Occasionally at the Mercy of the Modern Age - Time Out #492

Living in 2024 certainly has its advantages with all our modern gadgets, toys, inventions, and fun things. 

Most of these things provide us more ease and, thus, time to enjoy whatever it is we choose to enjoy. 

     However, dear readers in Our Town and far beyond via the Internet, occasionally our happy world backfires on us when one of our reliable, go-to items hits a major snag.  When this happens, yours truly (i.e., me !) is sometimes blind-sided.  My well-made plans are thrown a real curve ball, and I have to really change direction in order to deal with the unforeseen issue. 

     Recently, I was dealt one of those unplanned/inconvenient hiccups in my daily life.   

     On a Thursday morning, I asked my bride of 43-years, Lady Deborah, if she saw any downside to me driving one of our cars, not frequently driven, out-of-town? She replied she thought it would be fine for me to drive that vehicle to my Ponca City office. I have maintained this satellite medical office in the Kay County city for 42 years, and am very familiar with the 90-mile roundtrip drive on highway US-177. Driving up that Thursday a.m., I enjoyed  the familiar sites I have seen for many years, and enjoyed driving my seldom used automobile. My afternoon was busy seeing patients, enjoying my practice, and interacting with my young medical staff. So, around 4 p.m., everyone was gone except me, and I was ready to return home. We were planning to relax over dinner at a nice restaurant with friends at 6 p.m. in Our Town.

     Not to happen, Dr. Breedlove!  

     I walked out to the parking lot behind my office, got in my car, shut the door, turned on the ignition, and......no results. The auto was completely dead. Also, because everything runs off this auto's battery, I could not physically get out of the vehicle. Fortunately, a glitch occurred after about 15 minutes, and my driver door electrically unlocked, finally freeing a frustrated me. I made it home that evening 3 hours late (dinner was cancelled) via one of my employees, who was driving home, already half way back to Our Town. He got my distress telephone call, returned to Ponca City, and took me home. I left my disabled car overnight where it sat when we left.   

     Now for Day Two of the car saga. My bride and I drove to Ponca City to "quickly" rescue my broken car. We were successful, but it took 7 hours! The second day consisted of 2 different disabled vehicle mobile vendors responding to our site (3 total called, along with another vendor the previous day, too). I also purchased a new battery from an chain automobile parts store, but I was unable to install it in my disabled vehicle. The successful conclusion to my dilemma was reached when the last mobile vendor was able to load my sick car on his flat bed transport truck, and deliver it to a dealership in Our Town.  

     Whew, what a hassle, folks.

     My bride now calls the entire experience an unfortunate inconvenience for us. That would not necessarily

be my word choices to explain my 2-day affair with my disabled, modern, high-tech car.   

     Oh, well, I guess the episode could be thought of as a no harm, no foul situation?   

     In the big picture, once again, Lady Deborah is absolutely correct.