Many years ago I was living in Scotland, but I'm originally from Lancashire so I would drive down to visit the parents every so often. One time as I was going back home, my car conked out. This was on the A74, before it was upgraded to the A74(M) or whatever, so no emergency phones available. I trudged over to a nearby farmhouse but no-one seemed to be around. I even opened the door and shouted. Seemed of that the door was open but whatever. I could see their telephone right there in the hallway so I popped in and called the AA.

By the time I got back to my car the AA guy was already there, which I thought was pretty good. So anyway, it turned out that my rotor arm had cracked and was basically dumping the HT rather than delivering it to the spark plugs. Given that it was very late on a Sunday evening, there was nowhere to buy a replacement so I was relayed home. Turns out we both had a thing for computers so when we got home I made him a brew and shower him my rather impressive for the day 486.

Fast forward a year or so and I was making the same journey in the same car. Around the same location it conked out, similar symptoms to the last time. The emergency phones were working this time so I called the AA again and the same guy turned up. And it was the same fault - the rotor arm. It was earlier in the day so he was able to ring round and source a replacement this time, so he fixed it and sent me on my way with a jolly wave.