Car Battery Panic! (Blog 472)

Yesterday, my plan was to get a train ticket from a ticket selling member of staff in the morning (requested to be used later on in the day), and then get my monthly blood test done immediately after the buying. Technically I didn’t need to get the ticket for the London Comedy Writers meeting early, I could have got it later on in the afternoon from the nearby ticket machine, at the same price. However, as doing so isn’t part of my routine, I get worried that I’ll forget buying such a ticket and then I’d be travelling on a train illegally. Anyway, all was looking good for a while as I left my home, but would you believe my car battery died next to the train station after buying the ticket?? And not only that, I was parked on a double yellow line, with a sign explaining there was CCTV! Oh dear God no. Yes, in the past I have parked on such lines before in the area and got away with it many dozens of times, but I never parked for anywhere near that long!

Due to mobile phone-losing-phobia, I didn’t have my mobile phone on me as per usual, so I asked the ticket machine seller if she had a phone. She did not, BUT a super amazing old lady overheard the conversation (it was pretty loud and desperate) so she let me use her mobile. I phoned my dad but he didn’t answer which didn’t really matter as I don’t think there was a lot he could have done anyway. I wasn’t really thinking clearly. So even if he ignored the call, which is what I believe, yeah, it didn’t matter. Yes, I could have called the AA but I was in a hurry. In an unbelievable second act of kindness, the lady walked me to a very nearby garage. Oh no, there was only one member of staff who was busy on the phone and who wasn’t a real mechanic. In an absolutely insane kindness hat trick, he left his phone for a bit as he gave me a special cable; drove a car that appeared to used as some kind of battery transplant(?); fixed his car battery to the lead, and then fixed the other end of the lead to MY battery. If that sounds odd to you, what can I say? I made it up and wasn’t paying attention. I hope I didn’t make it up though. What I do know is that I was soon told to start my car and it worked. Woohoo!

Things weren’t perfect though, I was still late and I had to make damn sure I didn’t stall my car on the way home, otherwise I’d be stuck in an even worse place. Stopping for traffic lights had never been so tense. I can’t remember the last time I stalled at traffic lights, it must be many years ago now, but it could still happen. Oh, I guess I didn’t. Phew! When I got home, I asked my dad to give me a lift to the blood test place, and surprise, surprise, he didn’t even mention my call. I wonder why. But it didn’t matter anyway, in fact if he DID actually listen he would have driven to the station and said something like ‘I’m here’, wouldn’t do anything to help at all and I’d be stuck with someone I consider annoying, making things even worse. Anyway, long story short I got driven to the nurse and was just two or three minutes late! (Or maybe she thought I was 32/33 minutes late as she often seems to think my appointment is half an hour earlier than it should be. Nope, I’m fairly sure I’m right about that). I was told I got sent a text message reminding me of my appointment, but obviously it would never get read, would it? Checking my phone twice a day is enough for me. I intend to keep it that way.

I got my blood taken and then my blood pressure, and everything was fine. You’d think I’d have high blood pressure, right? I probably did for a while, but when I arrived at the place I was actually feeling pretty good. Super duper. I wasn’t told my blood pressure was so low I could faint again, which disappointed me a little, as I’m strongly assuming the last nurse was just trying to scare me as explained a while ago. My understanding is that it’s good to be in the low normal range, but I wasn’t in that yesterday, just normal. Kinda annoying. I was then told to weigh myself, and my weight went up and down a little, possibly because I was unknowingly jumping up and down with excitement just a bit. The feeling of relief? Amazing. If I was told my BP was very good as well, I’d almost certainly be doing much larger jumps. I’m glad I didn’t though because… well how would I explain it in a way that didn’t make me sound crazy? And what worse a place to look crazy?? To wrap things up, will I get a parking ticket? I honestly don’t know. Bye!