Phew!

   Was about to practice for tomorrow’s gig this afternoon, when I realised that I’d left my guitar in the car boot.

Now you may think that this was a simple matter of going out to the car in my driveway and retrieving said item from it.  However, things weren’t quite that simple: you see the car currently in my driveway is the garage courtesy car 🙂 and my own vehicle was at the Saab dealer’s (on the other side of town) along with my guitar, songbook, tomorrow’s set list and notes, and various other items.  I’d actually booked the car in yesterday for a quick mid-summer check and air-con service, expecting to collect it again a few hours later, but had received a call advising me that it had a much more serious (and expensive!) issue which required the car being kept in for a few days.

So…. what to do?  I call the garage – no reply, so I come to the conclusion that it’s not open on a Saturday afternoon.  Thoughts now racing around in my head about borrowing guitar, capo, (will someone have the right plectrums that I use?!), and settling down to re-prepare set list, notes, print off some of the lyrics/chord charts that I’ve not committed to memory……

Then… a brainwave (or was it inspiration on the back of my lovely wife’s faith filled praying?).   No reply from the garage, but what if I could track down one of the personnel from an old invoice?  Sure enough, the old invoices carry the names of the people who prepared them.  I pick one out, punch the name into 192.com, select one of the names and associated telephone numbers.  “Excuse me, but is this the right number for ****?”  “Yes; who is calling?” “Well this is a bit of a long shot , but…”

Guitar and odds ‘n ends safely retrieved, my rehearsal was sweeter than ever and now I’m as ready as I can be for the gig.

Oh, and by the way, despite the unexpected expense, I’m so grateful that I decided to book my car in for this “little” check, only for this rather major problem to be discovered, thereby  possibly avoiding being stranded in the South of France in a few weeks time with a car that needs a new engine!