I don’t mind working on a Bank Holiday. In this part of the world it is advisable to take time off when the rest of the country are elsewhere. It was sunny, I was at the wonderful Nancy Nightingale’s, and I finished just after lunch. An interesting day and, what is more, educational.
After a fine morning of singing/gardening followed by a little gardening/singing I toddled off to have my car washed. Yes, I paid someone to clean my car. Yes, I could have done it myself. No, it was never going to happen. At the weekend my big brother said to me “I can tell you are a gardener, you have moss on your number plate”. Not seeing this as a problem, I did admit that months of mud, seagull visitations and motorway driving had left the mean machine a little jaded. So I paid a full £6 for a nice chap to clean and polish. I blushed as I passed over the keys, “sorry, it is very dirty”, “Don’t worry” he assured me “that is what we do, we clean cars”. So I sat on a wooden picnic bench, surrounded by weeds and adjacent to a busy road, to eat my banana whilst surveying the petrol station scene, back to the table. In moments I sensed some company. Slowly I turned. Two young children, offspring I imagined of the car cleaners, had slunk into the other side of the table, smiling charmingly. Obviously I was terrified. “Do you like slime?” the girl asked. The small boy grinned. Even scarier. Not knowing what the answer should be, playing for time, I enquired “is that what you have in that pot?”. “Yes” and she removed the offending substance from its container and pulled and twisted and curled into shapes long and squat and rolled and stretched all the while smiling ominously. “Would you like to try?” Never once to pass up such an opportunity I took the purple goo from her hands. Once was enough. They laughed at my disgust.
Later, after bonding over the slime, the girl asked “what is the cleverest thing in the world?”. I suggested she ask her teacher and next time I am having my car cleaned, she could enlighten me. A deal was struck.
My car is unrecognisable. It is rather unnerving.
Off The Edge Gardening 
You were lucky, we didn’t make it out from under the sea fog!
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We have had lots of that too! Braunton was quite clear. 🙂
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You must have just had it cleaned the last time we met. There were only three inches of detritus in the footwell behind the front seats. Oh, hang on, you’re talking the outside. Just think, you can now get your car into a narrower parking space. And probably get 50 miles more to the gallon cos of reduced weight. 😉 You went in with a Focus and came out with a Ka.
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It is all true! Off to Exmoor tomorrow, sure it will be back to normal after a few country lanes.
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So . . . a clean car in unnerving? And . . . scary children with purple goo are tolerable? That is SO not the ending I was expecting.
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I like to keep you on your toes Tony 🙂
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You know that every seagull on the north coast is chortling tonight. One of them may even have done the deed already under cover of the gathering dusk..
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The morning broke to a gleaming car, then I parked it under a cherry tree in the wind and drove down the lane behind a tractor ……
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It sounds as though it was 6 pounds well spent. And entertainment and education thrown in!
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It was, and they did a far better job than I would ever have done. They were great kids, good fun, bright and polite.
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Oh well done, life is too short to clean the moss off your own car, and they make a much better job of it than we would. £6 pounds well spent.
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Exactly! Keep waiting for a boy scout to knock at the door hoping to pass his Car Coiffuring badge, but it hasn’t happened yet. I live in hope.
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You did make me laugh! I understand about moss on the number plate. I’ve got moss on the bottoms of the windows. Unnerving? Definitely – why are all children crusty, sticky or slimy, and anxious to share it? :~))
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You are quite right, it is the willingness to share that is the problem! 😀
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It’s Devon, there is moss everywhere, I am sure it found your car was a nice place to be.
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We must keep moving or we will become Moss People. True.
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I do enjoy your writing! I share your moss problem – it is inescapable in winter here. The automatic car wash does not remove it. Enjoy your clean car while it lasts!
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Thanks Mrs D, the moment has now passed, but it lives strong in my memory. Feel a little sorry about the moss though.
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Nice anecdote – isn’t it great when you are distracted during a wait.
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Thank you, and yes, it isn’t the most inspiring place to sit and wait, I almost wished we had had more slime time!
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😃
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