So, I've had the new car, mister ford escort zx2, for just over two months now. I think I've pretty much decided it's not the new love of my life. It's red and it's a lack of control.

The power steering just scares me. I am constantly over-correcting. and life on the highway is just nerve wracking, the smallest twitch and I'm pretty sure I'm going to go skidding into a roll. And then there's no clutch. My hands and feet have nothing to do.

I think I've just named the car "Itchy". As in, can't sit still -- me in the driver's seat or the car in it's lane.

I'm unhappy with the gas mileage I've been getting, 26 or 28 miles to the gallon just isn't going to get it around here. (Old car, 11 years old, seven years older than Big Red and 75,000 more miles, got 32 miles/gal on the last tank of gas it got, a few days before the wreck.)

I'm still not comfortable in the seat or on the steering wheel. And it's just so big, I feel positively claustrophobic when I'm driving in the middle lane, and don't ask me where my bumpers are, they feel a million miles away, especially in back.

Well, we'll see how the maintenance goes in a couple of weeks when I get the scheduled service. Maybe after I spend some money caring for the hulking thing I will feel closer to it. Meantime, I'll just complain endlessly. I simply want my old car back.