I got a call today to say that one of my classic cars which had gone to the garage for some bodywork was finished and ready for collection, which made me very happy.
Some time later when my wife was free we set off in a modern car to pick up the classic, I was driving and would change at the garage for my wife to drive home, all very simple so far.
Before leaving my wife said that she needed to buy a packet of rice and a bottle of water so we agreed to stop at the small supermarket on the way where I would stay in the car whilst she went in.
The car park being a little cramped if I do visit this particular supermarket I usually take our older 4x4 which I'm not quite so precious about, a lot of people nowadays don't seem to care at all about their cars and are only to willing to bash their doors on the car next to theirs or sometimes do far more serious damage when parking.
Having parked, my wife went into the shop and I took the opportunity whilst I had a brief moment to try to re-tune the radio whilst I was waiting, they seem to be shutting more and more FM ariels, I suppose because we have gone digital.
All well and good except all my cars have old fashioned radios, in fact the 1947 Bentley has a rather splendid valve radio which is still capable of receiving Radio 4 on the Long Wave.
Not long after I had started fiddling with the radio a chap appeared at my drivers window and knocked on the glass, whereupon I opened the door to hear what he was saying.
"Excuse me mate," he said, "but can you tell me why your engine is running?"
Somewhat taken aback by his question, my first thought was; "What on earth are you asking me that for!" Or words to that effect.
Unfortunately the best I could come up with by way of a reply was; "What!"
To which he said, "Your engine is running and polluting the atmosphere."
This left me even more discombobulated and I found myself once again lost for words, so I shut the door and carried on trying to tune the radio.
My encounter with this gentleman then took an even stranger turn as the fellow to whom I had been speaking, who to all intense and purpose had the look of a perfectly normal man of 50 to 60 years of age and not at all like a self proclaimed eco-warrier.
I was expecting that he might walk away, or go to the bus stop, or even leave on his bicycle, but no; he proceeded to get into the car which was parked next to me and drive away.
You can draw your own conclusions from the facts here presented, personally I'm still trying to make sense of it all.
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