Dude(tte), Where's My Car?

So yeah, belly-aching and back late from a disjointed tube journey, we waltzed across the car park at midnight, only for me to notice, or rather not... where's my car?

I asked Becky if I was seeing things or not? Nope. The car was definitely gone.

Normally I'd get angry but an amazing calm pervades my life of late and we strolled into the hotel lobby, looking for a reasonable explanation.

None was forthcoming, but we were assured the car was NOT stolen. Great, thanks, that's some comfort - the car's NOT there, you DON'T KNOW WHERE IT IS but you DO know it's NOT stolen? Go figure.

So there they are, milling around, trying to find out why my car has disappeared but is NOT stolen. Hey, nobody steals Subarus right?

My stomach has stopped churning only to be replaced by the turmoil in my head... her things are all in the hotel room, so that's one very good thing, but with the car gone I've lost some shirts, a football, a couple of pairs of boots, my CDs, maps and itinerary, my recently serviced car and how are we supposed to get to Oxford tomorrow? To wherever after that and then back to the airport? Oh god, please, don't let me have to hire a car and find that all they have left is a pissy little Toyota Starlet...!?

Her reasurrance is far superior to that the staff are trying to offer me. She smiles at me. She's laughing. She takes my mind off the matter in hand and I teeter on the fine line between darkness and light... this continues for another hour and she pulls me further toward the warmth and the brightness...

Eventually there is news... a knock at the door, it's now 1 in the morning.

The car got TOWED.

What? I've NEVER been towed. EVER. Becky has though, quite a few times ;) LOL

The weight drops from my shoulders and eventually we sleep...

WEDNESDAY MORNING 8AM: The phone rings, I'm called to the waiting taxi. The home-going nighstaff jump in the cab with me and we are driven to Newham Borough Council's depot, to where my car got towed.

This is why... rewind...

• Monday - West Ham United win promotion to the Premier League. We stay in their stadium hotel 'cos it's good value, convenient, somewhere different and a good laugh. We can park the car in London all day, without charge, and the tube is just a walk away.

• Tuesday - Newham Council arrange a parade - The triumphant West Ham team are driven through the East End in an open top bus and 70,000+ fans mob them on their way home to the stadium. My car is in the car park, if it doesn't get moved it will become a platform for fans to stand on and get a good view of their homecoming team... Newham BC decide to move the car for its own safety. We know nothing, we're oblivious, we're in Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.

So, apart from having kittens and a set of car keys I still had to prove that the car in the lot, amidst the scrappers, stolen recovereds and broken glass was mine... but I got it back eventually and for no cost. (TFFT)

The duty manager even gave us a couple of bottles of wine for our troubles.

Which was nice :)