I do not usually write about things that have nothing to do with Irish arts or heritage, but this past weekend was such a mess that I felt like putting it down somewhere. So bear with me on this one.

I drove down to Washington DC on Saturday morning. The reason for the trip was pretty ordinary. I wanted to visit a friend who recently moved there, and I figured I would make a day of it and see a couple of things while I was in the area. I left New York around 7 in the morning, which I thought would get me down there before any real traffic built up. That part worked out fine. The drive on I-95 was straightforward and I got into the city a little after 10.

We walked around for a few hours. We had lunch somewhere near Dupont Circle, nothing fancy, just sandwiches. My friend showed me the neighborhood where she lives now and we caught up on things. It was a good visit overall. That part of the day I have no complaints about.

The problem started when I got back to my car around 3 in the afternoon and it would not start. I turned the key and got a clicking sound, which I have been told usually means the battery, but I am not a mechanic so I was not entirely sure what I was dealing with. I tried a couple more times and got the same result. The car was not going anywhere on its own.

I sat there for a few minutes trying to figure out what to do. I called my friend back and she came over, but neither of us had jumper cables. I asked a few people on the street if they could help and nobody had cables either. So I did what most people end up doing in that situation. I looked up towing washington dc on my phone and went through a few results until I found a company that said they could get to me within the hour.

The tow truck showed up about 45 minutes later. The driver was fine, not unfriendly, just businesslike. He got the car loaded up without any trouble. I had the car taken to a shop that my friend’s neighbor recommended, which was about 15 minutes away. The shop was already starting to close for the day by the time we got there, so I left the car overnight and made arrangements to get a callback on Monday morning.

It turned out to be the battery, which I was glad about because it could have been something worse and more expensive. The shop replaced it Monday and I took the train back down to pick the car up on Tuesday. That added two extra trips I had not planned for and the whole thing cost me a little over $300 between the tow and the battery replacement.

I am writing this on Wednesday and the car seems to be running fine. I do not have any great lesson to share from the experience. I probably should have known the battery was getting old. I had noticed the car starting a little slowly a few times over the past month but I kept putting off getting it checked. That is the kind of thing that catches up with you eventually.

Anyway, next week I will be back to writing about Irish music and dance events happening around New York City. I just needed to get this one out of my system first.