RussBoy

Ok, beat this....

I live in Spain and run my own company but a while back I had a call from a VERY big rival (sort of) in the UK, offering a huge salary to help head up his company in Brighton. As I was over from Spain for a month anyway I thought they'd be no harm in driving down to see the guy.

Brighton is a hour or so from where we are staying so I set off 2 hours before so I can find the place, get parked up and have a relaxing coffee. 50 mins before I am due there and thinking I've made ok progress I suddenly hit a wall of traffic on outskirts of Brighton, 7 miles or so from destination. 3 lanes into one, cars overheating, that sort of thing. GPS was saying I was getting closer and closer to being late until such time that I actually was.

I got through the traffic eventually and found the street but the street was blocked with a diversion sign which sent me a long way out of my way. I eventually got myself fairly close by coming back on myself and found a pay and display parking space. I jumped out, disconnected GPS, bought a ticket and legged it to the interview, now 15 minutes or so late.

I came out an hour and a half later...to find the car gone. No glass or anything but just an empty space. I had no money on me, had no credit on my phone, didn't know the reg plate (wifes car) and worse still, as a diabetic was starting to have a hypo....

I found a guy close by who was obviously the City whino...or one of them. I asked (wearing a suit and polished shoes etc...) where the police station was. The guy couldn't speak but waved me in a certain direction. 30 mins later after asking somebody else en route who was really kind, I walked in to the cop shop.

Plod behind the counter was very polite but said he couldn't help without reg plate. He couldn't reverse PNC on my wife's details but after speaking politely with him for a minute or two he helped out by starting to phone around the compounds and asking by description if a car of that type had been lifted by the council. He let me use the phone and I then managed to track my wife down who gave me the reg plate which I shouted out. 2 minutes later and with a stern face he returned saying the car hadn't been towed so it must have been nicked...

I filled out the forms and was sent on my way and ended up walking past the road I lost the car in...except, this wasn't the same road...but it looked bloody similar. Turns out, I had been in such a rush, that I had actually crossed the main road after parking butg when leaving the interview, just turned left and went around the corner. Roads were near identical, even to the point of having a monument at the end of the parking zones...

I drove back to the copshop and explained the the officer that I'd been a bit of a plonker and after a bit of **** taking I left. He told me ANPR would have picked me up leaving Brighton anyway. (Sussex Police were actually very helpful)

Felt a bit of a dipstick though...and had to explain all this to my wife who had at one stage been in tears...(we are driving back to Spain in her car this weekend).

Can you beat that??!!


Russ

davegtt

Only 10 days into the year, going to be hard to give too many embarressing stories out Im afraid. Im pretty good at making a fool of myself (on purpose I might add) but not really done much this year.

Very stupid though

pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

You said in 2008 ... and you said this happened a while back.. its only the 10th so me thinks this happened last year and thus !!! me farting in the lift this morning actually beat you

Jamie

Russ you are a Muppet well done

RussBoy

Had the call a while back...event happened Tuesday this week so reckon this trumps you

R

Brendan Hughes

Did you get the job?

RussBoy

That's the bloody annoying thing...I haven't yet heard!!

Brendan Hughes

BTW, we're thinking of going to Granada end of Feb for a few days, I might PM you in the next few days for hints

RussBoy

No worries, lovely place to go and depending on which route you take, you may end up going right past us. There are some really good bars and restaurants in the City itself so great for a romantic night out


R

M444GY

iTrader: (72)

that was pretty ebarrasing id imagine words GROUND, OPEN, SWALLOW , come to mind

Philip Attaway

Not 2008 but reminds me of a similar incident MANY years back at secondary school.

I used to ride to school each day by bike and lock it in the bike sheds.

One day I come out at the end of the day to find my beloved bike missing.

In tears teachers are contacted, then the police before I eventually remembered that I had had a lift in that day by my Dad!! DOH

Flatcapdriver

If you're looking to visit the Alhambra then I'd recommend you do it online as it can be a bum's rush even at this time of the year and there's no guarantee that you'll get tickets if you join the lunch time queue.

There's heaps of snow in the Sierra's at the moment for some quality skiing and provided you're outside of school holidays its very accessible despite the problems they had over Christmas.

If you're driving, there's one speed camera past Antequera which is signposted well in advance so you can't miss it and if you want some decent roads to drive on, there's a few around that area.

Varboy

I had a similar moment to the OP.

I had a meeting in Oxford and anyone who knows Oxford will know that there is little point driving into Oxford, so you use the Park & Ride.

So, I parked up in the Park & Ride and the bus is there, ready to go. I ran and just managed to catch the bus.

After the meeting, I got on the bus to go to the park & ride (bear in mind that there are several park & rides in Oxford), problem is that I got on the wrong bus and ended up in the wrong park and ride.

I walked around the car park for 1.5 hours looking for my car when it was in a park & ride across the other side of the city.

CristianH

Russ - LOL that's pretty funny...thanks for making me chuckle and making realise i'm not the only one who can be a dipstick!

I put diesel in my impreza 200+ miles away from home but that was a few weeks ago so doesn't count. I could have died.

Brendan Hughes

I think we'll be there for five days or so, a bit for Granada city centre and 2-3 days on the slopes so I can remember how to fall over on a snowboard. Hoping last week of feb is outside hols (specifically chosen for that) though I've found it is actually the French school hols. Good point, I'll ask my colleagues...

EDIT oh bum, hols on 28-29. Might consider going the week before.


BTW, on topic - we were in a shopping centre a few days ago and came back to the car park to find our car gone, but luckily realised it was because we were on the wrong floor BEFORE complaining. Probably the best I can manage.

magepaster

iTrader: (2)

Saw a friend today and proceeded to give her my condolences as her father had died January 2nd. We continued to talk and out of the blue I asked
"Did you have a good New Years break?"
Her faced dropped and numerous heads turned in my direction.
"No, not really" she said.

I am still hoping the ground will open up and swallow me.