move over marie barone

no, this isn't a post about family, in-laws or pesky neighbors. it's about plastic.

you know how in "everybody loves raymond" marie keeps a plastic cover on her sofa so that it doesn't get damaged? well, you should have SEEN the looks of horror we got the day we picked up our new car.

in the US, when you are delivered a new car, it is given to you nice and fresh, with all stickers, tape and protective material removed from the car. here, they leave the plastic on the inside of the car, because people leave it on until they get better covers to fit the inside of their vehicle. i never really noticed it, and now, all i see is the glare from plastic covers in the cars as we drive down the road. 

seats are covered, doors are covered. it's a plastic-covered world! i think it's hilarious. of course, i am the daughter of a car-wash operator, so a) i keep the insides of my cars looking pretty clean and b) if something gets on the fabric (like pen, whoops), dad can get it out. 

besides, doesn't that get hot when it's 120 outside? 

not only that, but the other weird thing that we were told when we got our 2008 mitsubishi, mind you, was that we shouldn't drive faster than 80-100 km/hr for the first 1000 km. is this 1960? needless to say, serge ignored that as he peeled out of the dealership and sped off down the road. 

ah, gotta love those subtle cultural differences. i'll take some plastic with that please! and now we're dying to know if people cover their house furniture too! hopefully some day we'll get a report in...