Lazy-Ferret
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2012
- Messages
- 5,217
Friday night was spent towing Santa's sleigh, around Sittingbourne, watching Santa speak to all the very excited little children... At the end of the evening, we returned the Sleigh to where it is stored, tidied up, and set off back home.
From our house, to Sittingbourne is about 35 miles across Kent, so the homeward journey involves travelling down the A249, which is a newish dual carriageway that now bypasses all the little villages, and runs from the Isle of Sheppey, to the M2, and M20.
The road has no street lighting, and runs in a cutting for a lot of it's distance, making it a very dark road, and since it opened a few years back, seems to have had more than it's fair share of fatal accidents.
Suddenly, in the distance, I saw a lorry in front of me swerve across the road and the car that was probably sitting a bit close behind it, brake hard, and then do the same. I was far enough back, that I had actually spotted the hazzard lights in the distance, and as I do not know the road, was not sure if it was in the road, or in a layby, so had already done the usual checks, and was already indicating to move into the second lane, just in case.
As I approached the hazard lights, I saw a car, a Silver Mercedes, right out towards the middle of the road, and there was someone actually sitting in it...
I pulled up in front of it, and turned on all the Amber flashing lights, and any other lights I could, to make it all as visible as possible, and as I was still dressed in my 4x4Resonse outfit from doing the Santa run which has a full florescent orange top with reflective strip, I was happy to get out and walk back to see what was going on.. Oh, and at some point, I realised I still had my Santa's helper hat on!!! I walked back to their passenger door, to see if I could help them, and at least advised them to get out of the car and onto the edge of the road, as I had already witnessed 2 close shaves. As I opened the door, there was a young man desperately trying to get the car to start, but it was not even trying. Suz, also dressed in fluorescent gear, came back as well, as I did not want her in the car, just in case we did get hit. As she did, we were narrowly missed by yet another lorry... Suz took my LED batten touch and walked a bit down the curb waving it frantically in the air, to try and get drivers attention, while I talked to the driver to see if we could at least tow it to somewhere a bit safer...
It turned out he was Polish, spoke very broken English, and had come over specifically to pick the car up, and drive it back to Poland with it. He had literally picked it up less than an hour ago, filled it with fuel, and set off back for the ferry. The car he was following had not realised he had stalled, picked up another cars head lights, thinking it was the Merc, and carried on driving, so on a dark road, in a cutting, without any phone signal, and his help goodness knows where, he was stuffed.
The Merc was an Automatic, and when it stopped, he had put it into park to try and restart it, and we now discovered that the car will not let you move the selector from park with out the engine running. I got him to try all the logical things, like putting foot on brake, applying what passes as a hand brake, even looking for a little switch on the lever like the Volvo and T1 had. Nothing... By now I was getting very nervous as, while I had managed to get the guy to get out of the car, and stand on the passenger side with me, we had actually had to jump out of the way twice, genuinely thinking we were about to be hit by cars and lorries not paying attention.
I was just about to abandon the car as I was seriously worried for our lives, and take him up the road, till we could get phone signal, and call the police, when he suggested pulling the battery lead off, and seeing if we could "reset" the car... As I had some spanners easily accessible, I dug down to the battery, and pulled the earth lead off, but of course this left the car with out any lights, and just illuminated by my rear work lights, and Suz standing on the curb behind waving the torch like some sort of cheerleader at a Chris de Burgh concert. I got the battery back on, but the car cancelled the hazards, so the guy went round and got in, both turning on the hazards, and trying again to start the car. Still turning over, but no spark... He got out, and I was trying to usher him into my car, and calling Suz back, when he managed to explain that while trying to start the car, he had managed to get it into neutral...
Next problem was finding the towing eye... there wasn't one in the glove box, or with the spare wheel, and after looking in a few other more obscure places, we decided there wasn't one at all. It looked like the original owner had literally cleared out everything, only leaving a couple of spare wheel bolts, a wheel wrench, and a Jack, even the reflective triangle normally stored in the boot lid was missing.
This car was doing nothing to help it's self...
He did have a light weight towing strap, with hooks on the ends, and before I could stop him, he had it unrolled it and was laying under the front of his car attaching it to somewhere underneath... I got my long strap out, and attached it to his, a bit worried, as I had no idea what he had fixed his one too, and saw that it was actually tight against the plastic bumper. I think he had literally wrapped it round the front lower wish bone, or the bumper reinforcer. He said not to worry about the bumper, he had another one at home!!! So working on the idea that anywhere was better than here, we all climbed back into the cars, and I towed him really gently and slowly, still lit up like a Christmas tree, to the next Exit, and into a side road. Luckily, with the rear view camera I was able to keep a good eye on the tow rope, and did not snatch it once, so we made it without any damage to the front.
Once off the road, and with phone signal, he was able to call his friend, who was now frantically wondering what had happened to him, and we were able to leave him.
Afterwards, we got to thinking about it, and were now wondering all sorts of things, like was it insured, stolen, or goodness know what else, but I have to say, I did feel a lot better knowing he was somewhere safe now.
.....
