Of all the days, why did it have to be today?
Everything had seemed to be going so well. We were cruising along the ever-busy M25 motorway when suddenly the engine stopped, the dash flashed up a warning “Antipollution Fault”. Now, here we were, stranded on the hard shoulder; four lanes of traffic thundering past us.
I needed to think fast but I felt as though a fog had descended over my brain. “Why would a little pollution kill the car?” What should we do? Our guests were already waiting at the airport and we weren’t going anywhere.
The first thing was to call out the recovery-truck, but the mobile phone battery was already quite low. How much longer would they keep us on hold?
Eventually we were recovered and left at our local garage. One friend fetched us and drove us home, another collected our guests. Now we must wait for the mechanic’s verdict.
The phone rang. Two little words that strike dread, even in those that don’t know one end of an engine from the other. Cam Belt.
How could I have been so stupid? It had never even occurred to me to check whether the car had a belt or a chain… “If only I’d known!”
As the scrap-merchant loaded my car onto the back of a skip-lorry it all seemed so pointless. Although it was old, the car was in a good condition. The cost of the repairs was more than the value of the car. So that was it. The end of the road for my Peugeot 807. Lesson learnt.
“If only I’d known.” How many people have spoken those words of regret? “I thought we had a good marriage. How did it come to this?”
Even if you marriage is going well it’s worth taking a little time for a 60,000 mile service. Any marriage can be recovered, but the costs may be high. Take a little time with your spouse to evaluate your marriage today. Better a timing-belt and oil change now than a complete engine-rebuild in a year’s time.
