What a busy day! A nice day, but it’s been somewhat nonstop! Today actually started yesterday – after our writers’ group get-together – which I wrote abut here:
https://loiselsden.com/2025/07/16/writing-is-the-thing/↗
We’d had a great meeting, discussing a future guest speaker, catching up with our news, sharing our writing for this month’s topic (something to do with medicine/doctors/hospitals etc) deciding on next month’s topic and date. We’d had cake to celebrate Fenja Hill’s birthday, we’d tidied up, washing cups etc, and we’d said farewell and headed for home.
I went to the carpark, hopped into our car, turned on the engine, depressed the clutch, put the car into reverse – and heck!!!! What was that horrific noise, and why wouldn’t the car slip into gear? i tried again, horrific noise again… turned off, repeat, etc. It was clear that there was something wrong with the car. I messaged Fenja who knows a lot about a lot of things, and she appeared like magic, tried the car and came to the conclusion I was beginning to come to, SOMETHING WASN’T WORKING. Her trusty garage was round the corner so we trekked round to them and they said they would come round and see if they could diagnose the problem. Unfortunately they couldn’t.
Our car is only a recent acquisition and after various phone calls, the garage we bought it from sent a pick-up truck to collect it – today. (Taxi home yesterday, son had to get taxi home from station) So today, there we were, having got a taxi to our abandoned car, waiting for the garage to arrive, which they did with a low-loader to take it back to look at the problem. We needed another taxi to take us home. We arrived home. Husband had a gig in the afternoon and a friend arrived to pick him up. We weren’t able to pick up son from station again, so he had a taxi home.
Today son got a taxi to station to go to work, we got a taxi to abandoned car to wait for garage to pick it up. We waited for the pick-up truck and Fenja Hill very kindly came and waited with us. Truck arrived, loaded our car onto trailer, departed, and we rang a taxi to get home.
Husband had a gig after lunch and kind friend came to give him a lift. Fenja came to pick me up as we had a meeting in town. She very kindly gave me a lift home, Son got another taxi home from the station and a kind friend picked me up to take me to book group. She gave me a lift home, but dropped me off at the Dolphin, where a hug from the best bartendress, and a glass of wine in hand I collapsed on a stool at a table with husband and son.
What an incredibly busy day… and gosh how we miss the car, and gosh how crazy it is that we rely on our vehicles so much!!
My featured image is of Fenja – and here is a link to her books: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Books-Fenja-Hill/s?rh=n%3A266239%2Cp_27%3AFenja%2BHill
Lois Elsden 