Self: "!!!!!!!!!!!!" "!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Right, right.

It rained on the Cinco de Mayo parade, of course, and I did not go over to San Francisco to photograph it. I could have used the pictures, but it was raining by the time I should have left and very obviously not going to stop, so I spent Saturday looking at used cars and Sunday puttering around the apartment. I found a Toyota Tercel, nice and clean, so I called Angus at my Toyota shop on Monday to hear what he had to say about it.

"Corolla!" he said. " Corolla! Do not buy a Tercel!"

Something about the Tercel engine having been designed with a three instead of a four quart capacity sump which made the engines flakey when they got older. The only blown Toyota engines that came in through his door were Tercel engines. I'm not sure how seriously to take this. I would have had him examine the car before I bought it, of course, and I'm reasonably good about watching for overheating and oil levels (sorta) and my passing on this one means I have to go out and look for another one and, well, I guess I'll go out and look for another one. I'm complaining, but I'm beginning to see how this is done. Too bad about the Tercel, though. Didn't like some of the chrome treatment on the front, but it had clean lines, decent paint and undamaged upholstery. I'm tired of damaged upholstery, oxidized paint and dodging police cars that look like they might pull up behind me and read the date on my license plate.