Take Me Home

Finding herself in the midst of a motoring mishap once again, Sue Pritchard wonders what else the universe has in store for her, and if it will provide further inspiration for her next book.

It may sound as if I’m snivelling around for undeserved sympathy here, because I know I was fortunate enough to spend most of the month of May on holiday in Corfu and Scotland. And although I also know all good things must come to an end, I really didn’t expect them to end the way they did.

In this photo, I was stranded hundreds of miles away from home with my husband. We'd just been rescued from the side of a busy motorway, but then almost unceremoniously dumped at a service station with our broken-down car and marooned caravan.

Waiting for a second recovery truck to take us on the long and arduous journey back home, I forgot about my recent alcohol-free protestations, and resorted to drinking wine straight from the bottle - to calm my frayed nerves and mull over such worryingly persistent misfortune.

Trying to scrape my morale off the floor, and flip the shit show of this life sunny side up, I knew I had to focus on the more positive things that had gone well that day.

Positive Perspectives

Fortunately, this motoring malfunction happened on the way back home, so we did get to enjoy our holiday in the Scottish Highlands beforehand. I’m also relieved the automatic renewal of our breakdown cover sprang unprompted into action, only the day before. Otherwise I fear we may still be marooned on the rather narrow hard shoulder of the A1 - a bit like the solitary black stiletto shoe I found amongst the rubbish on the verge there.

During those three hours whilst waiting to be rescued, I sat staring at it from time to time, becoming increasingly concerned about how and why this single, quite classy looking shoe, got to be abandoned on the side of the road.

And although we may have been a little stressed and annoyed with one another, I was thankful for my husband’s company too. In this patriarchal world we live in, it still angers me that a woman stranded alone in such situations will undoubtedly feel vulnerable.

It was a feeling that wasn’t abated by the occasional toot and shout from passing motorists either. I’d like to think they were sharing positive encouragement, rather than unhelpful comments such as: “Cheer up love”, which I’m sure some idiot hurled out of his car window in my direction.

I found myself in a similar situation a few years ago when another of our cars - from the same manufacturer - actually burst into flames not long after it broke down. Once again I was miles from home in a frightening situation, on the hard shoulder of a motorway.

When waiting to be rescued that day, the tables were turned, and I couldn’t resist the temptation to flick numerous birdies at the cars slowing down as they drove past, enabling their occupants to hang out the window and film our trauma so we could play a starring role across their social media feeds.

After our recent motoring mishap, which turned into a mammoth 19 hours, we eventually returned home safely with the car and caravan. This was despite the troublesome M25's efforts to add more shits and giggles, when it threw in a huge traffic jam just after midnight on the last leg of our journey.

A big shout out to all the people who rescue broken down motorists from the roadside. It's a pretty scary job they have to do throughout the day and night. You don't appreciate this until your life is literally in their hands. So thank you!

Costly Repairs

It’s two weeks on now, and our car sits almost remorselessly outside the house while we try to work out the best resolution for it. My husband doesn’t agree that joining our other car in the scrap yard in the sky is the best way forward. He hasn’t taken this disaster to heart as I have.

“It’s been a good car,” he said. “I think it’s served us well because we’ve looked after it over the past seven years.”

I beg to differ.

If this is how they act when they’ve been looked after, god help anyone who dares to mistreat these cars!

Whatever we decide though, we know for sure it’s going to cost thousands of pounds to get this four-wheeled pain in the arse back on the road. It’s also going to take a lot more for me to regain my confidence in it too.

In fact, I’m wondering if the road is the best place for me. In recent years my family and I have experienced so many ‘motoring incidents’, I’ve sought advice from my spiritually gifted acquaintances – trying to hide my concern when one of them merely shrugged their shoulders, suggesting I take the bus or walk instead!

Over the past few weeks, I’ve even pondered if I should revert to two wheels and get my bike out of the garage, back on the road again. But then I remembered one of the chapters in my book is devoted to my cycling misadventures.

I’m not quite so sure now.

Bouncing Back

“The world will keep on having its way with you,” best-selling author JoJo Moyes recently said in an interview. “You’ve just got to keep bouncing back.”

Quite frankly, I feel as if I’ve been bouncing non-stop on a bloody trampoline in recent years. I’ve been reliably informed by psychics that these little ‘challenges’ aren’t to test me, but help me build a thicker skin and become more resilient, enabling me to face up to the more positive challenges which lie ahead in the future.

Well, I’m not sure if the universe has noticed yet, but my skin is feeling as thick as an elephant’s now, and the word RESILIENT has practically been tattooed on my forehead - in capital letters and underlined in bold ink.

Bad Luck Tally

It was a similar spate of bad luck which initially prompted me to visit a psychic four years ago, guiding me on to this writing journey and chasing my childhood dream of becoming a published author. And although I pride myself on writing about real life, it has been suggested I should start asking the universe for less dramatic inspiration.

I can also see the attraction of writing fiction now, if it means I can make up some of these unbelievable events rather than having to experience them for myself!

Reflecting upon my life over the past few months though, and judging from the size of my bulging notebook, I'm not short of material for my next book.

Not quite the end to a holiday we’d hoped for!