This is the second time I have typed out this story. Just as I went to hit publish last time, it crashed. I got the blue screen of death, and had to reboot the computer, losing everything in the process. Typical, for the kind of day I have had.

So the story begins last Friday. Mat and I had been down at Lismore in NSW for a few days visiting Mat’s grandpa. It takes about 4 hours to drive to Lismore, and another 4 back. Just north of Brisbane my Suzuki Vitara broke down, so we had to get towed – 50mins away from home.

Friday afternoon Mat investigated the problem and determined it to be an issue with the air flow meter. So we rang up some wreckers and 4×4 stores, and were told our only options were either to pay $275 for a second hand part from the wreckers, or fork out $550 for an aftermarket. I don’t even want to think about how much a genuine part would have been. We opted to pay $275, and were told the part would arrive on Tuesday.

Tuesday morning I rang to confirm if the part had arrived, and was informed they had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. No one remembered talking to me (I hadn’t grabbed a name), and there was no part there. We told them what we were after, they hunted around and found the part for us again, and we were told this time it would arrive on Thursday. This time I got his name.

First thing Thursday morning I got a call to inform me the part had arrived. Brilliant. At this stage I had been riding to/from work praying like mad that it didn’t rain on me. Every afternoon we had been getting storms. So at 3pm I rode home, got into Mat’s truck (which is a monster and is horrific to drive on suburban streets) and drove to Caloundra. My EFTPOS card wouldn’t read in their machine, so I drove to the nearby IGA to find their ATM was out of order, and the max that I could withdraw from the tills was $50. They pointed me to the local petrol station, but upon arrival found their machine was also out of order. I transferred all the money to another card, and returned to the wreckers hoping that one would work. The second person to try it finally got it to swipe. Got the part, and drove home.

Mat arrived home from work, ripped open the package to find it wasn’t the correct part. I listened to him rant and rave for a few minutes about how angry he was, that he can’t believe they had the wrong part, and if you want something done right you have to do it yourself. I explained it was just a part, nothing to worry about. He agreed to call the wreckers the following day to sort it out. The next being Friday, (now today).

This morning Mat rang at 9.30am to tell me that if I took the part to the wreckers they would find the correct one for me. I planned to do this in the afternoon, as I had a busy morning for work planned. In fact, I was so busy that I didn’t realise the time until 3.20pm. I quickly packed up my stuff and got ready to leave when BOOM. Thunder. Lightning. Torrential rain. Today’s storm was earlier than usual.

I rang the local taxi company and organised to send someone to pick me up. By the time I had gotten outside I saw a taxi cruising down to pick me up. But a woman coming out of a restaurant further down the street saw him and jumped out to flag him. He picked her up and was gone. I went back inside and rang the company again. Once again they agreed to send someone. By the time I reached the taxi rank at the end of the street again, there was a taxi waiting for me. But just as I got to it, he drove off! With no one in the passenger seat! (I should mention here there is a big shopping centre nearby where all the taxis wait, so they were able to get to my office fast).

Frustrated that I had missed two taxis, and noting it had ceased raining I went back inside and got my bike to ride home. Just as I reached the street, it started pouring again! Defeated, I took my bike back to the office and rang the taxi company for the 3^rd time. I raced to the taxi rank, and waited for a long, long time but no taxi arrived. I decided to walk to the nearby shopping centre and just pick up one from where they all waited.

As I arrived, there was one last vacant taxi. As I’ve approached some people ran in front of me and scored the cab. I was pissed. Actually, that might even be an understatement.

I agreed with a suggestion from Jo (as I had been venting by sms to her) to just give up and ride my bike home to work out the frustration. I walked back to the office, got my bike, and rode. Thankfully this time it didn’t rain. I rode as fast as I could, having realised it was 4.15pm and the wreckers shut by 5.

Halfway home, I got a call from Mat who told me not to stress, to just call the wreckers and tell them that I would be there on Monday instead. I was speechless – wasn’t this the guy who was furious I didn’t have the right part in the first place? Confused, I kept heading home.

I reached the street just off the main road, and started cycling down it. Suddenly, I saw a little black shadow playing underneath a tree in someone’s yard in front of me. I realised it was my dog, wandering the streets. Calling his name, he looked up and saw me, and started to run alongside me back home. The whole way, I wracked my brain trying to think of how he could have possibly gotten out. Did I leave the garage door up by accident? Had I not shut the gate?

When I arrived home, I found the garage door closed, and the gate secure. Mystified I walked the fence line and worked out that he must have jumped the side with the retaining wall. He pulled some acrobatic stunt and was free. No doubt it was because he was afraid of the storm – during the storm the previous night he had ducked for cover underneath our bed. He has also knocked in our sliding door to get in before too.

I rang the wreckers, only to find out that they hadn’t needed me to come down in the first place. All they had wanted was the numbers on the side of the original air flow meter (that was in the Suzuki and broken). Relieved, I gave him the numbers and sorted that out. Finally, I could just scream out all my frustration, and relax. Instead I chose to sit down and blog it all.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my story, now its time for me to get drunk and forget how bad today was.