The Day AA Came to the Vicarage!

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As I was washing up in the kitchen, I saw the Mhinisteir park the car in a hurry. I thought it was odd because the Mhinisteir NEVER does anything in a hurry. He also got out of the car very quickly. Again this was something that he never did. I went to the door to let him in and find out how the funeral that he had gone to do had went. It was a tricky funeral. Before I opened my mouth, I looked at this face – something was wrong so I let him speak. “Something is wrong with the car” he said. “It is a miracle that I even made it home” he added.

It was almost 4pm and the garage would be closing soon. In any case, there was no way the car was going anywhere. Before he phoned the garage for advise, I suggested ringing the AA (Automobile Association). Actually ours is Green Flag. He phoned the garage and they told him the same to phone Green Flag.

They promised to be with us within the hour. An hour and a half had passed but still no sign of Green Flag. The Mhinisteir rang them again and was told that they had already been which they had not! It transpired that they had tried to but couldn’t get up the muddy track that leads to the vicarage. Wish they had phoned to keep us informed! Anyway, they were sending a smaller vehicle which should be with us in an hour’s time.

The Mhinisteir found the the Green Flag mechanic to be very helpful. Sadly, he wasn’t able to rectify the problem. It needed to go to a garage. It was a Friday night so finding a garage over the weekend was going to be tricky. Thankfully, the Green Flag man was able to recommend a garage that was near us.

The next day, the Mhinisteir rang the garage but was told that he needed to get someone to tow the car to the garage and no they didn’t have a courtesy car!

Does this story have a happy ending?

Stay Tuned (I have always wanted to say that!🤣🤣)

Holiday Report

Photo by Rodrigo Santos on Pexels.com

Our holiday started on Monday but we didn’t leave the Vicarage until 3pm. The hairdresser was booked to come in at lunchtime so we decided to go ahead with it. The appointment with BT was meant to be on that day too but as usual they messed up. More about BT in another post.

Our holiday destination was to the famous English city where we used to live. The purpose of the holiday was so that the Mhinisteir could get a few things done like taking our trusty old car for an MOT and a service. We prefer to take our car to our old garage in Scotland but these days it is just not practical. This appointment was booked ages ago but on the day of our travel, when the Mhinisteir rang them, the garage couldn’t find it and the owner with whom the Mhinisteir usually deals with was on holiday! Thankfully, just before we left the Vicarage, the garage phoned back to say that we should bring the car in as scheduled! Hallelujah!

We arrived at our little self catering cottage around dinner time. We had stayed there a decade ago! The cottage was squeaky clean and I appreciated their Covid-19 safeguarding measures which included no physical contact. We just had to take the keys to the cottage from a key safe.

We took a slow walk into the city centre as we needed to get dinner but also wanted to reminisce. Sadly, the city has gone down quite a bit. I didn’t like being harassed by touters. I suggested a nice Thai restaurant for dinner. I am still not comfortable dining in so it was going to be a take away. Needless to say that the food was lovely. They even took 20% off from our bill which was totally unexpected but much appreciated! I had my usual spice free Pad Thai while the Mhinisteir had something fiery. The portions were super generous that the leftovers ended up as another meal! Not complaining though! 😀

I spent most of my time either inside or outside the cottage catching up on my reading. As for the Mhinisteir, on top of the car business, he had a dental appointment one day and he also got to meet his friend for lunch at The Ivy the next! The car couldn’t be serviced as they didn’t have enough workmen but the car pass did the MOT!!!!!!

We both managed to sleep well every single night which was bliss.

A strange incident happened on the afternoon after the Mhinisteir had been to The Ivy with his friend. Shortly after he arrived back at the cottage and as he was removing his socks, I noticed that one of his toe was covered in blood! The Mhinisteir hadn’t noticed it until I had pointed out to him. His sock too was covered in blood. Thankfully it was nothing serious but just a cut. How he got it is a mystery!

All in all, we had a super holiday compared to our last one!

I don’t want to hoard……

but the supermarkets are leaving me with no choice!

The Mhinisteir and I went to Waitrose this afternoon. The plan was for me to sit in the car while the Mhinisteir goes into the shop and pick up the essentials. However, when we got to the Waitrose carpark, we could see that the queue was snaking all the way to the carpark. We decided that it was going to be a pointless exercise joining the queue as we were not sure if we will get any of our essentials.

I totally understand that this is a global pandemic but I am not sure that we are going about the right way trying to do things….. We all need to eat not just certain people in elevated positions!!!! I fear that supermarkets among others are fueling panic buying and hoarding. The next time, I get a supermarket slot, I too will be tempted to hoard simply because I won’t know when I will get my next slot!!!!!

This evening I came across photos of bags of potatoes, bread etc dumped in bins. It just makes me so angry.

Lockdown at the Vicarage

Yesterday afternoon, we heard that the Church of England has suspended all public worship making an exception for weddings and funerals (but with very strict guidelines). With ours being a multi parish benefice, the Mhinisteir has been inundated with all sorts of questions for Church wardens and parishioners alike. He has been very busy since yesterday trying to answer all these questions and trying to have a system in place.

Thankfully, so far we have been spared from the flu like symptoms. We even managed to go to our local Waitrose yesterday. I say our local but it is about an hour’s drive away! Our main reason for going to the Waitrose was to get a Fenjal Bath Oil and a tin of luxury hot chocolate for the Mhinisteir. The drive did us both a world of good. A lot of the shelves were empty and loo rolls were poking out of every other trolley!

