nobody is coming

You can't choose how you're born, but you can choose how you die.— Tamaru Kenichi, 1Q84I wonder if tripping on acid makes the world feel as surreal as mine has become. If so, I imagine the chief difference is that the experience eventually wears off.Starting last week, I had to get used to driving my love's jalopy to work. Before my first trip, however, we had to get the car a new battery. Again. You can read the story of the previous one, which managed to outlive its warranty by a matter of days, here. A valiant effort, all things considered, but hardly the stuff of automotive legend.It's as though the gods maintain a schedule of things destined to give up the ghost around month-end. Our savings are looking considerably bleaker for it.Anyway, I am slowly acclimatising to the Picanto. Save for the seatbelts, it offers precious little in the way of safety features. No airbags, no crumple zones, no reinforced doors, no ABS. And that's before we get to the creature comforts: no turbo, no…