The Puncture and the A.A Man

Yesterday on the way to work I had the misfortune to get a puncture in my rear offside tyre. I didn't actually notice any difference in handling and I was fortunate that a colleague spotted the slowly deflating tyre on return from his lunchtime walk. I phoned the A.A (owners of new cars know that before trying to undo the nuts on modern tyres you must first build your muscles up with lots of spinach) and listened to a recorded message that told me I might have to wait twenty four hours for assistance. At the end of the message a human voice told me that the delay could be anything up to six hours, I said okay and waited.

About twenty minutes later an A.A van went past our office and up what is in fact a dead-end lane. It promptly returned and took off in a direction opposite to the one I'd seen it arrive from. Ten minutes after this another A.A van (I know it wasn't the same because the livery was different!) took the same route. Within about two minutes of this second van disappearing I received a phone call that went like this:

"I'm stood next to your car."
I looked out of the window and there wasn't anybody standing next to my car.
"Are you round the back of the building because my car is at the front."
"I'm stood next to it."
"Okay I'll come down."

When I got to the car there wasn't anybody there, quiet why I thought there would be someone I couldn't see is anybody's guess, perhaps I had entertained the possibility my A.A man was a dwarf and was hidden behind the car. Anyway I walked up the side of the office and sure enough there in the rear car park, in fact just leaving the rear car park, was the A.A van. I ran out into the road and stopped him, "I think you are looking for me," I said.

"The SatNav took me to the wrong address and there was a car like yours but with one number different in the registration," he explained before removing the punctured tyre and replacing it with my full size spare.

It was one of the more surreal experiences of the year but one I wouldn't have missed for anything!