Cars and batteries
Created | Updated Feb 29, 2012
A man is waiting, at the corner of two busy streets, for a mobile service van to arrive to fix the battery in his car. It is a long wait and he watches as various people pass him and move out of his range of sight. First there is the man walking the poodle. He looks bored and the poodle looks in no hurry to end his walk. The man wonders which one is actually in charge of that situation. Then a mother and daughter arrive at his corner but in different cars. They both get out and go to a cafe behind the man. The mother has grey hair and is about sixty. The daughter (granddaughter?) is in her mid twenties. Not able to get a table they want, they both leave the cafe and stand near the man discussing where they will go next. He hears them mention a well known local cafe.
The older woman asks her granddaughter(?) if she knows how to get there and the young woman laughs and says she will follow the older woman's car. They both drive off "in convoy" but the man notices that they are going the long way. He knows the short cut to that cafe, but the older woman obviously does not because her car heads off in the opposite direction.
The man now sees a young couple get into one of those cars you hire or rent for a few hours. They obviously take some time mastering the controls before they drive away.
As the first hour of his wait passes, the man starts to notice the large number of delivery vans that pass his corner. One such van moves slowly up a side street. Two men get out and walk up to a cash machine. They spend some time putting in many cards and extracting money. All the money is placed in a bag. After about ten minutes, the men get back in their van and drive away. Pondering on this the man suddenly realizes what they were doing. He regrets that he did not memorize the registration number of that van.
Giving into desperation, the man calls the service center on his mobile phone. The call operator asks him to wait whilst she checks up on the service car's location. After some time listening to musac, the operator comes on line to tell him they are ten minutes away. So the man waits another 30 minutes. He is just calling up to complain when the service car arrives. The service tradesman decides to give the speech about not leaving the lights on when parking a car. The man knows he did not leave the lights on but is so whipped by the wait that he just grins and takes the unwanted advice. As the battery is being replaced, the man has to listen to a long monologue about how many people leave their headlights on overnight.
Finally the transfer is complete and, after paying for the new battery, the man is farewelled with more advice about checking to see if his lights have been left on when parking. The man gets into his car and wishes all servicemen could one day have their own flat battery. In his fantasy he imagines that they have to call him to fix their problem. He smiles as he decides how long he would keep them waiting. And he laughs to himself as he composes his own lecture on never leaving lights on when parked overnight.
The older woman asks her granddaughter(?) if she knows how to get there and the young woman laughs and says she will follow the older woman's car. They both drive off "in convoy" but the man notices that they are going the long way. He knows the short cut to that cafe, but the older woman obviously does not because her car heads off in the opposite direction.
The man now sees a young couple get into one of those cars you hire or rent for a few hours. They obviously take some time mastering the controls before they drive away.
As the first hour of his wait passes, the man starts to notice the large number of delivery vans that pass his corner. One such van moves slowly up a side street. Two men get out and walk up to a cash machine. They spend some time putting in many cards and extracting money. All the money is placed in a bag. After about ten minutes, the men get back in their van and drive away. Pondering on this the man suddenly realizes what they were doing. He regrets that he did not memorize the registration number of that van.
Giving into desperation, the man calls the service center on his mobile phone. The call operator asks him to wait whilst she checks up on the service car's location. After some time listening to musac, the operator comes on line to tell him they are ten minutes away. So the man waits another 30 minutes. He is just calling up to complain when the service car arrives. The service tradesman decides to give the speech about not leaving the lights on when parking a car. The man knows he did not leave the lights on but is so whipped by the wait that he just grins and takes the unwanted advice. As the battery is being replaced, the man has to listen to a long monologue about how many people leave their headlights on overnight.
Finally the transfer is complete and, after paying for the new battery, the man is farewelled with more advice about checking to see if his lights have been left on when parking. The man gets into his car and wishes all servicemen could one day have their own flat battery. In his fantasy he imagines that they have to call him to fix their problem. He smiles as he decides how long he would keep them waiting. And he laughs to himself as he composes his own lecture on never leaving lights on when parked overnight.
