Tuesday, December 13, 2011

You can't get there from here!

    I should begin by admitting the writing
was on the wall. Or, in our case, the lights
were on the dash!
    The dash is in my wife's car. In keeping
with the season it was lit like a Christmas
tree for the past couple days.
     The outline of the image of a battery
was highlighted in red with a matching brake
light and "Service engine soon" illuminated
in yellow.
      Plans were in the works to get the
vehicle to our repairman. But before they
could be finalized the car just stopped
running.
      My wife managed to pull it into the
safety of a school parking lot before losing
power.
     Now the trick was to get it to our
garage. It's about two miles from the spot
where she parked. But we would need a tow
truck.
     One of our credit card companies offers
towing as one of its services. So  we started
with a call there. As far as we could tell the
operator was probably in California.
     I probably should point out there's a
popular towing company about 300 yards
away from the car! But we had to make
sure the credit card company has that
tow operator on its list.
     But to begin the process the operator
has to get all kinds of information.
     You know, year and make of car.
      The license number.....the license
number!!!!!! Neither of us know it
right off hand although my wife did
remember that something on the plate
did look a little like Kentucky Fried
Chicken.
      The operator said she could
probably do without the plate number
and laughed when we  said we were
glad we hadn't reached "Peggy."
(From the TV commercials)
     The biggest delay, it seems, was
the fact that mailing addresses don't
always reflect where you are!
      We, the tow company, and the
garage are all in Plains Township
within two miles of each other.
      But we all have variations of
a Wilkes-Barre mailing address.
      That can be a bit confusing to an
operator who never heard of either
place! Good think we didn't get
Peggy!
       In the end the computers must
have figured things out because my
daughter and wife drove by the
school on their way to a party and
her car was gone.
       Either the "Hook" got the car or
some poor unsuspecting thief had
driven off into the night. If it's the
former our mechanics are working
on the problem. If it's the latter the
car will have shut down within about
three blocks and the crook will have
a much longer walk than expected!
      Either way I'll be glad to see it
again....just to check the license
plate!
      Hope your car is running smooth,
that you know your plate number, and
that all your NEWS is good 
     

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