Sadly it turned out that the quick charge that I gave the car battery following our return from Monmouth wasn’t going to be sufficient to get me in to work on Wednesday. Going via the sorting office to pick up a package the warning lights started popping up as I passed under the M3 on Leigh Road. I pulled in to the right hand lane to turn back for home at which point the engine cut out. Just where you want to be – in the middle of the road during rush hour.
I nipped in to the Holiday Inn to get a hand pushing the car out the way. Needless to say reception was staffed by a selection of dainty looking young girls. By the time we’d rounded up a couple of big strong men my car was surrounded by four of our finest Community Support officers. One of them helpfully suggested that we needed to move the car sideways on to the raised central reservation. Fortunately his colleague saw the sense of moving it out the way round the corner in to Dew Lane. Rather embarrassing for me was that he was about to call my mobile number from a piece of paper he’d retrieved from the glove box (presumably the central locking had failed as I rushed away). This was the note the RAC had given me detailing the problem with the alternator.
Many thanks to my colleague Chris Andrews who came to the rescue in his Land Rover. We retrieved the old battery (now fully recharged) from home and, with a jump start, this was sufficient to get me to the garage where the alternator was due to be replaced on Thursday. Although only £40 cheaper than Kings Seat, I decided to go with Independent Car Sales and Servicing in the local industrial estate. This was mainly because I felt we’d given Kings more than enough money in the past year but I wasn’t disappointed by the quality of the service that I received.