Wow!  You are a great storyteller. Felt like I was there!

Nice to know good things happen ocassionally.

On 6/29/10, Pat Sloan <pmsloan@shaw.ca> wrote:
> To truly appreciate, you all need to know that I'm a 65-yr-old woman with a
> serious 'Auto Mechanics for Women' course (circa 1975) under my belt.
>
> So I'm out in Mission, about 50 miles from home in Vancouver with 'Otter',
> my 1982 Westy van with an 87 Jetta engine. 'Bob the Diligent' (my cheap and
> wonderfully patient mechanic) has just spent several days correcting
> massively bad wiring which has been draining the battery and creating major
> starting problems. Now I'm at the gas station just before the freeway,
> filling up before I drive home. But when I start her up again she doesn't.
> Nothing. No sound to give me a clue. I call Bob, but he's gone home for the
> day. Can't call BCAA because I've used up all my calls for the year (see
> draining battery, above).
>
> Fret and pace briefly. Then decide to call BCAA anyway. They'll charge me,
> but at least I know they're reputable. Now I can't read the emergency # on
> the card. Don't have my reading glasses with me. Aargh!!
>
> At the pumps behind me a huge black pickup has just pulled up. The kind I
> need a ladder to climb into. Forty-something guy gets out to pump gas and I
> ask if he can read the phone # off my card so I can call BCAA. This is
> probably the 1st moment that he's registered my existence, and when he lifts
> his eyes from my card to check what I'm driving, he lights up like the dawn
> coming over the mountains!
>
> "Hey, I used to drive all over the country in one of those!"
>
> "What year? Yeah, mine was an '82, too!"
>
> "Can I have a look at the Jetta engine? Wow! Cool! Jeez, I miss mine."
>
> "Hey, let me have a look back by the starter and see what's happening."
>
> I find a pair of pyjamas he can wrap around his arm, (engine is hot!) and he
> kind of disappears into the engine compartment like the vet in 'All
> Creatures Great and Small' helping out a cow who's having some problems
> delivering her calf.
>
> I strategically fall back to the passenger side of the Darth Vader pickup to
> make nice with the very young, very made-up blonde passenger who is rolling
> her eyes at this insanity. Not sure if she's a girlfriend or a daughter -
> could be either. But in any case, clearly it's majorly to my advantage to
> keep her as happy as possible.
>
> It only takes a minute or 2. He finds the wire he clearly knows about and is
> looking for. Seems it was connected but not crimped and has fallen off. So
> he's pushed it back on. Enough for me to drive carefully back to Bob's
> garage, where I can leave it until Monday so he can fix. Refuses any
> payment. Leaves with a smile and a wave and my hearty thanks!
>
> Wow! Vanagonuts . . .
>
> They're everywhere;
>
> they're obsessed
>
> and they are very, very kind.
>
> Pat in Vancouver - '82 Vanjetta - 'Otter'
>

--
Sent from my mobile device

Pete
'79 Westy "Aardvark"
'87 Westy "JoesVan"
WWW.Busesbythebeach.com