On the Thursday there is heavy rain forecast for the afternoon after 2 p.m. Therefore, I plan a “long morning” with late lunch, hoping for the better in the late afternoon.
I ride to Bibury and then Burford again, and follow my own Cotswolds route from the sat nav. The sun shines at time and it is, in general, quite a fine morning. It is difficult to think that there will be a storm in the afternoon, but in the meantime I have learned that a beautiful morning does not prevent a miserable afternoon.
More than 110 happy miles go by among those villages already mentioned many times on this blog; then, a bit after 11 AM, I get a flat back tire, and I mean really flat.
I call BMW breakdown who, uncharacteristically, make several mistakes. Firstly, they tell me that my breakdown policy has expired (wrong, and it takes a while for them to get to the bottom of it); then they struggle to locate me because, rather unbelievably, they cannot work with the GPS coordinates of my sat nav. Thirdly, when I call again to be sure that they are coming to collect me and the bike I get a very weird “there is no log for your call” and everything must be done again.
However, after less than an hour the recovery is there, and we head to BMW Oxford. I note here that, when we try to load the bike on the van, the bike refuses to start. I think (as does the breakdown recovery guy) that the electronics of the bike automatically shuts down the engine because it “knows” that one tire is flat. Another beautiful example of Nazi Nannying, which forces us to load the bike on the van by force of arms.
When we arrive at BMW Oxford, another mistake happens as I am only offered the choice between hotel and taxi home. I answer, more than a tad peeved, “well no, I WANT a car or bike until my bike is repaired!” and the guy on the other side realises that yes, I can have that. Finally, I get a Hyundai i40 (I have insisted on a manual car, therefore no BMW available) and I head for home, the day now irremediably compromised but at least with the ability to drive back to the cottage. The bike should be ready tomorrow afternoon, which is just in time as I have to vacate the cottage Saturday morning.
As I drive back, I receive another call: apparently there is a recovery vehicle looking for me on the place where I got the flat tire around five hours before. Good Lord. I explain patiently what has happened, and the lady on the other side wants me to wait on the phone until she gets confirmation that I am, in fact, not at the place where the puncture happened. Funny lady. I answer to her that no, I am pretty sure of where I am and do not need to wait for them to confirm the fact. I will, therefore, wish a good evening because the day wasn’t an entirely pleasant one and I need to resume my drive home.
It’s the first time in my life that I drive a diesel. The Hyundai is not very impressive in its interior, but it is comfortable and surprisingly quiet. The “torque surge” (which dies after a while) moves the car fairly effortlessly in normal traffic situations, but I still prefer the “power curve” of the good old petrol engine. Thankfully, my day isn’t made even more miserable by having to drive one of those strange cars without a clutch pedal; something which makes me feel very disconnected from the driving, with no use for an entire leg and very, very old.
The rain starts at around 4 p.m. and it is very light at the start, but by 5 p.m. we have the strong rain promised in the morning. I get back home under the heavy rain and forget (as I will do tomorrow) to take a picture of the car, painted in a very pleasant dark grey metallic tone. Not a pleasant day, but at least I am in one piece, in my cottage, with transport provided, and hopefully a new tire tomorrow.
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