A new experience for me today.
We attended a funeral service this morning in Douglas, then drove down to Port Erin for a lunch get together with the friends and family of the deceased. The widow of our friend wanted it to be an uplifting, pleasant occasion and so it turned out. There were many funny stories of our friend from everyone there and lots of shared, happy memories.
On the way back, P said that we needed to fill the car with petrol, plus, as he had been given a voucher at our local petrol station for a free car wash, we would use the one in Port Erin.
Well, I have to admit that in all my 63 years, I have never been through an automated car wash before today.
As we arrived, a rather large BMW 4X4 nipped in front of us and drove onto the car wash ramp. The driver then got out and went to buy his ticket. (We had already exchanged our voucher for a ticket before driving round to the car wash). He returned to his vehicle, punched in the code to get the machine started then moved his car up to the "Start" position. Once the machine started up, we were surprised to see him open his door and get out. The act of opening his door appeared to trigger a sensor that stopped the machine from running. The driver didn't notice and went back into the service station shop. We waited for a while then P said he had better go in and tell him that nothing was happening with his car and we were waiting!
He came out and got back into his car and a garage employee also came out and had to reset the machine as it had stalled.
We then had fun watching the driver make several attempts to reposition his vehicle on the ramp in order for the wash cycle to restart.
Eventually he got it started and then it was our turn.
It was strange being inside the car with the water jets and brushes moving backwards then forwards over our car. Looking out of the side window it sometimes seemed that we were moving and I had to check that the handbrake was still applied, much to P's disgust.
When we arrived home I took a quick look at the car and noticed that there were still a few mucky bits.
I am glad that we hadn't paid for that!
BMW 4x4 driver sounds a right ignorant so and so.
ReplyDeleteGot it one Dave 😉
DeleteWhy didn't P biff the BMW ignoramus on his snout? That would have taught him a lesson about jumping queues!
ReplyDeleteThe other bloke was quite a bit bigger 😉
DeleteMaybe so but P is as fit as a butcher's dog. The bigger they come, the harder they fall. You could have joined in too - whacking the beast with your Mulberry handbag.
DeleteI am far too ladylike for that sort of behaviour YP.
DeleteUnbelievable how inconsiderate some people are!
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot of it about these days 🙄
DeleteI just read yesterday about Halloween car washes being set up in different cities here in the USA. Haunted houses might be bad for COVID so several businesses have set up haunted car washes instead! Imagine - crazy lights and spooky creatures popping out while your car moves through. Crazy times!
ReplyDeleteOh my. The normal car wash experience was scary enough for me!
DeletePlay the Glad Game, JayCee. If he had been on the full cycle (which does everything apart from clean your teeth) you could have been waiting a long time. It happened to me once and I couldn't escape because of cars behind me. That's where Scrabble with my friends on the cellphone comes in very handy.
ReplyDeleteOh well, in that case I am glad that we were on our way from the funeral and not to it. I would have hated to be late.
DeleteFound your blog through my friend Debby. When my children were young, we went through one of these car washed and my youngest, maybe three at the time, howled all the way through. I think he thought it was some type of amusement park ride, which he was never fond of!
ReplyDeleteHi Bob. Thanks for popping in and reading.
DeleteI found the car wash experience a little disconcerting and I am way more than three!