One dark (and possibly rainy) night....oh hang on that was how my father's story began.
Except that strangely enough, the night of this story did happen to be rainy and as it occurred on a November evening, it was also quite dark outside.
Anyway, I digress.
My mother had set out around 6pm to drive over to Hampstead, a route she was incredibly familiar with and could do in her sleep. She drove down East Heath Drive towards South End Green and turned onto Well Road. Her destination was Burgh House, a wonderful place steeped in history, tucked away off the main roads, bordered by the High Street, Downshire Hill and East Heath Drive.
Some time around 8.30pm, my phone rang.
It was mum, sounding slightly hysterical and very anxious.
She had misplaced her car.
It was raining and she had been walking around trying to find it for the last 20 minutes.
I told her to find a cafe and wait for me. But no, she wanted to keep looking.
So I rang my neighbour and explained the situation. She said that she would listen for my daughter.
15 minutes later, I rang mum again and told her to 'just go and sit in Carluccio's, now!'
She had told me the route she had initially taken and that she had parked behind a skip, so I hopped into a taxi, told him the story and off we went. He said that he'd once been asked to help find a car parked in a square in Chelsea. Chelsea has a million squares.
It didn't take long to get to the top of Hampstead. We turned left onto East Heath Drive and right onto Well Road. Driving slowly along, the taxi driver asked about the skip and said that there was one coming up on the left. We looked and sure enough, on the very first road was a skip and behind it was my mother's car. Phew!
We laughed and I paid the taxi driver.
I got into the car, rang mum and told her.
"You are fantastic!" was her response.
I drove round to the cafe, she got in and we went home.
She was so relieved. I was just glad that I could help.
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