Speeding & Welding. They go together. But not really.

When I broke my toe, I found out rather quickly that I was unable to use the clutch in my car.  That is, short of reaching down and doing it by hand.  And you can imagine how that went.

Since then, my Dad’s been kind enough to switch his automatic for my clutch-that-sucks-in-traffic-when-you’re-used-to-automatic.  A few nights ago, Monday to be exact, I decided all was good and I was ready to drive my car again.  And relieve my Dad.  In short, I was itching to do some shifting.

And what’s with that, huh?  Something about a manual transmission is just effervescent to me.  Maybe it’s moving through the gears and listening to the pitch of the engine as it follows the RPM needle.  Or that little change in momentum you get in between shifting gears as you feel the back-tug into your seat.

I don’t know, but I think I’m in love.

And there I was, Monday night, gingerly testing out the most stubborn of all my petals.  My clutch.  And it was good.

Very good.

But it didn’t really hit me until I pulled off from a stop at the last light before hitting the on-ramp.  Before that it was a bunch of neighborhoods and stop-and-gos.   But from that point it was just faster and faster.  Nothing to slow me down but a theoretical speed limit (one tends to justify such absolutes in this way when one is confronted with one’s own lack of discipline).  And my exit.

Truthfully, I didn’t speed that much.

I took off kind of fast, but once the endorphins started flowing, I was somehow satisfied.  Perhaps it was because I knew I could keep going if I wanted or because I really, really try not to speed because I’m a bit of an addict.  Or maybe it was because I am at my exit already!? That was surprisingly fast.

But that was Monday, and now I’m on to better things.  Like welding.  Or, at least, taking pictures of welding.  “Welding?” you may ask.  As I usually do, I brought my camera, and this is what was going on at the shop yesterday.

Enjoy the welding.  Has a very ‘industrial’ feel to it, don’t you think?