Photo by Raluca Seceleanu on Unsplash
The car wouldn’t start. We had just explored the Kloof street surrounds to find an ATM to pay the car guard. I put the key in the ignition, and turned it, only to hear the car whimpering.
My Friday ended more difficult than most, but my wife and I had plans to watch Christopher Nolan’s latest offering, Tenet. Our most anticipated movie of the year.
I finished what I needed to, we squeezed in a trip to Waterfront before running home to get dinner so that we would be at the Labia on time. Thanks to my insistence that we were running out of time, we got to the theatre 30 minutes too early.
We ordered drinks and waited for the film. During the wait, a slight headache stirring. It only got worse. The movie started, and I was not prepared to be thrown right into the action, but I was. I tried my best to concentrate despite the best efforts of my headache to stop me.
My saving grace was a bag of sweets we bought. Somehow they helped get rid of my headache. The headache stopped just before the film really picked up pace. It got really good.
Brief Tenet Review
A brief review of Tenet for context. The movie is anxiety inducing but in the best way possible. The lead is played by John David Washington. He plays a man out of his depth but somehow always in control. Reminiscent of of Humphrey Bogart and his ilk from Film Noir. I will try not give anything away, but the film is ultimately a spy-thriller, with some fun time-bending elements. It is an intense ride.
We left the theatre content with a great film, but feeling anxious and in desperate need of hot chocolate. Before we could get there we needed to organise R20 to pay for parking.
We strolled Kloof street and the surrounds to find an ATM to draw some money. The walk only made the anxiety worse, as we walked past inebriated groups of students, through dark roads and past corner stores.
We got the R20, walked back to the car and paid the car guard. I sat down in the car, took out the keys, put them in the ignition and tried to start the car. A whimper was all the engine made. The car wouldn’t start.
Car guards, security guards and every type of guard from the area arrived to try help us start the car. Everyone thought it was a dead battery. One of the car guards insisted he knew manual and it wouldn’t start because of the battery and we just needed to push the car. That did not work.
The city of Cape Town security came with jumper cables. Those didn’t work. We eventually pushed the car to a parking, and decided to leave it over night.
We ordered an Uber, got home, drank hot chocolate and started making plans on how we were going to buy a new car. It was going to be tough. We tried to sleep, but the anxiety of the situation kept us up.
The next morning…
Eventually we got up and phoned a mechanic. He would meet us at our car at 8. We ended up walking to our car and waiting for him there. It took a while for him to arrive, but once he did we learnt something new.
I tried to start the car, and showed him the sign we were getting. He knew immediately what the problem was. Apparently there is a magnetic device in car keys that unlocks the engine. Our key had a tendency to fall apart, so the magnetic device was missing.
There was nothing wrong with the car…
We searched the area to see where the magnetic device may have fallen out. It was nowhere to be found. I was looking at the exact spot we parked the night before. Nothing. Then I heard a call from my wife; the device was found. It was lying just underneath the ignition in a weird catching area.
After a few minutes the mechanic placed the device in our car keys, turned the ignition and boom! The car was working.
We went from preparing to pay R100 000 for a second hand car to R350 for the mechanics simple fix. To say we were relieved is an understatement.
We drove home a happy couple, having avoided the entropy of our car for the moment.