OH NO …. I Did It Again

Yep, I got out of my van first thing in the morning and closed the side door behind me, to again find myself locked out.  This time, it took from 9am until about 5pm to resolve the issue.

After about 10 phone calls to the UK from a phone box and waiting for hours in a local bar for a return call, I was told that someone was coming to tow my van.  While waiting for the arrival of the tow truck 2 police and lots of locals came along and before I knew it, I had 6 local basques and a crazy Austrian around my van.  There were 2 policemen, 2 maintenance men and a recovery driver all trying to retrieve my key through a slightly open window.  The key was on the worktop in the centre of the van, behind the drivers seat.

The doors could not be opened, so I had resigned myself to have the window smashed and replaced and the breakdown company with whom I have a policy confirmed that they’d put me up in an hotel for the night.  However, when the recovery vehicle arrived the locals had different ideas.  I stood telling them to tow the truck to the VW garage and break the window, but they took absolutely no notice. I had a lady called Patricia, who is Basque but lives in Hampshire translating for me and the response that came back was “tell him to relax”.

The recovery driver said that with the wheel lock on and a lot of other cars around, it was difficult to town my van.  Patricia then asked what he did in these circumstances and he said that he always finds a way to sort out the problem.  Ultimately, one of the policemen had some wire, which Johanas (your highness) put some sticky tape on.  His arm was though my drivers side window and the other 4 guys were peering (noses to the glass) through my tinted windows shouting directions to the key.  It really was like something out of a crazy film, but it worked.  The sticky tape stuck to my key and they somehow got it out from the back of the van through the front window …. have a look at the photos and video ….. AMAZING!  in hindsight, it was hilarious, but at the time, I just wanted to get my van towed, as I’d had enough and didn’t think there was any chance they’d retrieve the key.

On a different note, Patricia, was over from Hampshire to see her 86 year old father who by complete co-incidence have Myloma, which is the same pretty rare form of bone cancer that my Mum has.  (Hi Mum :))

Get off my van

I said, get off my fucking van and just tow it to the garage.

Click on this link and wait for the video to download, it shows what was going on . .   MVI_4968 …. completely out of my control.

Oh yeah … in all of the chaos about the van, I forgot I left my wet suit hanging up and it was nicked … never mind, I have a spare one with me, although it is crap and cold …. it will have to do for now.