Jülick, Germany

The day began harmlessly enough with some housekeeping -- batch of laundry, some ironing, some vacuuming, the dishes, various odds and ends.  I wasn't up at the crack of dawn but didn't sleep out too late either, so really got things done without any hurry.  In-between all that, I worked on my International Management powerpoint, and then there was AW's morning coffee and some 'us' time.  The weather, in the meantime, just got better and better.

It was only after I had cleared the dishwasher, which was about 15.00, that I thought I'd have a last go with a day trip before Block 5 starts tomorrow.  The original plan was Schloss Benrath close to Düsseldorf, but when I was in the area I mistook the exit and ended up heading back to the A61.  So as not to waste my trip, I decided to head towards Aachen again and see what was along that stretch of the A46.  On the way there, I saw the signs pointing to Jülick, and thought why not?

No, not much to see in Jülick, but there's this huge fort, not fortress, which is the star attraction of the area.  Not one to miss this kind of opportunity, so I just parked my car and explored the area.  It was already about 17.30 but because we're now enjoying more hours of sunlight, more than adequately doable.  Part of the fort is now being used as a university campus, if I am not mistaken.  After the fort, sauntered into town and took more shots.  This is the centre square, a simple one, rather sober, in fact, but Jülick is only a small town, after all.  About half an hour of walking around was enough.

Back at the car, turned the ignition ... and that was when I noticed two little lights burning again on the dashboard -- the battery and the brakes.  I thought, here we go again.  If I turn off the radio and the fan (cool air), I should make it back.  Being realistic, I was sure I wouldn't make it back home but at least I should manage to reach the Dutch border without a hitch.  Venlo was about 50 km. away.  Limiting myself to a steady 100 kph, I reached The Netherlands without incident.  Next objective -- Eindhoven, which was another 50 km. away.  On the A74/73 between Venlo and Eindhoven, more lights went on -- the ABS, EBS, and air bags.  I went down to 90 kph and kept my fingers crossed.  I arrived at the Eindhoven area and had barely done about 5 km. when suddenly all my meters began to go up and down, and all my lights began to flicker.  Just what I needed to make a snap decision.  Since I was surrounded by motorways and junctions on all sides, I could no longer hope for a hard shoulder, so drove as close as possible to the middle crash barrier and when I reached the point where I had to choose the motorway leading to Breda, I just drove to that shoulder and allowed the engine to die out by itself.

The next move was how to get help.  I had no mobile with me, so I spent about 40 minutes jumping up and down, figuratively speaking, trying to get someone to stop and lend me a phone.  At one point, I wondered if I was going to see AW at all that evening and the thought made me rather sad that I broke into tears.  I also did my best to push my car even closer to the crash barrier as it was so dangerously close to the road itself.  Someone must have alerted the police because a striped car eventually arrived.  A tow truck was arranged because I had to get off what was now the A58 as soon as possible.  Pushing the car had made me really hungry and they gave me a small Mars bar as well.  Borrowed the police phone to call AW so that he wouldn't worry.  We're now talking 21.30.  The tow truck brought me to the nearest filling station, called Kriekampen, close to Best (name of a town).  While there, tried to call the international emergency number of my car, but the lines were busy, so phoned AW again.  He did the phoning for me.  In the meantime, I got something warm to eat.  The tow truck left my car there and I waited for the next one to be sent by the KIA dealer.  After another 45 minutes, there it was.  Shortly after my car was loaded on it, AW himself arrived to pick me up.  The car will be brought to the nearest KIA garage in the morning and I'll have to phone our dealer so that we can decide whether or not to have it driven to them or to let it get repaired in Eindhoven.

All this time I was thankful for quite a number of things -- that it happened on a Sunday and not on my way to work; that the weather was warm and dry instead of cold and wet; that it happened while there was still enough light so that I didn't have to use my headlights, which would have emptied the battery even more, although I doubt it's the battery.  The first tow truck driver thought it's the distributor this time, and I'm inclined to agree because I've had this baby for 11 years now and that's quite a long life for a distributor.

We were both home by 23.20 ... yuck!  Believe it or not, though, I wasn't all that hungry when I got home, nor all that sleepy either.  Tomorrow, Block 5 will start at work, and that is what is keeping me awake.