I'm so glad I wore my big scarf pulled up to my ears, my beret pulled down to them, the Danish wool coat which makes me feel like I'm being hugged by a sheep and gloves lined with snuggly cashmere. The car needed to go in for a service and MOT on Monday and we woke up to snow on the ground and minus temps. "I'll come with you, just in case..." I suggested to Mr SDS who was going to drive it there but catch the bus back from the garage in a quiet village 6 miles from us. "You know, if there was an issue getting home, at least you won't have to deal with it alone". We put on our layers for a chilly expedition.
Besides, I like a bit of bus travel - the return trip on a red double-decker out here in the sticks would take us down shiny, pinkbrown lanes, past acres of flat frosted fields, under archways of twiggy trees, all to be spied through a handmade porthole in a condensated window, against that soundtrack of strangely comforting rumbles and rattles. I checked it all out first - the Number 43 would be perfectly timed and, just in case we missed that one, a 43a should turn up 20 minutes later. So we left the car with the garage and headed down to the bus stop.
We didn't miss the bus. The bus - or buses - missed us. Over an hour went by and we were still waiting. An hour?! you say - but there's always that thing in your mind, isn't there - just wait a bit longer, it's bound to turn up soon, or it will just at the very moment you decide to walk away, so...just hang on in there. Just ten minutes more, twenty maybe, it'll come.
Nothing. Eventually we gave up and rang for a cab - around another half hour to wait for that, then. We stayed by the roadside so we couldn't be missed. Actually we hung around next to the public loos to be precise (they're at a convenient turning point). It was freezing cold, did I mention that? It was freezing cold. Nothing to do but observe the world. A well-to-do elderly man, complete in tweed jacket and cap, exited the Gents and inadvertently set off an alarm which clanged and flashed for ages, and of which nobody took any notice. A red kite flew low across the street, scaring off the woodpigeons high up in a nearby tree. A woman in the Medieval house opposite wandered out in her slippers, leaving her front door wide open, while she posted a letter just down the road. Slippered feet! Outside, in this weather! And she didn't wipe them on the doormat before she went back in. Then we caught sight of Mr SDS's wanky boss from a few years ago, driving by slowly in the opposite direction. "Quick, hide!" We ducked behind the Ladies until it was safe.
We got home eventually and I'm so glad I wore my big scarf pulled up to my ears, my beret pulled down to them, the Danish wool coat which makes me feel like I'm being hugged by a sheep and gloves lined with snuggly cashmere... It was freezing cold.
The car failed its MOT, it has a major problem and it's going to cost over £1000 to fix it. But what can you do? - We couldn't get another car for that amount and without one here, well - sadly it seems we just can't rely on the buses.
Brilliant writing, as ever. How cold was it? I don't think you mentioned it. I feel your pain. The lack of any meaningful public transport, coupled with the total absence of primary healthcare, were the main drivers in us returning from 'the sticks' to 'civilisation'. I think I wrote about it at the time(!). I probably called one of my posts 'Where the buses *do* run'.
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Ah thank you... I love writing/blogging but haven't found the mojo for a while now - who knew that taking the car in for an MOT and waiting for a bus home would inspire it to reappear?! Hope it'll stick around for more frequent posting this year.
DeleteYes, the lack of really good public transport is an issue. The bus company has just been taken over and boasts of offering an improved service but they hadn't even changed the timetable displayed at the bus stop which was nearly 2 years out of date. Not that it mattered, as I'd checked up to date times online, and they still didn't turn up. Indeed I do remember your relief at having returned to a more civilised area! So much to love about things around here that I wouldn't want to lose but transport can be a bummer...
Excellent writing as John says (and he would know). More on the wanky boss please so we can add them to the carnival of grotesques you started with the Count.
ReplyDeleteThank you too Ernie. Must keep my hand in with the writing, it was always one of my loves. Unlike Wanky Boss, about whom a whole book could be written. Think David Brent from The Office, with a sprinkling of Freddie Starr and a dollop of Bernard Manning, but less sophisticated.
