Despite my youthful good looks I can still remember those days when cars weren't quite as reliable as we're used to nowadays. I mean gym membership wasn't required since you got all the exercise you needed pushing your car when it broke down and everyone could paint because every weekend you had to colour in those rust holes that kept popping up under blistering paintwork. Oh yes, great days!
Anyway, a few weeks ago I noticed the temperature gauge on our car going up a bit too high for my liking. I told the people I look after (Chris & Helen) but they pretty much ignored me. Typical! They turned the heat up and that drew heat off the engine and the temperature fell. Well that's ok bit it didn't deal with the problem and boy they paid for it.
I may be a hardy terrier but I'm not keen on heat. Even though Sue up the road gave me a cracking haircut the other day I still prefer things on the cool side rather than the blistering heat of the desert. For that reason when Chris & Helen went out dressed in their finest the other evening I wasn't too upset because I knew they were in for a bad experience in that car. And that's what they got. It went pop after 20 minutes and they had to get a load of mineral water and fill up the radiator and then drive for nearly two hours with the heat full-on on what was already a warm summer's evening.
Due to the fact that I was saved from two hours of heat-induced dribbling in unrelentingly arid conditions I feel I can forgive Amy & Lloyd for not inviting me to their wedding reception, especially since we are not talking about a one-way journey here for Chris & Helen. They had to come back too and by the time they arrived and I'd run downstairs to say howdy I thought they'd had their faces painted red at a kid's birthday party or been on the losing team on a paintballing weekend. Either way I made soothing sounds and they cooled off, eventually.
They then started telling me about where they had been, how great the stately home was where the reception was held, the perfect grounds, the balmy evening, the pleasant company, the fabulous band ... well I got fed up and went to bed. I tell you, you can go off people! I mean it was ok when hearing about the heat-related disaster parts of the evening but not the good bits. After all, I should have been there if there were good bits. And that's the lesson here I think. First, listen to your dog because your dog knows things. Secondly, act on it because that way you'll never have to boil alive in a car like you did in the 70s. Thirdly, keeping a car well-serviced and cool means there will always be a place for your dog in the back for those trips that are worth going on. And let's face it, that's pretty much all of them.