Saturday was spent shopping in Maidstone, as it got steadily colder as the day went on, and by the time we got home, the other car parked in the drive was already fully frosted up, so we were in for a cold night. Even the ferrets refused to go out into the garden for a play, so after watching a late night film, we finally headed to bed about 2am.
Suddenly I am awoken by a banging... My first thoughts were the ferrets were playing chase up and down the stairs, wearing their lead boots.... then when I hear the banging again... I decided that it sounded like the front door, what could the ferrets be up to, that sounds like someone banging the front door? I look across at the clock, just as Suz stirs, and the Banging goes again. It's 3:55 am... Now without trying to go down the route of TMI, neither of us wear suitable attire in bed to answer a door, especially at nearly 4am... So while Suz is trying to wrestle her dressing gown away from 4 ferrets who are sleeping in it, I am trying to find a pair of track suit trousers, and a fleece top to put on, oh and find my glasses and get my eyes to focus. The knocking is still going on, so we turn on the hall lights to let whoever know we were awake, and heading down. The knocking is still going on.
We get down, and through the frosted glass in the door, there is a short person in a coat with the hood pulled up. Having no idea who it is, and assuming that this must be an emergency, Suz stays on the stairs out of sight, and I open the door a crack, keeping my foot behind it, and stare out into the darkness at a guy who is shivering uncontrollably, saying "My name is" something unpronounceable " and I am freezing" with a very strong foreign accent.
I was stumped.... I had absolutely no idea how to handle this, he was literally crying, and shivering, but it was 4am, and I am sorry, but I was not going to let him in the house... I tried to find out a bit more about him, but he was almost impossible to understand, and he was offering me money to let him in!!! At some point, I found out he was from Romania.
Suz's calls the police!!! they say they have someone on the way, and told her to make sure the doors and windows were shut, and have a look outside through a windows to see if there was anyone about, in case it was a distraction... I tell him to wait there, as I was not going to let him in, but I would make him a hot cup of tea, to warm up. I shut the door, and head tot he kitchen, while Suz is still being quizzed by the person on the phone, who is not going to let her hang up until the police got there, as even he could her the amount of noise the guy was making, shivering and crying. I re open the door, and hand him a hot tea, which he cuddles, but is still asking to come in. I am trying to stall him, until the police got there, and to give them their due, less than 4 minutes after calling them, there were the blue lights, and a police car pulling up outside the house.
Within a few mins, they had him in the back of the police car, rescued our cup, and sent us back back into the warm and off to bed. We then spent goodness only knows how long, wondering what that was all about, what it was about Eastern Europeans that we seems to be attracting at the moment.
Not going out tonight, and not opening the door until Christmas eve now...:doh
From our house, to Sittingbourne is about 35 miles across Kent, so the homeward journey involves travelling down the A249, which is a newish dual carriageway that now bypasses all the little villages, and runs from the Isle of Sheppey, to the M2, and M20.
The road has no street lighting, and runs in a cutting for a lot of it's distance, making it a very dark road, and since it opened a few years back, seems to have had more than it's fair share of fatal accidents.
Suddenly, in the distance, I saw a lorry in front of me swerve across the road and the car that was probably sitting a bit close behind it, brake hard, and then do the same. I was far enough back, that I had actually spotted the hazzard lights in the distance, and as I do not know the road, was not sure if it was in the road, or in a layby, so had already done the usual checks, and was already indicating to move into the second lane, just in case.
As I approached the hazard lights, I saw a car, a Silver Mercedes, right out towards the middle of the road, and there was someone actually sitting in it...
I pulled up in front of it, and turned on all the Amber flashing lights, and any other lights I could, to make it all as visible as possible, and as I was still dressed in my 4x4Resonse outfit from doing the Santa run which has a full florescent orange top with reflective strip, I was happy to get out and walk back to see what was going on.. Oh, and at some point, I realised I still had my Santa's helper hat on!!! I walked back to their passenger door, to see if I could help them, and at least advised them to get out of the car and onto the edge of the road, as I had already witnessed 2 close shaves. As I opened the door, there was a young man desperately trying to get the car to start, but it was not even trying. Suz, also dressed in fluorescent gear, came back as well, as I did not want her in the car, just in case we did get hit. As she did, we were narrowly missed by yet another lorry... Suz took my LED batten touch and walked a bit down the curb waving it frantically in the air, to try and get drivers attention, while I talked to the driver to see if we could at least tow it to somewhere a bit safer...
It turned out he was Polish, spoke very broken English, and had come over specifically to pick the car up, and drive it back to Poland with it. He had literally picked it up less than an hour ago, filled it with fuel, and set off back for the ferry. The car he was following had not realised he had stalled, picked up another cars head lights, thinking it was the Merc, and carried on driving, so on a dark road, in a cutting, without any phone signal, and his help goodness knows where, he was stuffed.
