(This is a true conversation that happened yesterday afternoon.)
How did that happen? We've only gone 6 miles from the golf club and I'd swear there was 65 miles range when we started up! I haven't a clue where we are - this is a new route home to me, but Madam Google said it was the quickest. Google Maps, where is the nearest petrol station, please? 3/4 of a mile?
<Start praying.>
Get to petrol station. All the pumps are busy or out of diesel. Hurry up, people! Don't you know we're running on fumes here?
< grrrr >
Finally someone moves.
<. Fills up with diesel >
37.42 litres! You lying, cheating b*st*rd, Lucky! You have a 44 litre tank and you swore you were empty! At your normal MPG, that's at least another 60 mile range so why were you lying?
Why??? Are you getting revenge on me?
Is this about the deer two weeks ago? The deer was NOT my fault! The damn thing leapt out of the hedge on the far side of the country lane we were driving down and ran in front of you. I slammed on your brakes as fast as my reflexes would work. I didn't want to hit the deer. I didn't want to hurt it or you! Anyway, it ran off so we can't have done it much damage. It bounced. You were left with a slightly buckled, black plastic grill-thingy, but that got snapped back into position by your new mechanic. Seriously, I was left as shaken as you were. We've done that drive to the Winchester office a couple of times since then and I'm constantly looking out for deer.
Or is it about the tyre last Friday? Yes, that was my fault. It's a drive we do every day on the way to work so I should have known better. OK, I'm guilty of hurting you. My brain misjudged the turn onto Dunham Roundabout from the A40 and hit a curb. I'll give you that, but at least I've worked out why - someone took out the bollard on the central reservation and it looked like a flat, sandy pot-hole from the A40 slip road, not like the raised divider it really is. So I gave you a flat tyre. So what? I'm sorry. But at least there are two silver linings from that incident: we discovered that your locking wheel-nut thingy was missing AND you've now got a nice, friendly, local garage to do your services instead of that badly organised, money-grubbing dealership we'd been forced to take you to after I stopped working in Reading. A garage as good as MOT City. A garage that replaced all your locking wheel-nuts, gave you a service on Wednesday and a valet and didn't cost the earth. And they replaced your broken left wing mirror, which I'd accidentally caught on the electricity pole the morning before we hit the deer.
I'm sorry. OK?
Please, can we kiss and make up now??
- Pam