I forgot to write this story up when it happened. It was a couple of weeks ago. The evening had been allocated as a Ceroc evening, but the Ceroc had been cancelled, and I was feeling a bit put out. We decided to go and see the Tenacious D movie as an alternative. It wasn't especially good. The drive to the car park had me in a very bad mood, but my mood was to be elevated thus.
As we went up the ramp to the parking, we discovered a car stopped in the middle. It had nothing in front, but it wasn't moving one bit. Initially, I was cross that someone would not notice that they had no obstruction and just get on with going up the ramp. Then the driver of the car got out and came down to me. I opened my window. He was a young lad. Early twenties or so. He said, "My car has just run out of petrol. What the fuck do I do?". In this one comical statement of desperation, my mood was shifted from irritation into amusement and again into action. I stopped my car. I sent him up to his. I recruited a couple of able bodied lads from the car behind and we then pushed this petrol free car up the ramp and into a parking space. Good team work. We got the job done. Then, chuckling to myself, I returned to my car to continue the night in a better mood.
The chance to recruit a team of complete strangers to do the car pushing was fun. I think I just liked the ego free way that the young lad beared his soul for me. Like there was simply no opportunity for bravado in the face of his stupidity at letting the engine run dry. Maybe he saw in me a problem solver. Maybe he saw me as an elder. I guess to a 20 year old I am nearly a generation away. I don't know. It was amusing either way. I even got to reassure him that he would eventually get it running again if he simply added petrol to the tank. He seemed fairly clueless about how the car worked.
Perhaps things like this should be on the driving test. Drivers should be able to deal with problems like empty window washers, low oil, flat tyres and no petrol.
Just a thought.
As we went up the ramp to the parking, we discovered a car stopped in the middle. It had nothing in front, but it wasn't moving one bit. Initially, I was cross that someone would not notice that they had no obstruction and just get on with going up the ramp. Then the driver of the car got out and came down to me. I opened my window. He was a young lad. Early twenties or so. He said, "My car has just run out of petrol. What the fuck do I do?". In this one comical statement of desperation, my mood was shifted from irritation into amusement and again into action. I stopped my car. I sent him up to his. I recruited a couple of able bodied lads from the car behind and we then pushed this petrol free car up the ramp and into a parking space. Good team work. We got the job done. Then, chuckling to myself, I returned to my car to continue the night in a better mood.
The chance to recruit a team of complete strangers to do the car pushing was fun. I think I just liked the ego free way that the young lad beared his soul for me. Like there was simply no opportunity for bravado in the face of his stupidity at letting the engine run dry. Maybe he saw in me a problem solver. Maybe he saw me as an elder. I guess to a 20 year old I am nearly a generation away. I don't know. It was amusing either way. I even got to reassure him that he would eventually get it running again if he simply added petrol to the tank. He seemed fairly clueless about how the car worked.
Perhaps things like this should be on the driving test. Drivers should be able to deal with problems like empty window washers, low oil, flat tyres and no petrol.
Just a thought.
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