Day 68

Day 68:

When I was little, my dad's car had windscreen wipers. They didn't look like much, just little black plastic rods that lay across the windscreen, with a little lever on the inside of the car that worked them. But, they were actually really exciting.

My dad's windscreen wipers had 3 different modes. The first one was a stop-starty sort of setting. You turned the little lever to the first position, and the wipers went across the windscreen, doo-doo. Then there was a pause. At first, I thought they'd turned off, but then they'd go doo-doo again. My dad used this setting quite a bit.

The second setting was a bit different. You turned the little lever to the second position, and the wipers would go across the windscreen again and again; doo-doo, doo-doo, without stopping. My dad used this setting quite a bit as well.

The third and last setting was by far the best one. You turned the little lever up again, to the third position, and the wipers would move across the windscreen really REALLY quickly! Doo-doo doo-doo doo-doo, constantly! It was my favourite setting, but my dad almost never used it. When it was raining a bit on car journeys, I would ask my dad if he could turn them on, but he'd say "I can't use those right now, it has to be really coming down to use those."

I'd sit and watch the windscreen from the back seat, pleading with the sky to make the rain heavier, so my dad would turn on the third setting of the windscreen wipers. I'd move my head in time with the wipers as they moved; doo-doo, doo-doo, doo-doo.

Then, one day, the rain started to really come down. There was spray from other cars being kicked up and splashing all over the windscreen, and my dad turned the little lever to the third position. The wipers started moving really quickly, and I was mesmerised. I was rocking my head and body in the seat back and forth in time with the wipers; doo-doo doo-doo doo-doo. There was water flying everywhere, up from the side of the road, down from the sky, attacking our passenger windows from the side of other cars. It was like being on an amazing wet rollercoaster!

I remember feeling quite sick afterwards.