A car's predicaments

Smartypants had a really bad start to the year 2011. Just yesterday, I lost him at my residential carpark! You should have seen the horror and confusion on my face. Was walking happily to get it when I realized another car replaced him at the exact same spot. I panicked. "Did I really park here yesterday? Did I forget to lock the car again? Did someone break in & drive it away? Was my car parked at such an ideal lot to be taken away easily??" Goodness gracious. At this point you can imagine why I was crossing my fingers and hoping: "Did it get towed away?"

S then found out from her colleagues that there's definitely more chance of it being towed away than stolen. (Phew) So I set out to find my precious. But, damn the unfriendliness of French websites, it took us abt an hr to find a number I could call/a place I could go! Finally managed to track it down at a non-discreet dodgy underground carpark below the Avenue Foch park. (The fourrière, where it's being towed to, depends on the arrondissement where you parked. Hence you need to do some checking.)

Turns out I unknowingly parked at a towing zone. The signs weren't clear and I was misled because I parked there quite a few times without any biggie. Other cars were parked there too but I suppose the French are smart enough to know when the traffic police comes. So I guess given my ignorance this would have happened sooner or later. Paid 136€ to retrieve it.

Not to mention that smartypants' battery died on me on New Year's Eve! Just because I left a tiny interior light (not even the headlights) on overnight. -_- Again, I got mad at the inefficiency of the French system. After several phone calls back & forth for half a day, nobody wanted to take responsibility for fixing it (although still under warranty). Had to call an independent repairman to settle it for 80€. Easy money for him since it took him like 2 mins to jump start the car!

Plus the fact that it got "broken into" before. What foul luck smartypants has! Maybe because I haven't cleaned it before since the day I bought it (Aug last year). Will bring it for a nice bath this weekend to wash away all the bad luck. Tsk.