It's not ABOUT the petrol!

My Father in Law has been fetching me from work the past few months. Mainly because due to being sick, I cannot work a full day and certainly cannot even control the steering in a car. Driving right now would be really dangerous.

So we’ve left the keys with him. We also let him use the car to take himself and my mother-in-law to the hospital for regular check-ups. And when she was there for six weeks, he used it about three times a day to go see her and take her supper (I thought St. Dominic’s food was vile, Frere was ten times worse!). Of course, he and Tazz’s Angel sister threw in R20 from time to time, which was about 2.5 litres at the current cost …..

We asked if he was taking her to work each day with it. They vehemently denied this. Of course then were the times they wanted to use it to drive up to the Spar for SIX BREAD ROLLS! Never mind that the trip for that costs more than the rolls. Then a visit to the other Spar (we live pretty much the same distance between two Spars) for cigarettes for Cliff’s mom. Oh? That Spar doesn’t have so let’s just double back and drive aaaaaall the way to the other one for then. Can’t stop and get them at any of the shops in between as they will cost too much. We’re not paying for the petrol or the wear & tear on the car so let’s just drive it up and down!

A few weeks back I did not go to work as I was sick. Heard the car starting up around 07:30, Tazz’s sister walked to the gate and his dad drove out – the two of them toddled off together. Of course when Tazz asked them – “no, we needed to go to Spar and we dropped her off there and she walked to work from there”. Ja, right. And the pope is Jewish. No worries that they insist they will never take the car without asking.

The next week I wound up being sick again, and so once again did not go in to work. Roll on 07:30 ---- what happens?

Now, the part that got me riled up enough to make this post…..
Friday afternoon his dad came and asked if they could use the car for shopping. I said it was fine. Four and a half hours later they return. I of course commented about a mega-shopping trip (now, all they had to spend was a disability pension so not like they could go to a lot of places) and told Tazz they must be jolling everywhere. They said “we picked up a lot of stuff and then put it back”. Don’t know if they picked up every single item at OK then. Hope they dusted the shelves at the same time!

Saturday I went over to the flat on our property where they stay. Roo, our niece was eating chips smothered in Tomato sauce. So I said, “cool – left overs for breakfast? Yummy!”

Roo (5 years old) replied, “Ja, from the BEACH!” Straight away Angel said “no, darling we didn’t go to the Beach!” Roo insisted they did. Angel turned to me and said, “we didn’t go to Windmill – we walked up to Mr Delivery, ordered and they brought it” (strange how I never heard that delivery as we were home).

Saturday Tazz’s dad and I were in the car with Papen. Papen had been swimming and we stopped at a Spar within the same road as the swimschool as Tazz’s mom “needed” smokes. They didn’t have her brand. So out of the way we go to Ashmel Spar. No brand. So then he wants to go to the other Spar. I said to him again, “this cannot continue, please! Not for one lousy pack of cigarettes”.
Reponse? “Ja, you’re right.”

So we are in Devereux Avenue, in the fast lane, on the middle of an end-of-the-month Saturday morning and ……

Uh-uh-uhhhhhh. Phut! Martha cuts out. C says “and now?” I leaned over, looked at the gauge and was mortified as the car had run out of petrol. I say “mortified as I had put in a few days earlier and had used nowhere NEAR that amount. I really did NOT want to call Tazz and basically invoke his wrath. Plus this was in the middle of a downpour and although he had gone to work he was sick. I called him and whilst we were waiting for him a traffic cop stuck her head in the window and asked what the problem was.

She helped us freewheel backwards into a side street. Idiots that are on the road can SEE she is stopping traffic for us, can SEE our hazard lights on – but still want to try do stooopit things?? I dunno sometimes. Anyway, Tazz got there already in a terrible rage, filled us up and then we got home.

He was so cross about it – not running out of petrol but WHY we had run out – he knows I always make sure there is enough. This is why I never fill the tank, I know that if I do they will just ride it all out. I was pretty angry myself. I’ve been driven around by enough people and am so thankful for that, so don’t think I am cross about all this. It’s just the assumptions and just taking my car and lying about it! The thing is registered in my name – so I’m the one that’s responsible for it!

So now keys have been taken away. Tazz has put his size 11 down and said “car is used for papen’s swimming, my treatment, and his folks’ hospital visits”. He has also told them that he wants to see the hospital card to prove that was the reason they took it.

I so hate having to do this but I suppose if they have been proven untrustworthy what can we do?