Sunday 6 December 2009

Kindness shown not just on the waterways

For most of this post I'm handing over the keyboard to Jan.

It was every lone woman driver's worst nightmare: dark night; pouring rain; fast dual carriageway; no hard shoulder; the car you are driving decides to park itself at the side of the road and refuses to move. I got out of the car, offered a prayer of gratitude for my mobile phone and reflective jacket and waited for help. Husband Halfie has already told the rest of the story. When we reflected on the events of that night we realised how well cared for we were. Four people showed us concern and kindness and we were very grateful to all of them.

First was the man near whose house the car had stopped. He offered me shelter and 'any help I needed'.

Second was the (very friendly) policeman (probably the tallest man I have ever encountered in my life!) who pushed the (very heavy) Volvo estate about 200 metres to the nearest slip road.

Third was the (very elderly) man who walked past us as we sat in the (very cold) car waiting for the breakdown van. He walked a few paces past the car then turned round and came back to talk to us. He offered us cups of tea, food and 'even a bed for the night' if we needed it.

Fourth was the breakdown man who rescued us. He was friendly, helpful and, best of all, he took us home!

It was good to meet these four people: the memory of a nasty experience is softened as we appreciate their care and concern.



Update: Use of a multimeter indicates that it's the Renix electronic ignition unit and not the coil itself which is faulty. A trip to a breaker's yard is called for, methinks.

4 comments:

Brian and Diana on NB Harnser said...

Did you use the AA, I think they give priority to lone women.
How many Volvos have you got?

Jan said...

We are not members of the AA because we have breakdown cover with our car insurance. We've got 2 Volvos: this one and a 40 year old Amazon, featured on 4th September in a blog post about the IWA national festival.

Brian and Diana on NB Harnser said...

I met John with the other one at the IWA national at Red Hill.
Brian
PS At least you can mend the old ones.

Eve said...

I think there are indeed some very nice people around.
I 'like' people and like to think the best of them and thankfully haven't often been let down.
Julie