Laura came and picked me up after work in her car. We headed off to get some dinner with baby Ruby asleep in the back and me sitting next to Laura in the front. I’m not a perfect passenger because I sometimes reach out and interfere with the driving or tic inappropriate things like, “We’re going to crash!” or “STOP!” Fortunately Laura is generally unflappable in the face of such challenges.

Shortly after we set off, Laura slowed down at some traffic lights and the engine cut out. She re-started the car and we carried on, but it happened again (and again), but because we were close to our destination we decided to keep going. It cut out again as we drove down a very steep hill so we carried on engineless, which was terrifying. Neither Laura nor I overreacted though, and what’s even more surprising is that my tics didn’t either.

At the bottom of the hill Laura managed to re-start the engine, but it didn’t keep going for long. We turned into a quiet side street so we could stop safely.

We both sat in stunned silence for a moment as a wave of relief flowed over us. Laura turned to me and said:
“For careering down a hill in a car with no power and a tiny baby in the back I think that went well”