My day has been the continuation of the saga of both cars, the Mazda MX-5 Miata and the Subaru Legacy Wagon. The Mazda showed signs of steering trouble including the steering wheel not returning to centre and dry metal-on-metal screeching sounds. Then on January 2, the lower left ball joint separated and the suspension collapsed. But I figured since I have another car, I can wait to get this taken care of. Fate had other plans. On January 13, I was rear-ended by a tractor trailer but the damage was minimal - no damage for the bodywork, just one plastic piece shattered and one galvanized steel piece that holds the license plate lights bent. Then last week, the engine started cutting out in traffic which can be a very dangerous situation, so it went to the shop. They say they had it happen but not after fixing some electrical connections, but I would never be able to trust the car again. So I now have two cars both in the shop and one may be getting scrapped soon.
They sent a flatbed tow truck for the Miata, which was the wrong choice. It was agonizing to get it on the vehicle and even more so to get it off. And unlike all other tow truck operators, he did not take me home after delivering the car, so I had to walk about four miles to get home.