Life goes on etc., and we’re gradually recovering from the shock of Chutzpa’s death (she was our dog).
On Friday we had Chutzpa’s cremation. That turned out to be an eventful afternoon…
The animal crematorium is in the Northamptonshire countryside, 80 odd miles away from us. We were held up twice by contraflows on the M1 and eventually took to the country roads a bit behind schedule. About two miles away from our destination, my partner’s car, in which we were travelling, started making a strange sound and losing power and we covered the final distance with the accelerator flat to the floor and the car doing some 30 – 40 MPH, not really what you’d expect from a BMW.
Finally we arrived in a cloud of smoke and ran in to view Chutzpa’s body about 12 minutes late. But thank goodness we got there.
We then had to wait a couple of hours while they cremated her, during which time we called the vehicle breakdown service. He arrived after an hour and a half and said “the turbo’s gone.” Can’t be fixed here, have to take it to a garage. Very expensive. Ouch!
Just over an hour later a breakdown truck arrived and towed us and the car to the garage my partner uses, where we dropped the car off, and then home. All the while the box of ashes was bouncing up and down on the back seat. It might have been funny had it not seemed so surreal.
Next morning the garage ‘phoned. Estimated cost just under£1,500! What did I learn from this incident? Whatever you do, don’t get a posh car unless you make a lot of money to keep it going.
Sunday afternoon a few people who knew and loved Chutzpa came round and we had an informal ceremony to scatter her ashes on her favourite flower bed. Each person said a few words and it was very touching. It seemed wierd to be able to leave cake and biscuits unguarded, but that’s what we did.
Monday morning we went back to work. Ah well, another day, another dollar… ho hum…..
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