Wednesday 4 November 2015

You have to laugh.

Getting old is no joke.   Of course we all begin to age the day we are born, but arriving at  'real' old age sort of creeps up on one.  I don't think anyone really anticipates it until it happens - and it doesn't seem to happen overnight.

When it arrives you have to welcome it (let's face it the alternative is worse)with a smile.   In fact today I welcomed it with a belly laugh once the whole episode was over.  I thought I would share the episode with you.

I went into town (yes, you are quite right, it was for another coffee and cheese scone meeting) a quarter of an hour late and found that most of the Parking spaces in the market square were taken.  There seemed to be one left and the cars parked either side had parked right up to the lines, so that the space was quite narrow.

I managed to squeeze in and opened the door to get out.  I couldn't open the door quite far enough because of the next door car door.   I got my feet out and on to the cobbles, twisted my body round on the driver's seat and levered myself up.   But I couldn't get one leg in front of the other and found it impossible to get out.

 Then I decided to get back in, sit down, pull my legs in and back out to find another space.   I sat down but I couldn't get my legs back in.   I pushed and heaved and leaned heavily on the dashboard - leaned on something which started up Radio 1 at the top volume - it shook the roof of the car!!!   I didn't know how to switch the darn thing off because I hadn't known how I had switched it on in the first place.   I couldn't close the car door because I couldn't get my legs in, so Radio 1 reverberated throughout the Market Square (at Volume 24).

I pressed all manner of buttons, switches and twiddly things until finally, after several minutes, I hit the one that turned the Volume back to 0, so at least there was silence.

By golly, I soon managed to get my legs back in after that I'll tell you.   And when I got home the farmer didn't know how to turn the darned thing off either (we had a new car in February) and had to twiddle for a while before he hit the right button.

I am sure you'll agree - you have to laugh don't you?

 

22 comments:

Dawn said...

I wonder if they caught it on cctv, what a sight it would have made, glad you got yourself sorted int he end :-)

Yael said...

I could not stop loughing reading your post.

Derek Faulkner said...

That was sooo funny.
My worst one was back in the summer. I put my two Jack Russells in the back of my car at the marsh where I walk them and drove the six miles home, stopping at the Farm Shop on the way. Eventually got home, opened the car and only one dog, I couldn't believe it, that meant setting a land speed record back to the marsh and joy at seeing the other dog still sitting there not very amused.

Salty Pumpkin Studio said...

Glad you are all right!
I (once) moaned "Why does Friday feel like Saturday."
The reply, "This is Thursday."
LOL!

Gwil W said...

If anyone filmed it on their mobile phone it will as they say go viral.

Sue in Suffolk said...

Brilliant!
Hope you enjoyed your coffee after finding somewhere to park

donna baker said...

Or cry Pat. I'd have to take a Xanax after that. Glad you are able to laugh it off.

Joanne Noragon said...

One day, not long ago, for unrecallable reasons, I decided I must climb over the console of my car. Once committed, there was no going back. I exited the passenger door. You also make me laugh over the following--I have no recollection of why I did it, and, I should have known better before I began.

John Going Gently said...

I would have paid good money to see that on you tube x

Terra said...

Where is YouTube when you need it, that could have been your moment of fame. Not funny at the time, but funny to think about it afterwards.

Mac n' Janet said...

If you don't laugh you cry. I hate tight parking spaces, I need room to maneuver.

angryparsnip said...

I have a handicapped sticker so I can open my doors and pull my walker out.
My car has a tiny trunk so the walker sits up in the front seat.
As for being stuck I have done that a few times.
You have to laugh because you if don't you cry.

cheers, parsnip

Frances said...

I think laughing is very restorative. Thank you for sharing this tale...good that you saw its humorous angles.

xo

Cro Magnon said...

I've got to an age when I park just about anywhere, and couldn't give a damn. We have no parking police (traffic wardens) here.

Derek Faulkner said...

Pat,

Did you get my E-Mail concerning the two books about poets.

Philip said...

What a catastrophic thing to happen - radio 1 blaring away not being able to terminate it.

The History Anorak said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Heather said...

I had such a lovely mental picture of your struggles. Glad you survived unscathed! Every time I get in or out of a car now I think of how gracefully the Queen manages it, but then she does have a Daimler and no tight parking spaces to contend with.

Mary said...

That is funny now but I know you were frustrated at the time! Glad you got yourself sorted - and to music no less!
I hate parking spaces everywhere - never really wide enough, and especially stressful when one is stuck between two huge trucks or SUV type monsters making it so hard to back out not knowing who's coming behind you in either direction. Hubby just bought a new car with backup camera etc. - I'm thinking of cajoling him into a swap, LOL!

Mary -

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thanks for the sympathy (and empathy) everyone.

thelma said...

Perhaps we should start a movement for councils to paint larger spaces between the white lines for all the larger cars that seem to occupy a lot of space. Radio 1 at full volume must have set the town a-jigging ;)

potty said...

How embarrassing! Spaces are too narrow generally, except for the Ones for Blue Badge holders, the Ones for Families, the Ones for the Pregnant. As yet we don't fall into any of those categories. We are still driving the car with the clock fast as twice a year we forget how to change the hour.