Cars, cars and damn cars

We have 3 vehicles, 1 each for me and "she who must be obeyed" and a van for our disabled son.  Her car starts over heating and in it goes on Monday for some TLC.  This always necessitate late starts and early finishes at work to get to and from the garage.  This has income consequences as a consultant I charge by the hour and so lose about 2 hours income.  However, my mechanic is superb and lends me a car so at least I am not stuck for transport.  On Wednesday, my car starts doing the same and I take it in on Thursday, with the same impact on income. 

I arrive home from the garage on Thursday evening to be told that my son and his caregiver were at a local shopping centre, had deployed the wheelchair hoist and some idiot had run over it!  The van was bought 1 month ago and is a gorgeous Merc with all the whistles and bells.  Our son is the first in the family to have a Merc!  The hoist was bent and would not stow properly and so the back door could not be closed. 

I was distraught as was my son.  I thought we have been cursed by the car gods this week. The van was the first bit of luxury the family had had in 6 years after everything had been put on hold and every bit of cash saved for our leaky home costs.

Next morning, after superb service the night before by Bruce at the State Insurance call centre based in Christchurch, I took the van to the local panel beater.  The van was 100% ok - whew as I was concerned the floor could have been twisted.  Then taking a hammer, he gently beat the bent side panel in the hoist back into position and lo and behold the problem was fixed in 5 minutes.  A beautiful morning (weather wise) and the car gods were starting to smile upon us again.

Off goes the son in the van with his other care giver so the wife and I go and have a well deserved lunch in St Heliers.  Sitting there looking at one of the best views in the world we feel blessed and all the worries of the week seem very distant.