disasters go.

After his meetings, Michael diagnosed it as a coolant leak. We don't know whether there was some damage to the car's radiator en route or whether we were just really lucky (unlucky?) to have it happen as soon as it got here! He had actually already ordered the radiator for it so we have that ready to install.

I have to admit. I did enjoy having a rent car for the past week. No worries!