Discourteous

It seemed so routine. A bit irritating to have to get up so early on a Saturday after such a busy week, but routine nonetheless. At 8.30 yesterday morning I took the Corsa in to the Vauxhall garage as for an inexplicable reason, the boot no longer wants to open and the radio refuses to receive Radio 2 (though for the latter, I do suspect some intentional tampering on behalf of TheBloke (TM)).

I took the car in. They gave me a courtesy car - a rather peppy Astra. I drove it home, popped a note on the windscreen to explain the lack of a residents' permit, left the paperwork in the car to prove it, and toddled on with my day. The garage called at around midday to tell me they needed to get a Vauxhall expert to look at my car (go figure, who'd have thought?) so they would keep it until Monday. I could hang onto the courtesy car.

I continued to toddle on with my day. I - in no particular order - did laundry, received some lovely orchids, made lunch, chatted to my friend Juliet on the phone, and then went to see Hancock and out for dinner. Feeling all devil-may-care, I even indulged in a spot of light beer drinking. After one Corona and one half pint of something else, I was already tipsy and headed home.

Merrily, as we turned the corner to the flat, I said to TheBloke (TM), "Where's my car?" 'Twas gone. Possibly towed, possibly stolen.

Irritating. But, ever the grown-up, I called the local police station, who, understandably, wanted the registration number. Which was in the car. They asked me to call the Vauxhall garage to obtain the registration number. Surprisingly, at 11 p.m. on a Saturday, it wasn't open - and won't be until tomorrow.

It seemed unlikely it had been towed - there's loads of parking where I live, and I've never seen a tow-truck later than about three in the afternoon - especially not on a Saturday, and it would be a real jobsworth who towed a car with a note in the window clearly explaining the situation. Gut feel was it had been stolen. But apparently you can't report a car stolen unless you know the numberplate.

So if anyone sees a silver Vauxhall Astra, which I think had an 07 registration plate, being driven around Bethnal Green, could you get in touch? Thanks.

And for long-time readers of the Plog, no I didn't just forget where I parked it again, in order to get a lift home with the bomb squad. Shut up.

Is it cheeky to ask for a courtesy car because I lost the original courtesy car?