Some sources claim that January 22nd is the most depressing day of the year. Clearly this has to do with the masses finally realising that no, they didn’t succeed in keeping or making any effective New Year’s resolutions.

Today is Blue Tuesday simply because of my car.

The fat ugly thing wasn’t having battery trouble (well, maybe – but that’s not all). In fact the RACV man couldn’t work out what was wrong and he tried pretty much everything. He finally came to the conclusion that perhaps the timing was out on the engine, alternatively I think I just have a bung engine (that’s my personal prediction). So the only option left was to tow.

Now I am back at home, forever indebted to Laura for waiting for a good hour with me, waiting again for my car to show up.

Stupid car.

See this verse here:

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”
-John 15: 13

You cannot apply this to the car you drive – even if it’s been remotely faithful.

To cut a long story short – or it’s not that long a story, today I got my car back from having the radiator finally cleaned after the overheating episode. The cost was not overly significant but it still bruised my very-low-bank-balance. It was driving fine, I was happy.

Then I am coming home from Geoff’s less than an hour ago and the battery light comes on, “Right” I think, “Well I guess I knew I’d have to get a new one eventually”. So I’m approaching the roundabout and getting less and less confident as my car is getting slower and slower and I wind up half way through, with a very dead everything (except lights). So I manage to use my last tiny bit of momentum to get part way up onto the edge of the fire-brigade entrance, which comes onto the roundabout, and there it is: mostly in the outer lane, only partially off the road. Hazard lights on.

Two short bars of battery on my phone and I call Dad. He rocks up, it’s 12:00am and we push it off onto the nature-strip and leave it there.

The best conceivable deal I may get out of this is that someone steals my car at 2:04am precisely and I reap the insurance.

Stupid car.