(I was all alone in the Happy Pear today…. or was I?)

Had to take the car in for it’s NCT (car health check) last week. Was a little worried that it might not pass. Don’t tell anyone but it’s been three years since it’s last confession service….. Was a big bit worried that it might not pass without one. My neighbour advised, Check the lights, the wipers and the tires. So I had a look at the lights, lovely….. except for a little hole in the lens…. The wipers were leaving a greasy film on the window but I added a bit of the windscreen stuff and they cleaned like new. The tyres were new so they were probably fine.

I arrived with all my documents checked and re-checked fifteen minutes before the test time. When you get there you have go inside to register. I noticed there were cars parked haphazardly all over the place, I found a spot near the back. After the registration I needed to get into the queue. What queue?

The queue was the haphazardly parked cars. Very soon men in overalls started walking over to the cars all around me. Eventually  a nice man with a New Zealand accent (that’s just a guess, but he did remind me of my two favourite New Zealanders) walked over to me and took my car…..

(That’s me in the corner… line from an REM song!)

I needed to run to the nearby post office to send a present to my niece in Canada, (it’s her birthday today, Happy Birthday, Caoimhe!) and when I got back I went straight to the viewing area. This is a corridor with a glass wall that looks onto the garage, so you can watch your car being tested. But my car was gone! There was a queue in the post office but I was only away for ten minutes. Is that a good or bad sign? On my way back to the registration desk I heard my nice man calling my name, so I waved, in a friendly way…. just in case the test result was borderline.

It was borderline…… when I get the little hole fixed it’ll get a pass, go car!

Being tested is never easy, just useful, Mairead.