out of petrol

There must be crazier people than me in the world, but right now I'm wondering! It's 1128pm, we've just walked in the door after returning from the church camp and here I am blogging. Crazy.

All for the sake of NaBloPoMo fame.

I was anticipating being home to write at around 1000pm tonight, but I forgot to check the petrol gauge. So about 1/4 of the way home, I realised the tank was below 1/4 full and not being the most accurate gauge at the best of times, I had no idea how far we could get! We didn't have much option but to keep driving, willing the car along, but about half way home the orange 'empty' light began to flash a scary warning.

I say scary, because in the middle of country Tasmania, at 10 o'clock on a Sunday night you don't want to be running out of petrol! There are no petrol stations open.

So we turned off into Deloraine and there we were, trying to access a card operated bowser. No luck - credit cards not accepted, only petrol company cards. At the corner store the monk-like owner had no idea how to help us. Next stop a friends house. Again no luck - it's a long weekend and they're away. On to the local pub where several phone calls to potential petrol-company-card-holders were made. Pub proprietor aside, no kind hearted person would rescue us by loaning their card.

Things were getting sadder by the moment, and we even began contemplating staying the night in said pub. We decided to make one last ditch effort by hunting for the police station , just in case they could help. As we drove up the road (using precious petrol) there was a security car with it's lights on.

Previously the blokes had done all the talking to potential rescuers, all to no avail. Now it was time to try girl charm. I ran over the road and explained our desparate plight... and hey presto - the man agreed to use his petrol card to get us $20 of petrol. Yay!

We filled up and drove off, singing praise songs most of the way home... what an answer to prayer! (The implications of staying in Deloraine were not being able to blog and consequently beging disqualified from NaBloPoMo - though I didn't think of that at the time, there was obviously a lot at stake here!)

So here I am, 1130pm rushing to post before midnight, then crashing into bed.

You want to know my advice? Don't forget to check the fuel gauge... alternatively, don't drive late at night in Tasmania!