An interesting evening

Last night I went out with Marina & Vanora (Dan's sisters) and another couple of friends, Michelle and Suze. Lovely evening; nice dinner in Fellicinis in Leeds (definitely recommend the Chicken & Mushroom Penne, and the Haddock Risotto. Yum). We then went on for a swift glass of Champers in the champagne bar in the Electric Press near Millennium Square.

Unfortunately Harry, Vanora's son, wasn't well, and I wasn't planning on being out all night, so after an early start (dinner at 6) at about 8:15 we decided to head home.

We got into the car and headed off round the dreaded Leeds Loop. I hate it. For those of you who don't know, it's a one-way system round the city centre which manages to confuse me every time I get on it. It's like a massive spinning wheel which flings me off in random directions and I never know where I am. So, off we go round the loop. I missed the 1st opportunity to get to the motorway (even with Vanora's expert guidance) and ended up following it round a bit further. We get to the bottom of Lady Lane, at the lights just before the roundabout with Eastgate (Theatres in front of you) and the car....just.....stopped.

OMG the petrol light was on, but the needle was still on about a quarter, and according to the mileage, I still had over 30 miles in the tank.

There was no doubting though, the car had actually run out of petrol. Sh*t!

After a bit of initial panic, we noticed a side road WITH A PARKING SPACE about 50 yards away, and after waiting for a gap in the traffic (we were on the Leeds Loop remember) with a bit of serious pushing from Vanora managing to maintain her glamorous look in her 6 inch heels, and me sort of scootering along with one leg in and one out, we managed to park it in a proper space. Please note: this actually involved reversing a bit as well; no mean feat.

We then realised that we were just across the road from the police station. Great, we thought, we'll go and ask them for directions to the nearest petrol station. Unfortunately the enquiries office closed at 8pm, but we did spot a couple of 'cycle' officers returning to the station and so we accosted them for info.

They pointed out that Regent street was about the nearest. 10 minutes walk. Eeeek in our heels!
We tried at the taxi rank and were rejected by the taxi driver. Miserable man. So off we trekked. It wasn't so far, but did hurt our feet alot!

I got to the checkout with my little petrol canister, and started digging around for my purse. Where was my purse? Damn, in the panic at the car, I'd actually managed to leave it on the back seat. Thank God Vanora was there. She saved the day with a spare tenner in her purse. I'd been trying to persuade her to get home to poorly Harry in a taxi. OMG, imagine if she'd not been there?

When we got back to the car and had filled the tank from the petrol carrier, we were just about to get back in the car. "Are you ready?" Vanora looked at me over the roof of the car from the passenger side - and promptly disappeared! I raced round to the other side of the car, only to find her, one foot in the footwell, and the other down the very high kerb, collapsed on the pavement, laughing hysterically! The (now very painful) 6'' heels, dodgy parking near a high kerb and a dark street had combined to make her miss her footing when getting into the car. She couldn't move for laughing and I was laughing too much to help her get up!

I'm dreading it if they've caught us on CCTV they'd have put us on "Booze Britain - Leeds"