Re: Stupid things you have done
On the way up from Cornwall to Derbyshire in the 2CV a couple of years ago in July, I was going camping so had a couple of baguettes and a lump of cheese and cutlery etc in the boot. Stopped at Gordano services and decided to have a sandwich sat in the sunshine on the grass behind the car. I sat everything on the back bumper; bread, cheese, knife, phone, drink, etc. Once I'd finished I put everything back in the car and set off. Decided to check my phone on the sliproad back onto the motorway, to see what time it was, and of course couldn't find it...
I had to go to the next junction to turn around and go back to the services. I drove around the car park at a snail's pace (ha ha) but there was no sign of it anywhere near where I'd been sat. I found the remains of it being run over repeatedly just outside the exit for the petrol station, it looked rather like Louise's phone does
Another one was on the way to work one night. It was about 9pm in February, which in Cornwall means it's pitch black and the rain is pelting down at you sideways. Already running late, I decided to go the slightly shorter way, which involves a climbing a long 25% hill on a single track lane, with the really steep bit coming just after a sharp left-hander. The Dyane will just about manage this hill in 2nd, but in the 2CV you had to change into 1st, and as I discovered that night, you had to change down *before* the corner.
I went round the corner in second, ran out of power soon after, and changed into first. Straight away the wheels started spinning (did I mention the road was covered in mud and the tyres were bald?). Obviously I was going nowhere sat halfway up this hill, effectively trying to set off from a standstill, although I tried a few more times. Eventually I decided there was no choice but to roll back to a slightly more gentle bit of the hill and try again. Unfortunately this was made much trickier by the poor visibility, and I ended up getting the N/S back wheel up against the steep banking at the side of the road. There was no chance of pulling forward to correct it (although I tried
) so I let the front wheel go up onto the bank as well, in the hope that I could get off it that way. That didn't work of course, because as the car went backwards, the N/S wheels moved pretty much horizontally on the hedge, whereas the O/S wheels fell away with the road, threatening to roll the car over. It became obvious it really wasn't going to work when I got to the point that I could only open the door about halfway before it hit the road
. After trying (and failing) to dig out the hedge below where the wheels were caught, and to put stones and things under the front wheel in an attempt to give it more traction to pull forward, I managed to get it out by putting the jack under the O/S sill to lift up the rear wheel, and then pushing it over so both the back wheels were back on the road! I could then go back to the bottom and have another go at the hill. By this time I'd well and truly missed my 1/2 hour work appointment, which was probably a good thing, because I was caked in mud and soaked to the skin!
That's why Kitty's N/S sill is quite the shape it is, Steve!
There are others, including being stuck up to the hubs in mud in a french military practice range with a dead fuel pump in the middle of the night, or making a rock-shaped hole in the crossbox big enough to put my fist inside, but I can't be bothered right now...
, and of course the ducks are fine 
