I parked the car at the train station this evening, and when I went back to it twenty minutes later, I couldn’t make it go. It started, but I couldn’t shift it out of park. I tried all the steps listed in the manual, but to no avail. More than a little frustrating, of course. I tried calling AAA, but they insisted that all they could do was jump start or tow, and I wasn’t sure I was ready to have the car towed just yet. Eventually, I decided maybe I should just leave the car and take the bus home. The 35 had been parked stopped at the bus stop for a while, and I figured that once it turned on its lights and route sign, I could wander over and hop on. Turns out that it pulled away without ever turning on the rear signs, and there wasn’t going to be another one for an hour. Sigh.
I ended up taking Caltrain up to San Antonio, and walking home from there (carrying the groceries I’d bought earlier in the evening), and now I’m home, safe and mostly sound. The car is still parked at the train station, and maybe tomorrow I can figure out how to make it go, or have it towed somewhere where they can fix it. Or maybe this is a sign that it’s time to decide that I’m never going to be able to afford to own property in the Bay Area anyway, and spend all my savings on an extremely expensive brand new car.