Car trouble and the human fireball

Last Tuesday Sarah did me a big favour and drove to Mosman after she finished work at 3pm in order to pick up my bike from it's service at the bike shop before the place shut at 5.30pm. Seriously - how do places do any business when the only hours they're open are the exact same hours most of the adult population of Sydney is sitting at their desk in an office downtown?

Anyway I digress, Sarah was two blocks away from the bike shop on busy Military Road when the car died. Poof! Amazingly she had the presence of mind to put it into neutral and coast into the left lane, turn into a side street and park it in a perfectly legal parking spot with no restrictions (all while coasting without the benefit of power steering, which makes it resemble driving a tank). Did I mention that she had to go home to write an essay due the next morning and she hadn't brought her mobile phone with her? And we're not NRMA members.

Sarah walked to a store and called me so I told her to get a bus home and do her essay and I'd deal with it. It refused to start. So I called NRMA to join, but apparently you have to wait 48 hours before you can get roadside assistance (or they charge you something like $200 extra). I then rode my bike up later that night and had a look at the car but there was nothing I could do, so I figured why not wait?

The 48 hours ran out Thursday at 5.15pm, so I picked up my bike from the shop, rode to the car, called NRMA and he managed to get it started but said it may conk out again in which case I'd need to get a tow.

I only had to go a few kms to get to my mechanic 5 mins down the road, so I thought I'd risk it. Of course I got as far as Crows Nest on a busy street during peak hour and it conks out at the lights... on a hill sloped backwards with a line of 30 cars behind me! Well it wouldn't restart no matter what I did, I couldn't reverse anywhere because of all the people behind me and there was nowhere to go. Eventually a bloke who was parked behind me came and said I could have his spot and he'd stop traffic and direct me into his spot. Bless him!

So I called NRMA back and asked for a tow, but the guy said there was a 2 hour minimum wait on towing. This is now 6.45pm and there were about 12 people coming over for dinner at 6.30pm. So I checked the parking spot - untimed until the next morning at 8am - and told the guy to put my tow on hold and I'd call back in the morning. Got my bike out of the car and rode home. Good times.

Then when I finally dealt with it the next morning before work, I couldn't get in touch with my old mechanic so went to another guy just down the road... who told me that my old mechanic's place had COMPLETELY EXPLODED two days previously. I went past to check it out and it was like something out of a warzone, I've never seen a big building absolutely ripped apart and charred by an explosion. Apprently the suspected arsonist was caught on CCTV running away on fire - check it out: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/hunt-for-human-fireball/2007/10/11/1191696056391.html