The Merc was an Automatic, and when it stopped, he had put it into park to try and restart it, and we now discovered that the car will not let you move the selector from park with out the engine running. I got him to try all the logical things, like putting foot on brake, applying what passes as a hand brake, even looking for a little switch on the lever like the Volvo and T1 had. Nothing... By now I was getting very nervous as, while I had managed to get the guy to get out of the car, and stand on the passenger side with me, we had actually had to jump out of the way twice, genuinely thinking we were about to be hit by cars and lorries not paying attention.
I was just about to abandon the car as I was seriously worried for our lives, and take him up the road, till we could get phone signal, and call the police, when he suggested pulling the battery lead off, and seeing if we could "reset" the car... As I had some spanners easily accessible, I dug down to the battery, and pulled the earth lead off, but of course this left the car with out any lights, and just illuminated by my rear work lights, and Suz standing on the curb behind waving the torch like some sort of cheerleader at a Chris de Burgh concert. I got the battery back on, but the car cancelled the hazards, so the guy went round and got in, both turning on the hazards, and trying again to start the car. Still turning over, but no spark... He got out, and I was trying to usher him into my car, and calling Suz back, when he managed to explain that while trying to start the car, he had managed to get it into neutral...
Next problem was finding the towing eye... there wasn't one in the glove box, or with the spare wheel, and after looking in a few other more obscure places, we decided there wasn't one at all. It looked like the original owner had literally cleared out everything, only leaving a couple of spare wheel bolts, a wheel wrench, and a Jack, even the reflective triangle normally stored in the boot lid was missing.
This car was doing nothing to help it's self...
He did have a light weight towing strap, with hooks on the ends, and before I could stop him, he had it unrolled it and was laying under the front of his car attaching it to somewhere underneath... I got my long strap out, and attached it to his, a bit worried, as I had no idea what he had fixed his one too, and saw that it was actually tight against the plastic bumper. I think he had literally wrapped it round the front lower wish bone, or the bumper reinforcer. He said not to worry about the bumper, he had another one at home!!! So working on the idea that anywhere was better than here, we all climbed back into the cars, and I towed him really gently and slowly, still lit up like a Christmas tree, to the next Exit, and into a side road. Luckily, with the rear view camera I was able to keep a good eye on the tow rope, and did not snatch it once, so we made it without any damage to the front.
Once off the road, and with phone signal, he was able to call his friend, who was now frantically wondering what had happened to him, and we were able to leave him.
Afterwards, we got to thinking about it, and were now wondering all sorts of things, like was it insured, stolen, or goodness know what else, but I have to say, I did feel a lot better knowing he was somewhere safe now.
.....
Saturday was spent shopping in Maidstone, as it got steadily colder as the day went on, and by the time we got home, the other car parked in the drive was already fully frosted up, so we were in for a cold night. Even the ferrets refused to go out into the garden for a play, so after watching a late night film, we finally headed to bed about 2am.
Suddenly I am awoken by a banging... My first thoughts were the ferrets were playing chase up and down the stairs, wearing their lead boots.... then when I hear the banging again... I decided that it sounded like the front door, what could the ferrets be up to, that sounds like someone banging the front door? I look across at the clock, just as Suz stirs, and the Banging goes again. It's 3:55 am... Now without trying to go down the route of TMI, neither of us wear suitable attire in bed to answer a door, especially at nearly 4am... So while Suz is trying to wrestle her dressing gown away from 4 ferrets who are sleeping in it, I am trying to find a pair of track suit trousers, and a fleece top to put on, oh and find my glasses and get my eyes to focus. The knocking is still going on, so we turn on the hall lights to let whoever know we were awake, and heading down. The knocking is still going on.
We get down, and through the frosted glass in the door, there is a short person in a coat with the hood pulled up. Having no idea who it is, and assuming that this must be an emergency, Suz stays on the stairs out of sight, and I open the door a crack, keeping my foot behind it, and stare out into the darkness at a guy who is shivering uncontrollably, saying "My name is" something unpronounceable " and I am freezing" with a very strong foreign accent.
I was stumped.... I had absolutely no idea how to handle this, he was literally crying, and shivering, but it was 4am, and I am sorry, but I was not going to let him in the house... I tried to find out a bit more about him, but he was almost impossible to understand, and he was offering me money to let him in!!! At some point, I found out he was from Romania.
Suz's calls the police!!! they say they have someone on the way, and told her to make sure the doors and windows were shut, and have a look outside through a windows to see if there was anyone about, in case it was a distraction... I tell him to wait there, as I was not going to let him in, but I would make him a hot cup of tea, to warm up. I shut the door, and head tot he kitchen, while Suz is still being quizzed by the person on the phone, who is not going to let her hang up until the police got there, as even he could her the amount of noise the guy was making, shivering and crying. I re open the door, and hand him a hot tea, which he cuddles, but is still asking to come in. I am trying to stall him, until the police got there, and to give them their due, less than 4 minutes after calling them, there were the blue lights, and a police car pulling up outside the house.
Within a few mins, they had him in the back of the police car, rescued our cup, and sent us back back into the warm and off to bed. We then spent goodness only knows how long, wondering what that was all about, what it was about Eastern Europeans that we seems to be attracting at the moment.
Not going out tonight, and not opening the door until Christmas eve now...:doh
