This ute buying business is getting out of hand. It’s now become a joint venture between Doc and his mates. Doc is spending hours online looking for the perfect ute at the perfect price. And if he can’t find one for himself, he’ll find them for his mates.
Have you ever heard blokes when they talk about utes? It’s not only like another language, but they forget everything else when they start.
Doc dragged me out to look at a ute the other night. I agreed to go as long as we were back by 7.30 so I could watch Dr Who (yes, I ask myself all the time if we really have anything in common). Everything was going well. We’d had a look over the outside, checked out under the bonnet and taken it for a drive.
The ute had a bit of a rattle, which they’d already discussed and the bloke had fixed with a cable tie (the universal fixer for blokes). During our test drive Doc listened intently for the rattle and felt the vibrations, commenting all the while on what he thought it was and whether it was fixable. He’s really cute like that – he talks to me as if I understand what he’s saying! Of course, when we got back he had to discuss it with the bloke selling the ute.
And then it happened. They started talking ute, and you could almost see the dimensional shift. It was like they’d moved onto another plane. Hmm, maybe we’re not that different after all – he has his own inbuilt Tardis that moves him into another time and dimension when he talks ute!
And ute shopping doesn’t stop for anything!
We arrived in Tweed Heads on Friday afternoon for a friend’s 50th birthday celebrations. Almost before he’d even said hello Doc asked “Can I borrow your car to go and have a look at a ute?”
As he knew we’d be up there for the weekend, his scanning of ebay and other on-line classified was extended to cover the Tweed/Gold Coast areas. He found two – one for himself and one for a mate. Unfortunately for Doc – but fortunately for me – the owner of the one he wanted for himself didn’t return any phone calls so we couldn’t go and have a look at it. But the one he found for his mate was good enough! So a few phone calls back and forth, organising of finances, and his mate is the proud new owner of a green Triton ute.
Which, of course, meant we had to drive it home. It’s just as well the other bloke didn’t return Doc’s calls otherwise we would’ve had ourselves a convoy!
I’m not sure if the ute we bought is that great, or Doc just wanted to get out of flying home.
I remember our first holiday together to Darwin. We flew up there and picked up a pop-top cruiser to drive out to Kakadu. My big, tough, fix anything bloke held my hand all the way in the plane. He tried telling me it was because he was just so happy that we were going on a romantic holiday together, but the white knuckled grip gave him away. I thought he was going to break my hand a couple of times when we hit turbulence!
So now we’re back home, minus the ute which we dropped off to his mate on the way. And still minus a ute for ourselves.
And Doc is back to spending hours shopping online. Though of course that’s not how he describes his activities! He maintains he’s “doing research”.
I’m sure he’d spend less time at the computer if he was gaming!
