On Tuesdays, I'm at college till 9 at night because I teach an evening class. So I emerged after the class into the darkness of our poorly-lit car park, approached the car from behind, got in, drove home, parked in the driveway and went into the house. The next morning I took the bus to work and walked home. It was only then, on arriving at the front door, that I noticed that someone had bashed and broken a huge hole in the front bumper - and it had to have happened at work. That grey squarish thing you can see inside the car through the hole is a tank of some sort - petrol? Or water? I know nothing about cars but I don't like being able to see the innards of them without lifting the bonnet.
Did the basher leave a little confessional note? Alas, no.
We were rather fed up, as you can imagine, especially when my husband found out on the internet that the car - which is admittedly nine years old, but it goes all right, dash it - is worth only £5oo. So repairing it didn't seem an option, but then neither did driving a car with bits falling off it. And we haven't really been budgeting for a new car.
At work, I sent round a not very hopeful email asking if anyone had seen anything and then went off to teach, grumbling about the human race.
Meanwhile, unknown to me, our facilities manager, who is a trained motor mechanic, read the email and went and found my car in our (large) car park. He inspected it, phoned a garage in the Border country and established that they could supply a second hand bumper and then came to see me to say that the college would get it for me and the motor vehicle department would spray it black, fit it, and touch up the rest of the scrapes all free of charge.
I was so touched. I like the human race again!
(I phoned my husband to tell him the good news and he pointed out that the back bumper has a minor crack from some earlier occasion when someone - can't imagine who - had backed gently into a bollard. But we felt that asking if they could find us a back bumper too might be pressing our luck a tiny bit...)
WoW Isabelle How nice of them to fix it free for you their are some good people out there after all.
ReplyDeleteHugs Mary.
That's two - I hope there is not a third!!!
ReplyDeleteI can why you were touched with the college.
That's a lovely thing to do! (the repair, not the damage!!)
ReplyDeleteI felt the same sense of horror at how little our car was worth when we upgraded a year ago. The poor thing was in a bit of a state but it wasn't that old, really.
I get cranky about people bashing cars and not taking responsibility. Cowards! It's happened about 4 times to us, although none quite as severe as yours. Thank goodness for nice maintenance managers.
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful of them to fix it up at no charge to you!
ReplyDeleteBless that facilities manager!
ReplyDeleteI'm ever so glad to hear you like the human race again ;-)
ReplyDeleteYour work sounds just as nice as mine. It's lovely when you're looked after by the places you work for... we give then so much of our lives, after all.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me it might have something to do with the esteem in which Mrs.Isabelle Life is obviously held at the college!
ReplyDeleteWow Isabelle, what a story! Very sad to have a crinkle in your car, but fantastic that they'll repair it for you. I'm sure Molly has it right -- you're obviously well loved at the school!
ReplyDeleteSuch a good luck story! Restores the faith, as it were.
ReplyDeleteSadly, no matter how much we love them, our cars depreciate far too quickly!
That's what bumpers are for - that's why they are called bumpers. If you weren't meant to make contact with the odd bollard now and again, they would be called "avoiders". Or something. Lucky old you working with such nice folks who can fix cars and stuff.
ReplyDeleteMmm, sound like facilities manager might have a guilty conscience...
ReplyDeleteGod I have a suspicious mind! Much better to like the human race.
Oh Isabelle, and it looks like a really nice car. There must be someone else driving around with a large bash on their car, who was in the car park that night? Mongrels. But I'm glad to hear you are being looked after by your manager. As well as having your car fixed, perhaps he could organise to have the lighting improved in the car park? Just a suggestion...
ReplyDeleteThats fantastic about the repair job: my friend works in a similar place and had his fence built as a first year project for a builder's course.
ReplyDeleteI too have a black car: what colour do you think was the carpark wall i scraped last week?
Oh! I like a car disaster story that ends well.
ReplyDeleteOh...and after two accidents, my mother would be telling me to break a match to prevent the third. I've always thought that was one of her Scottish peculiarities...is it?
ReplyDeleteWhat a kind and reassuring gesture on the part of your facilities manager.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the motor dept were keen to have something to practice on too.
I worked in a college and staff were were always being recruited as guinea pigs by the 'Beauty' department - hardly a useful service but very pleasant.