We spent last weekend with my daughter’s in-laws, and returned by tow truck and taxi in Sunday evening, because the turbo in their diesel car failed. Our tow truck driver was a very friendly Russian guy who was happy to share dog owner stories with S. It occurred to me that if I were my friend SP, I would be practicing speaking Russian with the guy. Instead, I was happy to just listen to the conversation. 

The tours truck took us to P—, where the road assistance company has a place to keep road cars, as they couldn’t find a driver to bring us all the way back to Harlow. Besides, S and her husband had not yet identified a garage for servicing. We were picked up by a taxi driver who was NOT chatty, like our Russian driver, and we traveled the last leg in quiet. 

The garage received the car, and brought it back to the house on Friday evening, just in time for us to drive out to a restaurant for me to treat S &  G to a dinner out. We got a late start because of me and my longish afternoon rambling around the Tate Modern with my cousin,  T. We got the dogs settled and called the pub so that they’d have a table for us at 9pm, and went out to the car – which refused to start! 
We figured the battery was dead, and G roused several neighbors who are all very helpful. The first neighbor came out, but wasn’t able to locate his jumper cables. The next few neighbors either weren’t home, or had no cables. Finally, the neighbor at the end, so actually works for the repair shop, had cables and, in the end, TWO vehicles that we attempted to get a charge from, but nothing got the fan thing running, and we ultimately have up and went inside for pizza for S & G, and a snack for me (I’d been treated to quite a fantastic and expensive lunch by my cousin, and hadn’t planned on eating much at dinner anyway. We watched a bit of TV, and went to bed. A little bit of a disappointment to end the trip with, although maybe all four the best, as S was feeling tired.

Now, they’re stuck with more car repair adventures. Hoping that it proves to be something simple, like just replacing the battery, and not something more expensive.