Have you ever broken down on a pitch Black Country road in the middle of the night?
I have.
Last night!
Around nine pm I was driving to my Sams shift when I took a call on my mobile. I stopped at a layby , just south of the village to take it and got talking to an old friend for good while
Foolishly I had left my side lights on and when I eventually set off, the car battery was dead as a dodo
It was chucking it down too!
I was in a pickle, so I did who so many Trelawnyd-ites do when things go tits up...I rang village elder Islwyn to see if he could help.. As it turned out he hadn't got any jumpleads and so I rang my breakdown company and prepared myself for a long wait.
Now the dark does not spook me much, but sitting in the dark,surrounded by trees away from the main road is a somewhat stressful experience especially as my mobile's battery was low and I am an old queen with a vivid imagination ! ( I almost wet my panties watching The Blair Witch Project)
Around ten twenty pm I spied a car's headlights though the rain . It was Islwyn , who had decided to come out to see if things were alright. Kindly he offered to keep me company for an hour.
Now Islwyn is a raconteur of some note so I was kept amused and diverted from thoughts of serial killers and monsters in the dark until he too finally had to go and I was left for a further half hour wait for the breakdown lorry to arrive.
I made sure the central locking was on
And finally got home just before midnight
You are such a big girl's blouse. Your car is not that old (note to self, blog timelines can be incredibly compressed in the memory). Failed battery already? Maybe the cold weather takes quite a toll.
ReplyDeleteBig girls blouse? How VERY dare you!
DeleteMark my words. If you getmoved into town you will not have exciting adventures like this any more!!
ReplyDeleteI am glad you made it home, safe and sound. I have had my share of dead batteries - but not at night in the middle nowhere, one of the Honda's I owned killed a battery every 18 months - the mechanics never found anything wrong with the car. I have had the battery replaced twice in my Mazda, because it started to sound slow on the start - I try to avoid be stranded.
ReplyDeleteNot a breakdown but a freaky coincidence - It was about 11pm and I had to stop for roadwork traffic lights on a quiet road. Chopin's Funeral March was playing on Classic FM when I looked to my left and saw I was stopped directly outside a cemetery. A creepy moment.
ReplyDeleteThe scariest bit of The Blair Witch Project was not realising what the ending meant until a few minutes afterwards. We screamed!
What a nice bloke is Islwyd.
May we all be blessed wth neighbours like Islwyd.
ReplyDeleteLeaving your side lights on shouldn't have that effect. Maybe you need a new battery.
ReplyDeleteNoted x
DeleteCrikey if your scared out your wits end in a safe, peaceful, quiet environment with beautiful views. Healthy fresh air in the countryside. In exchange for noise, pollution, drug addicts, alcoholics. with a risk of being knifed, beaten up, or shot dead in the middle of town. The mind boggles.
ReplyDeleteI was being dramatic for the sake of an average story
DeleteSo was I.
DeleteI loved the drama .. especially since that happened to me once and I still remember how frightened I was .. every horror movie I had ever seen replayed in my mind while I waited for help.
DeleteBlair Witch Project was the scariest thing I've managed to watch as an adult. On a plane, too, with my hand covering most of the screen and headphones half off. Yuck, what a night for you! Islwyn deserves a medal for being so neighbourly.
ReplyDeleteNever broken down at night but we were driving on a very lonely road in the US years ago, somewhere near Yosemite National Park, eyes peeled for a bear in the woods and drove right past a hunter wearing camouflage in a shrub by the road. He looked right at us and casually hoiked up his army-style weapon and we thought in that moment we'd never be found again! Still alive so he must just have got a cramp.
Gulp
DeleteI have watched too many horror movies over the years and being alone in a incapacitated car in the dark where there is no one to hear if I start screaming, scares the wits out of me.
ReplyDeleteI totally relate to how you felt .. these are times when we need big snarling dogs in the back seat .. just in case.
I wasn't THAT bad
DeleteAnd no flesh-eating zombie to keep you company? So sad!
ReplyDeleteThey were watching and waiting...
DeleteLOL, zombies were watching but "it wasn't that bad "
DeleteI hope you have taken the car for a new battery today.
ReplyDeleteI gave it a half hour run last night, it will be fine
DeleteI would still get it checked out by a mechanic; you don't want to be stranded again.
DeleteBatteries don't go flat on side lights. I would order a new battery, no messing.
DeleteWhat an awful experience. I would have been terrified.
ReplyDeleteI was parked on a country road making out with a boyfriend in his car when I was a teenager, and someone (or some thing) pushed down hard on the back of the car making the whole thing rock up and down violently. Scared the sh*t out of us and we nearly crashed the car we peeled out of there so fast. We never did see who or what pushed the car. Probably the landowner, now that I think about it.
ReplyDeleteOr the undead?
DeleteI've had to jump start my car over the years and had to wait for the autoclub mechanic. Finally invested in a battery charger. Great for phone and laptop, too!
ReplyDeleteIslwyn is a wonderful neighbor to come out to keep you company and offer you a ride home late at night. I'm glad you made it home safe and sound. Your experience, though, alone in the dark countryside, sounds like a fun adventure to me, as I enjoy night hiking and camping.
