I was minding my own business concentrating on driving my
car to the supermarket, when the windscreen was struck with gravel that had
been thrown up from the road by a vehicle travelling in the opposite direction.
At first I did not think there had been any damage, and it wasn’t until the
following day that I noticed a 30 centimetre crack in the offside, lower corner
of the windscreen. A closer inspection revealed two small pits in the glass,
and three in the adjacent alloy frame. One piece of gravel had hit the screen
with such force that it had caused the crack.
I looked at the policy document of my car insurance and
found to my relief that the screen could be repaired for £10 or be replaced for
£75, providing it was done by Autoglass. I telephoned them and made an
appointment for the work to be carried out at my home. A
description of the damage confirmed my suspicion that the windscreen would have
to be replaced.
The day of the repair was last Wednesday, when the temperature
was below freezing. I was expecting the technician to arrive mid-afternoon,
because the timeslot given was between 12.00 and 16.00. At 15.30 there was no
sign of him. Ten minutes later I received a call to say he was finishing a
repair nearby and he would be with me shortly. At 15.55 his van reversed into
my drive, but I had my doubts he could complete the task before dark.
Within seconds he set up his bench, extracted a windscreen
from his van and thoroughly cleaned it. He continued working like a speedy
automaton that had been programmed with the actions of skilful technician.
Darkness fell, and I thought that was it, but he set up a floodlight and continued
working at a phenomenal rate. By 16.55 a new windscreen was securely in place.
I asked this remarkable automaton how long he had been doing
the job. Without a trace of Dalekese he
replied, “Twenty-five years.” I praised
and thanked him for his labour, whereupon he smiled, as humans do. Truly he was
one of those rare workers who earn their keep.
Oh, that there were more like
him, because this Country would be Great Britain again.
Links
Autoglass
Dalek
Automaton
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