Thursday 21 June 2018

Senior moments.

I have had two senior moments today - both highly embarrassing and cringe-making.

The first occurred when I went back to my car after being to the hairdresser and then doing a few bits of shopping.   As I drove off from the Car Park there was a warning signal in my car.  It was not the usual 'ping' I get when one of the doors is open or when I haven't fastened the seat belt.   Frankly it sounded rather like a shortened version of the ice cream bell!   By the time I got to the Petrol Station half a mile away it had sounded several times and I resolved to read the handbook when I got home.

I pulled up at the pump and instead of bring my handbag out of the car I left it on the front seat while I filled the car.   As it was in a vulnerable position I locked the car door. (you know what's coming don't you?)   When I tried to open my petrol cap it wouldn't open and finally, after struggling with it for a minute or two, I went in and asked the man at the till if he could come out and open it for me.   He tried it once, looked at me
and asked if I had locked the car?!   Of course if you lock the car you also lock the petrol cap!!!

I drove home.   Still the warning signal was going every few minutes.   I went into the house, taking the instruction book with me to see if I could find out what it meant. Eventually I rang the garage and the chap said I would have to take the car in because my description didn't make sense to him!
Friend W (always the voice of reason) suggested I call at the local garage first which I did.  After listening to my description of the sound he pressed a button on the dashboard and asked if that was the sound.   Eureka!   Yes it was.   Until he told me what it was.  It was a message on my mobile!!!

Oh the shame!   Idiot that I am.   Mind you I got it all in proportion on my drive home when an ambulance passed me at speed and there had been an accident in the Market Place - Police Cars, an Ambulance and the car involved - and worst of all a lady lying in the road.   I drove on thinking how trivial were my two events of the morning compared with that.

21 comments:

John Going Gently said...

Don't sweat it weave!
Welcome to my world x

Sooze said...

You're not alone by any means, that's the sort of thing that happens to me. I have plenty of blonde (or senior) moments, and I'm only 58.

Rachel Phillips said...

Well in both instances, it could have been worse.

Sue in Suffolk said...

Well to make you feel better, I too wouldn't have known about either of those things if I was driving your car as my filler cover unlocks separately and my mobile isn't linked into the car!
I have senior moments in other ways and am having to think hard about everything I do at the moment.
Not good to find an accident on the way home , stay safe.

Jules said...

Hands up here too. It's just the kind of thing that happens to me all the time.
I hope the lady will be OK. X

the veg artist said...

Oh for the days when a nice person came out of a little booth and filled the car up for us (or is that really showing my age?)
This little tale might make you feel better - when I was in my early twenties I drove a white Triumph Herald. It was a bit dodgy, but always got me to work. One day it developed an electrical fault. Nothing serious, just every time I put my foot on the brake, the headlights came on! On my way home, I had to slow down to turn right off the main road. There was oncoming traffic, and a police car right in front of me. I had to brake, several times, in order to stop. Police man thought I was flashing him, got out of the car and came back to see if I was OK. I'm not normally ditzy, but really layed it on, hoping he would take pity on me. He just laughed, said "It's a bit of a Herbie, is it?" and got back into his car. I took the car to the garage the next day!

justjill said...

A car that tells you when you have a message on your phone?! Amazing. I rely on my phone making a noise and then saying to everyone around me "Was that you or me?"

donna baker said...

If it makes you feel any better, I don't know what half the noises are my car makes and frequently, I am forgetting more each day.

Joanne Noragon said...

Oh, how funny. And I do hope the woman on the road will be OK.Senior moments are far better than emergency equipment moments.

Bea said...

I have totally done the same thing while tanking up, or rather trying to. :)

Bonnie said...

I would have been the same as you with these occurrences. It is difficult to keep up with everything cars do these days!

The Weaver of Grass said...

Feel a bit better having read these - thanks!

Heather said...

You are not alone Pat. My electrical supply had to be turned off during the day. I made myself a snack for lunch and promptly took it to the computer so I could browse while I ate it. It's a wonder I didn't try to switch the TV on!
I do hope that poor woman will be alright, and by the way, I don't use a mobile phone or drive a car so you have nothing to be embarrassed about.

Virginia said...

I sympathise Weaver. I can beat your mechanic embarrassment though... I'd had the new car some months when suddenly I couldn't make the rear sensors work. I took the car into the garage, sure it was faulty, only for them to smile sweetly and show me the switch below the dashboard. I felt like a complete ijit! I also had to go in and ask them to reset the hookup that make the mobile calls come through on the radio system. I couldn't follow the (probably quite simple) instructions in the manual.
I hope the woman injured is OK. It does put our minor embarrassments int perspective, doesn't it.

angryparsnip said...

You have a very smart car and phone !
My old car has no fancy thing. Seats, radio, cd player but it is a convertible VW Bug (Tiffany Blue) and I love it.

cheers, parsnip

Cro Magnon said...

Please oh please will some car manufacturer continue to produce cars with wind-up windows, spark plugs, and absolutely no bleeping. My oldest son's big fat German car is like a hi-tech science laboratory; everything is computerised. Ghastly.

Librarian said...

When you were talking about the petrol cap and your handbag in the car, I thought for a moment "she's locked the car... with the keys inside the handbag", but then that would not have worked of course without you having the keys with you, right?
I don't drive, as you know, but I am sure I'd be rather confused and puzzled if my car made unexpected sounds!

Tom Stephenson said...

If it makes you feel any better Weave, I recently saw a youngish woman desperately trying to get into her car after she had filled it with petrol at the station. She gave up when the real owner of the car returned and unlocked it for her.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Oh dear - we are all human.

GillyK said...

A motorist had knocked a lady off her bike but she was ok and eventually pedaled on her way with minor cuts and bruises.

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