Let me explain.
Those who know me well will be aware that I am yet to pass my driving test. Long story, failed the test three times in three months back in 2006 and then didn't get round to it again. I will, but not before next week. At the earliest.
That said, I will overcome one day, if only to get back at those lovely folks who have been ripping the dung out of me for all these years. (I'm only 42 after all).
Anyhow, back to my car accident.
Last night I went to put the bin out, before encountering a problem in the form of our neighbour's car which was parked in the adjacent driveway alongside ours without leaving enough room for our bin to get through.
No problem, thought I. I'll simply reverse our car back a bit to create a gap. So I climbed in, fired her up, clunked the gear into reverse and dropped the car down our drive no more than a yard. I then turned the engine off, locked the car, wheeled out the bin and returned inside. Job done.
That was until this morning when Vanessa returned to the car to take Jamie to school. She turned the key. Nothing happened. She tried again. Nothing happened. She swore under her breath. Nothing. She swore more loudly whilst turning the key. No luck.
It was time for Plan B. Walk Jamie to school (again, swearing under her breath). They made it on time.
On her return, she phoned the emergency man to come and have a look. 15 minutes after his arrival, the emergency man - car now fired up - enquired as to when the car had last been started. Vanessa told him.
No one told me that one yard journeys were bad for cars and had a tendency to flood the engine. The proof of the emergency man's statement was evidenced by the fact that I had flooded the engine. He left smiling.
An hour later, another emergency man arrived. He didn't leave smiling after being informed that original emergency man had sorted the problem and so he wouldn't be getting a call-out fee.
In the meantime, Vanessa had taken the car out for a spin to nurse the engine back to health.
She can take the bin out next week too.
