A broken down car and a kid in the back seat.......

I had quite an interesting day yesterday. I broke down in the car. Now this wouldn't be so bad if it was close to home on a side road or something. But this was driving through the front gate at work. Probably the most awkward spot to break down!

I drove to the airport to pick my friend up as she'd just returned from Sydney, and on the return leg the car just wasn't acting quite right. I would take off from the traffic lights and the car would only do about 5kph before eventually deciding to drive properly. Then my elecrtics stopped working i.e, no dash lights, headlights, indicators, not even the speedometer!

I had to pull over and let some cars pass at one stage as I'm sure they probably thought I was some crazy woman driver.

My friend had left her car at work while she was away, hence the reason we were headed there, and just as we'd pulled into base and were just about at the boom gate the car died completely. It was DEAD. I'd managed to start turning it into the visitor sig- in office just as this was happening but I only managed to make it halfway, so the car was still sticking out and no one could get through.

Luckily at the exact moment that I got out of the car ready to start pushing, a couple of the guys I work with were leaving base. They pulled over and helped push the car into the car park and out of the way. They were then nice enough to drive my friend to her work so she could pick up her car and come back for me and my little miss (who in the backseat was completely oblivious to the issues at hand!)

And did I mention it was pouring rain? Now this isn't just any rain, this is a Darwin downpour. It never rains lightly in Darwin! By the time my friend came back with her car and I'd rung my other half to warn him out, changed Miss C's car seat over, strapped her into the new car, and locked up my car we were soaked to the skin.

And to top it off my thong got caught in a puddle due to suction so I fell over!

Luckily I have a great partner who knows cars well, so as soon as i was home he left to go buy the part it needed (it was the alternator by the way) and went and fixed it for me, right there in the car park in front of the boom gate at work.

And don't worry, we can see the funny side of it! Ahhh such is life.....