What a day!

Catastrophe! That’s what I thought when I tried to start the electric car this morning and nothing happened. Everything, absolutely everything, was dead! But where to start……an electric vehicle is very different to petrol/diesel cars that I have been used to throughout my life until a year ago. The handbook gave no troubleshooting clues so I tried phoning the garage which had done the service two weeks ago. Nobody was available to help but I was assured that they would phone me back. Meanwhile, our very savvy neighbour, who also has an EV, had been busy Googling on our behalf and had discovered a possible answer: the 12volt battery might be the problem. N connected the smart battery charger and, hey presto, a very low battery was diagnosed. A few hours later and normal service was resumed. Phew! 

So, I thought I had my Blip for today sorted: a photo of the “Tangerine Dream” having its life saving transfusion. But half an hour ago this was relegated to the extra. As I gazed northwards at the glow in the sky between the black shadowy trees at the top of the hill, I experimented with my mobile phone to see what it would make of the first Aurora Borealis I had seen for a number of years. This grainy photo is the result but had to be included as an important memory of a day of extremes.

PS There was an unexpected but very pleasing outcome from the flat battery. Two weeks ago, following the service, I discovered that I had no sound at all from the media system (including radio, sat nav and hands free phone). Miraculously, everything was restored today once the flat battery was recharged! I can’t wait to tell the garage!