Also, your post title, On a lonely road, immediately made me think of Whitesnake and Tawny Kitaen from the music video, Here I go again (on my own). I imagined you washing the car and dancing on the hood before reading the post.
P.S. Click on "Here I go again (on my own)" in the above comment to see whom I'm referring to.
DeleteThat took me back to my salad days
DeleteYou've been watching too many zombie programmes ;-)
ReplyDeleteNot enough sue, not enough
Deletenice nostrils up there.
ReplyDeleteWow, if that's all it took for your car battery to drain, you need a new battery! Glad you got home safe and sound.
ReplyDeleteI am thinking the same. If all it took was, leaving side lights on, to drain your battery you need a new one.
Deletecheers, parsnip
After that experience you should consider phoning The Samaritans yourself!
ReplyDeleteThe local branch was shut!
DeleteThese things won't happen once you move to the city! What about the needy folks who had no one to talk to at Samaritans, seems you never got there?
ReplyDeleteYou may need a new battery, side lights won't kill a battery unless they're on for , like 24 hours. Pls have it checked.
Your car emergency kit should include a phone battery charger, they're not expensive and hold at least one recharge.[blanket, bottled water, granola bars, gloves, flashlight, rain slicker or cheap poncho, book or magazine.]
Islwyn was very kind.
lizzy
I know, I'm not much of a gay man am I?
DeleteNot about gay-ness; about being prepared? Or maybe you just live in a milder more populated area. I've been told I live at the end of the world,lol. [I also keep a baggie of kibble and extra water for my dog.]
Deleteoh and snow shovel, handwarmers, and a bag of kitty litter in case you get stuck in the ice. I have to admit to no kitty letter, new car.
Deletekitty litter not letter
DeleteI'm so sorry about that. I too have an old backpack with emergency things in the back of the car and the truck. Haven't had to use them yet.
ReplyDeleteI love that you admitted you exaggerated to make a good tale! Very honest of you :)
ReplyDeleteIt CAN get creepy at night, though :)
Of course....all my stories are BASED on the truth x
DeleteOf course!
DeleteYou got away from us this time John, said the things that go bump in the night! I keep a booster pack with me since I travel so far. I guess the creepiest thing to happen, one late night I was in the barn about to walk to the house and I could hear the wolves were howling so close that I carried a pitchfork with me for protection. I was hoping they don't like people who are all bones.
ReplyDelete''Lions -Tigers and Bears-Oh My''!! x
ReplyDeleteWhere was the Prof?
ReplyDeleteAsleep x
DeleteMany years ago a I was out with 2 male friends and 2 female friends. They guy stopped the car in a country lane at 2am and told us a "true story"
ReplyDeleteA couple broke down in a country lane and the guy went off to get help and left the girl in the car. Then there was a thumping noise and the girl saw her boyfriends bloodied head held aloft my the local serial killer and she screamed and screamed and so did i with my 2 female friends. I was grounded that night by my parents for being late in. I couldnt tell them why. I always think of that tale now when out in the countryside at night. It was based on a true story................
Lol we have all heard that story!
DeleteOften coming home late at night I drive thru an unlighted oceanfront/ saltmarsh area. It was always scary, but in recent years many--10?--bodies have been found in the wetlands there, work of a serial killer? mob hits? so it's extra scary now. "It could happen."
DeleteI take it you missed the shift with the Samaritans. Glad that you had company for at least some of the wait.
ReplyDeleteYes...that was unfortunate
DeleteThe Blair Witch Project, with English sub-titles.
ReplyDeleteOr Welsh ones
ReplyDeleteBoth. It's the law.
DeleteWell -- you will watch those scary shows!
ReplyDeleteUhg, the worst. And as a woman, perhaps even scarier. Can I recommend something? I bought one of these to keep in my car. It will jump start your car in seconds - no kidding, I have jumpstarted mines many times (once wearing a dress and heels!) as well as a neighbor's and my son-in-law's a couple of times. It also will charge your phone and other devices. I tell everyone I know about it, and bought them for my daughter and my father! Just attach the clips to the battery and start the car... I just bought the XP-3, and it's never let me down. You can also get them through Amazon. http://themicrostart.com/
ReplyDeleteNow if Daryl Dixon had stepped out of the shadows with his crossbow...
ReplyDeleteI've often wondered what people in some of the small towns in Florida do who get 'stranded' like you did at night. so many alligators in all the ponds there. a lady who still lives there once told me you never swim or go into any water that is not a clear and chlorinated swimming pool! they're even known to come up on the golf courses! good grief. and to be stalled in a car? at night there? omg.
ReplyDeleteDon't get out of the car!
DeleteImagination runs wild in the dark...and in the morning light we usually wonder why we were so fearful. Glad you made it home safe and sound.
ReplyDeleteGlad to know you got home safely without falling prey to a serial killer or a monster and leaving the Prof to explain what happened to the missing blogger.
ReplyDeleteWith you all the way John. Hate the dark and my over active imagination.
ReplyDeleteTHIS is why I don't watch Walking Dead and such. If this happened to me, I would be seeing zombies in the corners of my eye. I am a WOOSS of the woosiest woossness. Fertile imaginations.
ReplyDelete