1:15 pm came and with it my three hour "lunch break". I had cash in my wallet. There was only one thing to do: see how many op shops I could visit before I was due back at work at 4:15pm.
I headed to Queanbeyan and found a wonderful old sewing box full of vintage sewing treasure for $6. Then I noticed I had a message on my mobile.
It was ACT policing, saying there'd been a drive off reported at a petrol station with my registration. Except the vehicle was a large grey 4WD and they knew Miss Daisy was, well Miss Daisy and quite unable to eat as much fuel as the large grey 4WD had done. Perhaps I'd like to check my plates?
And wouldn't you know it, my front plate had gone walkies! So we had to give up on the op shopping and go drivies back to Dickson Canberra Connect and get new plates, noticing that suddenly the roads seemed to be heaving with large grey 4WDs.
Being the total girl I am I didn't have any suitable screwdrivers handy to get the remaining plate off so popped into see my mechanics, who are just round the corner and they were fabulous, removing the plate for me, letting me leave Miss Daisy with them while I walked across to Canberra Connect and then not only screwing the new plates back on but using whiz bang new anti theft screws. DMB Automotive, thank you. I owe you a large cake.
So now Miss Daisy is no longer a Yellow Banana Pants but a Yellow Gargling Walrus. With silly coloured bits celebrating Canberra's 100th anniversary. And I'm $33 poorer and a lot wiser. People steal rego plates. Who knew?!(*See also The Burglary)
4 comments :
unbelievable. who ever checks whether their number plates are still on? not me.
miss daisy as yellow gargling walrus?
that's worth a smile.
i hope things look up for you soon. i'd send anti-crime vibes your way if i thought it would help.
Amazing. Well, you do read about it in crime novels, but in real life, for something as banal as not paying for your fuel? (Though part of me thinks that's quite an enterprising way of cutting your fuel bills down!)
I had two wheels stolen once when I lived in Tennant Creek, and had been away for a work trip. The car was parked in the driveway, and the front and rear wheels on the side next to the fence were taken - the cops reckoned for go karts (Tennant Creek hosts the go kart grand prix).
But you would have noticed if your wheels had gone.
Must be a Downer thing (as well as a downer...). A couple of years ago our house sitter went out to her car in our driveway and noticed that something wasn't quite right with her car, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was. Luckily she didn't just hop in and try to drive, because when she had a good look, one of her tyres had been taken, and a bad replacement was just propped beside the car next to the tyre hole thing (don't you love my mechanical knowledge?).
Cheeky buggers, aren't they? Much sympathy, love your creative acronym deciphering.
Actually I suspect it happened at the very top end of the long stay carpark behind the theatre: I parked right up the top the other day (having arrived just before 11am and all the "prime" positions having been long taken)
"Excellent!" I remember thinking. "I'm right in front of a lovely shady bank with lovely shady trees"
And a lovely shady path to skeddadle down from the 1 hour car park and cover to unscrew plates without being detected, it turns out...
But I take our warning on board and will check that I have all four tyres before I drive in future...
Funny discussion at work about the incident...
Colleague: "Well at least they didn't steal the car to do a ram raid!"
Me: "If you're the ram raiding type I assume you're a bloke and wouldn't the last car you'd want for the job be one with large girly daisies all over it?"
Colleague: "..."
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