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P is passionate about cars. He races formula and owns several cars. The one he drives daily is 86 Ibiza. It's an old car and looks beat up, but he has taken good care of it, done maintenance himself, installed the Porsche engine, and "it runs great." I am not really interested in how good-looking a car is. If it is safe and runs fine, I don't care if it is old or not. He drives pretty fast, but he is a good driver, so I just sat in the passenger seat, enjoying the drive in Helsinki. And I noticed something.
"P, um, the speedometer says 0."
"Yeah, it's broken."
Unthinkable in Japan... "But I know exactly how fast I'm going from the tachometer." OK... And I noticed something else.
"P, the fuel gage says you don't have any gas."
"Yeah, that's broken, too."
Then how do you know when to fill up the tank?!
"I trust the warning lamp."
OK... But it turns on, and then turns off, and turns on again. But I wasn't worried because he seemed to know what to do. And true, while I was there, we had no problem, and it did run great.
And yesterday afternoon it happened. He ran out of gas on freeway on the way to work, and had to call his coworker to bring some gas.
Apparently the lamp turned on the day before yesterday, but it went off, so he did not think it was "seriously" indicating the gas was low (I thought it was really funny he used the word "seriously"). But in fact it really was serious.
The coworker brought the wrong kind of gas, but he used it anyway, and apparently he could get to the office just fine.

I told him the car no longer sounds safe to drive, but it seems he cannot live without it. He said he would drive with a can of gas in the backseat from now on (as opposed to in the front by the driver seat to avoid an explosion in case of an accident...) There is a limit to being a risk taker, but I guess that's how some people are, and he indeed is one of them. Me, I like things safe and calm. Too much excitement wears me out. Of course listening to people like him is always fun(ny). But to think if this had happened while I was there...
I'll take the bus next time.