Our Beetroot {Cath}

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As one of the newest members of our family, it seems only right that she gets a mention in our blog.

Beetroot is our '91 old Honda Civic. We adopted the old lady a few weeks after we arrived in NZ and she's been nothing but awesome since the day we got her.

She's a real character, our old Rootybatooti. When it's cold, she curls up her toes, puts her hands on her hips and refuses to budge until we've given her sufficient encouragement and a whole bunch of choke. The rain's not much better. Every time she gets a little wet, she makes a mysterious puddle just under the driver's feet. (We still haven't managed to figure out how the water gets in!). This small puddle is still far better than the boot flood we used to get. Darrell spent an afternoon patching that one up with silicon sealer.

Three of her 4 tires have slow leaks and sometimes, for seemingly no reason at all, there's an almighty conversation-stopper metal-bending 'crank' sound under the passenger's feet! Good for giggles.

Unfortunately old 'Troot gets to park just under a berry tree, which means, thanks to the birds and their giant appetites, she rarely looks like a lady. We like to think of it as Beetroot dandruff.

Still, with all her quirks, we love her dearly. Her fuel efficiency is off the charts... well, at about 15km/L it's better that any other car either of us have owned. And that's city driving. - not bad for a 17 year old bird. And once she gets into it, she toddles quite happily to varsity, friends and the beach. She likes the beach the best, and has definitely taken a shine to Darrell. It's obvious the way she lights up when he's around.

She the one, the only, or dearly beloved Beetroot

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