Word of the week - Complications

My tyre blew out on me on Monday driving home at 50mph. After regaining control, I came to a halt just off the road at a 4x4 garage. After checking I was ok, they ordered a new tyre and I left the car there for the night and Peter picked me up. We returned the following day to collect the car.

All sounds simple enough, but if you know me, you'll realise it was a slightly bigger story than that.

My tax had expired and my breakdown didn't cover me as I therefore had no insurance and we couldn't find the V5C (log book) and I had a breakdown. Then I calmed down and the people in the garage were very kind and they made the suggestion that they would sort the car and even offered me a lift home.

I tried to tax the car, but without the V5C I needed to apply for a new one which takes up to 2 weeks to arrive so no car...mmmmm I phoned the BMW dealers in Plymouth, they very kindly said they'd sort the change of address out as they'd sent the V5C to the wrong address and that was why I'd never received the renewal notice. 

It's still my legal responsibility to ensure I have tax, but I'll be honest so much has gone astray since Stephanie died, that unless it's on a direct debit or I write it down and set endless reminders these days, things do just pass me by. It's so not like me, it frightens me.

The dealership not only changed the address for me, but on my behalf they paid the full years tax in person at the post office the following morning (I did have to pay them back for that part) 

I popped to the house where the post had been going to, to apologise for the error, no worries. He said there had been a parking fine from Waitrose in May, so off I popped to `Waitrose who are kindly chasing this up for me as I'm worried it'll end up as a CCJ if it gets left unpaid as it's with one of those 3rd party parking companies.

Sometimes things are more complicated than they need to be and sometimes it's other people that complicate things.

I was able to keep a clear head and work through things methodically. I took my time and was calm when talking to everyone involved, taking full responsibility for the situation (lack of car tax) and asking for assistance and I was helped, above and beyond. I didn't talk about Stephanie or say I was struggling with grief, I just asked for help and I received it and everything worked out.

I've just got to wait now and see if there are any penalties for not having paid the car tax on time and I'll deal with that as and when.