Ommmmmmmmmmmmm...............

Cars are like computers. They’re wonderful things until they don’t work. Yesterday afternoon I set off home from work without a care in the world, expecting to go to the post office and do a bit of shopping on the way back. I got the mail, got back in the car and turned the key. Nothing. Zilch. Not a flicker of life.

Well, at least I was near the post office with telephone boxes just outside (I don't carry a mobile phone, they don't work around here). My guardian angel arranged that okay. The mechanic who normally does our car servicing was there in fifteen minutes. He jump-started it and I drove round to the garage to get a new battery. Half an hour later I was off again. Too late to do any shopping, but at least I could get home.

But this morning when I started the car, it sounded like I’d started the tractor. There was no sign of P anywhere, so I said a prayer and set off. It sounded all right once we got going and we got there okay, but it still sounded awful when I pulled up at work. So I phoned the mechanic again. He ummed and ahhed about what it might be, but told me to bring it in after work.

It took him two seconds to find the problem – a pulley on a fan belt that was only a few turns from blowing apart. Absolutely nothing to do with what happened yesterday, just a coincidence. My car was definitely not going home this time.

I rang home and P came for me. He wasn’t impressed with having to go shopping (though the alternative of no dinner was even less appealing) and I don’t think he was terribly happy about having to take me for a scheduled meeting with one of Eldest’s teachers (it could have been worse, I could have arranged to see all six). But we got home in the end.

Tomorrow’s another day. Hopefully they’ll fix the problem before the end of the day. Meanwhile I’m worried about Dynamo who’s had a headache for two days and is definitely not well. He had a fall last week and I’m putting two and two together and getting six, probably because I know I can’t just stick him in the car and go to the doctor. Yes, I’m feeling stressed out…a bit like the pulley in the car, in fact. Lots of deep breathing coming up...