DeleteThat's a grim situation isn't it- spending a ton of money on a car to get it through its MOT because you can't buy a new one. I was there 2 summers ago. Spent £750 on a new this and that. 3 months later it died completely while on the M60.
ReplyDeleteAnd it was fucking freezing!
DeleteArgh, what a thing to happen, really rough for you - hope ours lasts a good while longer - we got it back today, all perky and rattle-free (had dodgy suspension). And they even gave it a clean.
DeleteI sit here in the small hours clothed in my equivalent of your danish sheeplike coat and raspberry beret. It is cold . The house has been without electricity and heating for the past 36 hours. Strangely I prefer to sit up rather than wait in my own warm bed for the untitles to move the fallen trees and connect back up the once overhead cables that are snaking their way through the branches of the trees. Cars, electricity and plentiful food none of these were a thing for most people 140 years ago. It’s amazing what we take for granted but even temporary loss hurts like hell. I can be fairly sure that it is not as cold here as it is with you but it is cold.
ReplyDeleteOh no, Ben - my experience of the slightly wintry conditions over here in the East is nothing compared to what you've been having in Cornwall, hope it is all sorted now, or will be very soon. Yes, we take so much for granted! We get quite a lot of power cuts here due to all overhead cables and the novelty (reading by candle light!) soon wears off.... But none as long as 36 hours, at the coldest, darkest time of year, arghh - feel for you.
DeleteSo glad you're back C, and with such wonderful writing as ever. I had to read the descriptive passages out to Mr WIAA they were so wonderful.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear you had such a difficult time trying to get home that short distance. Thank goodness for the sheeplike coat - but did Mr SDS have one too? I hope so. So hard to know what to do once the MOT expenses start to get high - stick or twist? Not an easy call.
My charity shop has moved into the centre of town so I've been using the bus to get home after my shift and fortunately the app on my phone let's me know exactly when it is to come and when it's been cancelled so no waiting around for long periods. Also I have a few options of routes so good. Like John we've chosen to live in the town for convenience although we're just a few minutes from beautiful countryside. Think Mr WIAA's clients always expect him to live in a quaint old Highland cottage, however, overlooking a lock or something. Think they're a bit disappointed by our 70s bungalow!
Apologies, made a few grammatical errors there and it is a loch of course, NOT a lock.
DeleteAh, thanks so much for your kind words, Alyson! I think this semi-hibernation period over Christmas/Winter is helping, I've had a bit more time to do not very much and the flow has returned (though whether it remains as I get back to other things remains to be seen. Will try!)
DeleteCars can be so expensive to keep on the road but we decided our little 14-year old jalopy was worth hanging onto for a while longer and it would be such a pain (and certainly a lot more costly) to replace it right now. It's great that you have a good bus service, definitely a big advantage of living somewhere more urban, but you have such beautiful surroundings on your doorstep too so it sounds a lovely locale. Overlooking a lock could still be quite picturesque (I'm thinking serene canals, sunny towpaths and brightly painted narrowboats!) but of course I knew you meant loch - far more wild and wonderful and Scottish!
To be fair we are just a stone's throw from the locks on the Caledonian Canal, but yes, overlooking Loch Ness would be lovely, especially in summer.
DeleteMy old banger cost me an arm and a leg in upkeep throughout 2023/24, so I was determined to nurse it through 2025 before considering further options. Unfortunately it developed a serious steering problem in June 2025, which would have sucked even more money into the void in order to repair. Long story short, I bit the bullet and picked up a (newer) runaround, which has been a life changer, even if I've had to be extra frugal ever since because of it.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear of your transportation problems on what was probably the coldest day of the year What a nightmare you had, but how entertainingly written your account of it is.
Thanks TS and oh no, sorry to hear you had all that expense with the old car - it's such a gamble, whether to put the money into it in the hope it'll keep going or to start anew, sounds like you've made the right decision last year, though - just hope we have too, for now anyway. We were pretty much in that position when we changed our previous runaround for the current one... the cycle of (a car's) life, it seems....
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