Thursday 15 April 2010

Strange Days Indeed

So there I was on my way ready to go to the supermarket, thinking that if it wasn't beside a whole mall of shops no one would think of asking me to run extra errands and I could get straight to the food, when it all started to go A Bit Wrong. With my car. I tried to unlock it and the wipers started up. I turned over the engine and it cut out. Then the headlights came on all by themselves..

I phoned The Accountant at work. I don't usually do this, even in an emergency, because I think it's a bit girly and helpless to be honest; but I was actually feeling a bit girly and helpless, so I called and he phoned the garage who said I needed the AA. I made that call myself and the nice lady told me to wait by my vehicle until help arrived (madam) so I went inside and brewed some coffee.

When the AA man arrived I (yes) went a bit girly and helpless again; but he seemed fine with that because he got the car started, offered to follow me round to the garage and then organised me a hire car. And I got a lift in his cool big AA van. Sorted.

Except that it isn't really because no one can find out what's wrong with my car. I'm off to phone them again now. I hope it's good news. They've lent me an Astra which reminds me of learning to drive in the 80's and makes me want to channel Gene Hunt in Ashes to Ashes. He fires up his Quattro. If I say I'm off to fire up the Astra one more time, someone in the family might take me off the road permanently..

And because it's not a blog post without a photo, here is a page I did yesterday:

20 comments:

humel said...

Poor car! Sadly, when we have car trouble, there's absolutely no point in me phoning The Doctor. He's even more girly and helpless than I am in these situations.

He'll not be happy with me sharing that detail!! ;-)

Hope your car is better soon x

PS And I love the layout :-)

debs14 said...

I like to think that it's not so much us being girly and helpless, it's us allowing the men to go all manly and macho ;-)
Hope they find out what it is soon, nothing like having your car off the road and having a loan vehicle to make you realise how much you love your own one. Even if the loan one does spark off tv fantasies!

Rhona said...

I'm touching wood because I haven't had any car problems for a while, hope they find out what's wrong with yours soon!
Another great layout too! :)

Gillian said...

Hope you can get it sorted soon. Lovely new LO too.

Ruth said...

Hope you get your wheels back soon. And I'm loving that bunting ~ so very cute.

Lizzie said...

Poor you! Cars are great, so long as they work... Recently I had problems with mine too - it wouldn't unlock, then when it did, I got inside and the alarm went off! I tried to open the door, to get out and re-lock/unlock it - the doors wouldn't open and I was locked inside! I did finally manage to get out, but the alarm wouldn't stop. I called the garage, who said I had free RAC cover for 2 years (new car perk), so I called them.
The RAC man had seen the problem before (phew!). He undid the battery and cleaned the contacts between the terminals and the connecting cables. Then the problem was fixed! Apparently when they make the cars, they spray some sort of sealant over the battery terminals, to waterproof them. Problem - over a period of time, it seeps between the cables & contacts and breaks the connection, messing up the electrics - hence the mad locking/unlocking/alarm situation.

Cars are great, until they go wrong!

I love your layout by the way. Very pretty... and the bunting is really nice. A bit of a coincidence - I made 3 strings of mini-bunting and 9 paper flowers last night, then put the whole set in my etsy shop - yippee! I've been making loads of bunting recently - time I used it on something for myself!

Maria Ontiveros said...

I love the bunting, and I love, love, love the idea of you going around the house channeling Gene Hunt. It's saying those sorts of things over & over (causing eye rolls in the fam) which I think create great memories and camaraderie. We are our quirky behavior!
Rinda

Amanda said...

I love it when Gene Hunt says that LOL, your story made me smile. However the bit about not being able to find out what is wrong with your car didn't - I hope they find out soon.

Beautiful LO and more of the flowers I admired on a previous one. They look great against the white background.

I'm 'aving hoops for me dinner - no I'm not but Gene says that too:)plus lots of other things that I couldn't possibly repeat here.

Denise said...

I'd love to go round saying'fire up the Astra' might have to steal that ! I really hope your car is soon sorted and I agree with Deb,it's us letting them be all manly and macho!Love the bunting on your layout.x

Cheri said...

If we aren't allowed to use our men so we can go all girly and helpless once in a while, then there isn't much reason to keep them around, is there? (just kidding). Hope the garage gets it all figured out for you.

Tinkertaylor said...

Cars love em or hate em we still need them. I remember one week in our household of four cars, three of us came home on the back of the breakdown truck! Got our membership moneys worth that week.
Lovely flowers btw

Anonymous said...

I think car problems must be one of the most frustrating (closely followed by computer problems), probably because I rely on both so heavily. I hope yours is fixed and the cost wasn't too great. (Another common problem with both cars and computers--always costly to fix.) I love all the details on your layouts and this one is no exception!

Deb @ PaperTurtle said...

Ugh! Car problems are the worst! Good luck sorting it out.

LOVE the layout! Especially the bunting and that adorable crocheted flower! Very nice.

Amy said...

Go Gene!

Car troubles here this week as well, fortunately, or unfortunately depending on which way you look at things - The Engineer forbids all garages and proceeds to problem slove all by himself. This is actually his forte but sometimes these days as we have better cars now and he does not have all of the specialised computers he has to bite his lip and let things go elsewhere ..... quite damaging for his ego ;-)

Scrappi Sandi said...

I drive an Astra, so I will definitely be pinching that 'fire up' line!!!

There's nothing wrong with going all girly & helpless if the need arises...there use to be a sketch on 'The Fast Show' on the subject that made me cry laughing!! All I'm saying is that the end justifies the means!!!

Hope they heal your motor soon!

Scrappi Sandi said...

Me again...sorry I forgot to say...gorgeous LO...I looked at those papers at Ally Pally on Saturday but didn't succumb...love the bunting & those perfect crocheted flowers!

Sandra said...

Let me get this straight ... you managed to do this fab layout AND you had car trouble! The car trouble would have been enough to put my day out no end. Still, hingers crossed they sort it out soon.

Winnie said...

That's not good news about your car. I hope you get it fixed soon. I love your LO, especially the bunting and the flowers at the bottom!

Anna said...

Oh, don't get me started on car problems! What a pain! I hope it all gets sorted for you soon ...
That's a gorgeous layout! I love the bunting :)

Susanne said...

I remember once when I was stranded (really, not that far from a gas station), but called hubby because I wanted to be rescued. He started to give me all kinds of advice, until I just had to finally admit I was a damsel in distress in need of rescue. He did.

PS My hubby is a former CPA, now a CFO/Pres.

Related Posts with Thumbnails