Name: How A Yellow Car Saved Me
Uploaded: 2017-08-30T15:30:43.000Z
Duration: 4 min 39 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Late one night, in a quiet suburban street, a yellow car drove into my life and changed

My husband and I are visiting our best friends Mark and Karen.

We’re sitting out on their front verandah drinking wine and just starting to enjoy ourselves

when we hear violent pounding coming from downstairs.

We can’t agree on who should go down to face certain death, so all four of us descend

Karen bravely opens the door and we see that the possible axe murderer is really an irate

woman who immediately takes a step inside, looks straight at Phil, and barks -

“Is that your car on my nature strip?”

Phil repeatedly reassures her that the little yellow car outside her house isn’t ours

As we go back upstairs we’re like little kids, sniggering at this taste of neighbourhood

Relaxing on the veranda we have no idea just how interesting the evening is about to become.

I glance over the railing and see an extraordinary scene.

I call everyone over to watch the drama unfolding in the street.

The irate woman is now standing near the little yellow car looking very upset.

She starts circling the car- pulling on each of the door handles one by one.

He tries to open the boot, attempts to push the car and even kicks the tyres.

Their interaction with the car is anything but civil.

We lean on the railing, watching as the couple continues this odd behavior.

After ten minutes or so they leave the car and disappear inside the house.

To our great delight the couple are back outside pacing up and down their tiny verandah, talking

in an animated manner and waving their arms around.

Finally she stops pacing, puts her hands on her hips and gives the car a death stare while

her husband gets on his mobile and begins an intense conversation.

By the way he gestures toward the car we can guess what it’s about.

We’re all thrilled to have box seats to this silly street opera.

now I know you may be thinking that this is an older couple…

they look to be in their twenties and this is

To our astonishment the couple come out through the front gate and begin their performance

He ends up leaning in the doorway as though there’s tragedy afoot.

We’re doubled over with laughter, tears running down our faces.

This crazy couple has spent the best part of an hour fretting about a car parked on

I’m laughing so much I can barely gasp out my sentence:

Who would waste their Friday night upset about a car?”

I’ve realise I know the answer to my question.

I go round and round whatever yellow car happens to be parked outside my house –

I’ve been driving myself crazy with my fears, imagined catastrophes, regrets and obsessions.

And I get on the phone and drive everyone around me crazy too, rehashing that past hurt,

freaking out about the future or whining about what went wrong.

Even on a Friday night – I take my misery everywhere I go.

After a few moments of sobering enlightenment, I say to Phil,

“Whenever I start doing that – whenever I start acting in that insane way about something

Or some imagined something that might happen in the future – remind me about tonight.

And now, whenever I begin my nutty obsessing … which is daily he’ll watch my performance

for a while a bit then with a  smile he'll say

and I’ll laugh, relieved I’ve been reminded not to be such a moron.

And look – I’m smiling a whole lot more these days.

Hi, this is Toni and you’ve just heard the first part of my funny little book

Have a great day, and remember – a lot of the time

Subtitles ListPlay Video

How A Yellow Car Saved Me

intense

extraordinary

insane

eventually