This morning, we got our usual weekly Tesco delivery. Unfortunately, a lot of items were not available but I know we will not starve. The substitutes came no where close so I had to decline. Thankfully, the supplies that I had bought for the food bank were unaffected. There is apparently a huge shortage at the food bank.

With the lockdown, life in the vicarage feels a lot calmer. Long may it continue! Not the lockdown but the calmness.

Green Flag, how dare you?

Back at the garage, we had a bit of a wait before our car could be examined. It was very good of our garage to even bother giving us a slot. About an hour later, the Mechanic came in with the dip stick and asked ” Who did this”???

The Mhinisteir was horrified as the dip stick was covered in duck tape!!! It later transpired that the Green Flag Mechanic had not only broken the dip stick but had also tampered with some of the wires!! To add salt to the injury, the Mechanic said that this was a minor problem that could have been solved at Heathrow!!!!

At this point, I regretted giving the tenner!!!! The Mhinisteir asked me if we should report this matter to Green Flag. I said no because all I could see was that sadly someone chose to be an instrument in the devil’s hands and so why waste time reporting it. I would rather God dealt with the matter. It is so much easier.

The garage didn’t have the spare part so they put a temporary stop to the problem and sent us on our way. We were so thankful to be able to come back to the Vicarage in our own car even though we were dog tired.

The Wheels on the Tow Truck goes round and round….

The good news was Green Flag arrived promptly just after an hour of wait…. the bad news was it wasn’t a flat battery but something to do with the fuel pump and so the car had to be towed either back to the Vicarage or to our garage both of which would take at least three hours!

There was no point in towing it to the Vicarage and so it was decided that it will be towed to our garage which was about an hour’s drive from the Vicarage.

So what about us? It was agreed that we will go on the tow truck too!! How exciting!!! Not!!!

Anyway, the tow truck arrived soon after and we started our journey to our garage. It was quite a pleasant trip but I was shattered by the time we arrived at the garage….. We gave L, our Tow truck driver a tenner and parted company.

My Airport Coronavirus Drama!

The Mhinisteir and I came back to the Vicarage this week after a fortnight’s holiday. As usual, our return was not without drama.

After we landed in Heathrow, we went to pick up our car from the carpark. The car wouldn’t start. I was quite relaxed about it as I was very tired after the long flight and was convinced that it was a flat battery so the Mhinisteir phoned Green Flag.

Midway through his conversation to Green Flag….. he began to explain to them my health situation. Strange I thought….. why does Green Flag need to know my health condition???? It’s the car that is needing looking at.

It was only after the Mhinisteir rang off that I realised that the overly enthusiastic call operator at Green Flag put two and two together and completely got the wrong end of the stick!

She assumed that I was showing symptoms of the coronavirus!!!!!! Boy oh boy!!! Why on earth would she think that????

All because we had just gotten off a flight and the Mhinisteir had mentioned that I wasnt feeling great!!!!! Oh help!!! Me feeling not great is the result of my long term condition nothing else! Anyway, the operator rang again and agreed to send help.

Storm Ciara

I found myself tossing and turning on Saturday night thanks to the howling wind and the rattling of the Vicarage doors.

Sunday was very blustery. When I arrived in church, I quickly realised that there was a power cut and so the Mhinisteir had to turn it into a BCP service. Yay!!!!! On my way to the car I heard a tree literally creaking!!!!!

It was bucketing down like crazy that we could not see the car ahead of us. The Mhinisteir had to drive slowly with the hazard light on!!! It was a very scary experience.

Don’t worry Darling, Relax!

Those were the words from the Mhinisteir when I asked him what time his first appointment was this morning.

Just as I was putting the kettle on to get the breakfast ready (I am a traditional wife by choice), I heard a car…… Mmmm the postman is very early today, I said to myself. Then I heard the car engine turn off and suddenly it dawned on me that it could be the Mhinisteir’s first appointment! Oh my goodness! I was still in my jimjams and the Mhinisteir hadn’t had his breakfast and I haven’t got the “hospitality” tray ready!

The door bell rang and yes it was the Mhinisteir’s first appointment from another Diocese. I scrambled to put together the “hospitality” tray and went ahead to have breakfast on my own.

Later when I saw him after the meeting, my first question to him was so what time was the meeting?! To which he replied…. I still don’t know!!!!!!!!

Our A380 Experience

About 6 years ago, we took a long haul Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt Airport in Germany to our holiday destination. Our flight was at about 11.30pm Frankfurt time.

By the time, we arrived at the airport in Frankfurt we were so tired. The journey to Frankfurt airport from our Highland home in Scotland was a long one.  We were hungry and were struggling to find a place at Frankfurt airport to have something to eat for they were all shutting up for the night.

Alas, our plane started boarding.  What a relief! It was a long flight. I can’t sleep on planes so the 14 hour plus flight felt like a 24 hour flight!!!

After we arrived at our destination, I was desperate to get out of the plane to get some fresh air and to stretch my legs. As we walked out of the plane onto the air bridge and finally into the airport.  We saw many people taking photos with their mobile phone.

The Mhinisteir and I were intrigued by their actions and decided to stop and observe  why these people were busy clicking away!

We saw a humungous plane on the tarmac and it was this plane that was being photographed.  The Mhinisteir and I were mesmerised by this plane.  It had two levels just like a double decker bus.  It was one of the new A380 planes.

We were so excited to know how it would look inside and to which airlines it belonged to.  We were quite sure it belonged to one of these middle eastern airlines.

Just that it didn’t.   It said LUFTHANSA on the side of the plane!!!  

It was then that the penny dropped!!! This was the plane that we had just disembarked from!!!! What a pair of numpties we had been!!!!!