Not the RAC story....

... But the AA story! Are you sitting comfortably..then I'll begin. I was going on a two day training course 'up north' with the Chair of my charity, M, who also happens to be a personal friend. the course was called 'Leading Your Team' and with 6 other similar couples from other schemes, we were going to spend two days learning and talking about how to work together more effectively. M and I decided to travel up the night before, and even get there early enough to enjoy a relaxing meal in the hotel, and spend time talking over issues - time we rarely have together. I offered to drive, as I have the newer car, but M said no, he really didn't like being driven, so we went in his car.

Which was fine until it broke down whilst doing 70 in the middle lane, funny noise, loss of power, and thankfully a lorry driver let us across to the hard shoulder, or we would have come to a stop in the middle lane, in the dark and rain on a very busy motorway. Not funny....

So M gets out and looks under the bonnet. He gets back in. 'Not sure why I did that, I know nothing about engines.' No, but it seemed the right thing to do. M calls the AA while I think, there goes our peaceful evening and nice dinner..... M has to get out and read a number off a post, as the AA want to know (quite reasonably) where we are. We don't know, it's dark and rainy and we were talking, but we think we passed Stafford.... when M gets back in he tells me the AA will be an hour. Great. He also tells they have advised us not to sit in the car, but wait outside. I laugh, I think he is joking. No, he's not. So I put on my coat and we both get out and I teeter onto the muddy, wet, grassy bank in my best suede boots, and try and make light of the situation, to make M feel better about it all.

I start to regret refusing an earlier toilet stop, standing in the cold and rain, especially when M disappears out of sight to have a pee. I am not crouching in the bushes in the rain for anyone. I'll wait.....

The police stop and talk to us, check on us, and drive away.....I stop being the entertainer eventually, and pull my hood down over my face, tuck my cold hands under my arms and stand with my back to the rain, head down, like those Emperor penguins at the south pole. Or is it north pole?

I stand like that for a while, doing a kind of hibernation thing while the rain pours down, the traffic roars past, and I get colder. Suddenly I hear M's voice in my ear. 'Would you like some of this?' I turn round and look down at what he has in his hand. I reach out to take it, my eyes widening in anticipation. A toffee crisp. He is giving me half of his toffee crisp. As my lips close round the sweet chocolate and crispy inside, I feel so happy, it was worth breaking down for.

The AA man arrives after an hour and twenty minutes. What a nice man. To cut a long story medium, he takes two seconds to decide we can't be mended, and ask where we want to be towed to. To my relief, M decided to head on to our destination, an hour away, rather than two and a half hours back to St Albans.

Another half hour watching 'No rush then' AA man fix M's car to the back of the tow truck, and he eventually opens the rear cab door and invites me in. By now I can't feel my hands or feet. I climb up two steps and pull myself into the back seat of the truck, about four foot off the ground.

AA man says he is going to stop at the next service station to put the back board and lights on. Good, I say, as I am so desperate for the loo now. He stops in the car park and I ask if I have time to go to the loo. He says, yes, and I thought you might want to get a drink. Oh, yes, I say, a hot coffee, would you like one? Oh, go on, love, you've twisted my arm. In my enthusiasm to reach the warmth and comfort of the cafe, I open the door and step out, forgetting I am four feet off the ground. I plummet like a brick, in a Mrs Doyle kind of style of exiting an AA truck, and am quickly on the ground. M and the AA man turn round slowly from the front of the cab and chorus, 'Are you ok?' Yes, I say, picking myself up...bu**er, I knew I was desperate for a pee.....oops.....

When I get back with the coffees and clamber back in, as I shut the door, I see a notice printed along the door panel. And I quote..'Danger. Do not attempt to exit this cab without the assistance of the driver.' Now they tell me.