He was only trying to be helpful.

I’ve mentioned our boggart many times but in case you haven’t seen what I wrote, let me explain. Boggarts are sometimes described as goblins, which I don’t think they are, and also thought to be mischievous and even malicious – which I refute! Boggarts on the whole try to be helpful (especially if they are appreciated and spoken of in a kindly and affectionate way) – but being helpful might be tidying something away where you wouldn’t expect it to be (scissors in the fridge, CD in the bookcase, favourite item of clothing in the wrong drawer etc).

We have a boggart and he’s a dear soul, but does get in a muddle – at the moment I have two pairs of glasses, one for reading, one for driving, and he does put them in the wrong spectacle case, so I open my book to read in bed and the glasses in the case are for driving. Similarly I get in the car with my reading glasses – the other ones are beside the bed!

Now I’m not being critical of him, he was only trying to help me today, but to be honest, his “help” caused a lot of stress and frustration. For some reason, when I popped into town to pick up a few things and do a couple of chores, he decided to come with me. Unbeknownst to me, he must have hopped into the car and I brought him with me and left him in the car without realising when I went on my various missions. I did what I had to do, had a coffee, wandered round a bookshop, paid for my parking and headed up the stairs back to the car… except it wasn’t where I left it.

I nearly always park on floor 3 (with orange pillars and paths) and occasionally park on floor 2 (green) rarely if ever on the 1st floor (which is probably blue) and when it’s very busy, on the roof! So today, I parked on floor 3, and clutching an awkward bunch of items because I hadn’t brought a bag, I wandered round and round searching for the car. I kept pressing the key fob to make the lights flash so I could see where it was, and eventually realised I must have parked it on floor 2. I traipsed down the stairs and did a couple of circuits along the green paths, but the car was nowhere to be found. Obviously it actually was on floor 3 and I hadn’t been paying attention when I was looking for it. Back to floor 3, wander, wander, wander, back to floor 2, ditto, then I even went down to floor 1, by which time I was both anxious and annoyed, and beginning to wonder if it had been stolen.

Maybe I should go to the carpark people and ask them to look for it on their CCTV. But what was the registration number? My mind was a blank. Should I message my daughter and ask what it was? No, don’t be ridiculous! Wait – I’d once taken a photo of it for some reason, so I put my awkward packages on the floor and scrolled through my photos and eventually found the car reg. I would have one more search of all the floors, and would go up to the roof even though it was yesterday not today I parked there. That’s one of the problems – we use the carpark so often it’s easy to misremember the car’s location!

I was very tired and disheartened, and a bit anxious – supposing it really was stolen! I’d have to report it – a stolen Morris Marina  – no wait, it’s not a Marina it’s a Vauxhall Meriva and it’s browny-grey (my family insist it’s black)

I would have one last look on all the floors, and eventually emerged onto the fourth and top floor. It was raining. Oh joy. A bearded chap in a fluorescent jacket approached, asking if I was ok and I told him the story. He sympathised – he worked in the carpark and sometimes he lost his car too! I set off, pressing the remote which would make the lights flash – and what?? Wait what?????  Yes, the car winked at me.

Obviously the boggart had got fed up with sitting in semi-darkness where I’d parked, and he’d somehow managed to drive up to the roof because there it was! Gratefully, I got in, and I didn’t reprimand him, (even though I had to pay extra for the parking) because after all, he was only trying to be helpful.

My featured image is a view from the roof of the carpark, looking down at Weston Grand Pier – to the left, the promontory of Brean Down projects into the sea, across which on the right of the picture you might just be able to make out Wales.