Another Thursday, 27th November - Clutch, grab, snatch, gone.

Found this in the "drafts" 

Today's excitement....

I have to drive up a long, narrow, steep, twisty, potholed lane, through a thick, dark wood to get to Thursday's school. It's always a bit of an adrenalin rush; what will be around the corner? A large delivery lorry on my side of the road? A bicycle, wobbling along at nought miles an hour? A tractor? A horse? A runner, dressed in grey and black, running up the hill on my side of the road?

None of these today, just the usual tail-gater who thinks that the 40 mile-an-hour speed limit doesn't apply to him/her.

I couldn't see a parking space in the road outside the school, so carried on 30 yards to the junction, took a right, planning to turn round in the pub car park and retrace my steps to find another parking space along from the school.

Clutch down to change into second gear, and the pedal completely disappeared! It was as though it had been teleported into another dimension! So there I was, stuck in 1st gear... and no clutch - literally. Couldn't feel where the pedal had gone at all.

I sort of wobbled into the pub car park and stalled the car into a space.

I had 30 minutes before my first lesson started to sort myself out.

To cut a long story short, my magnificent husband and the AA between them took over. I just extracted the important things for the day (sound system, hand bag, laptop bag, bag of shakers, bag of cakes for the staff room) and staggered down the hill to the school.

It could have been a lot worse. Some pin or other to do with the clutch pedal had sheared, and the AA man replaced it, and returned the clutch pedal to the here and now. Apparently he had to lie on his back half in, half out of the car, with his head right in under the steering wheel, and his legs flailing about on the tarmac for balance. A job for a gymnast, or a contortionist. He deserves a medal.

Phew.

(The wobbling cyclists were out in force on the way home; three struggling up the hill, to the discombobulation of an on-coming car, and one on my side risking life and limb and probably exceeding the speed limit going down hill. No tractors, horses or pantechnicons though.)