En Plein Air: Stranded!

Great sky day in the middle of nowhere; and a car that won't start!

This is not the place to discover your car won't start (see pic above). But after a 2 hour session painting in a very remote location in mid-Wales, this is the predicament I found myself. 
    In the passenger seat, my infirm 85 year old mother was sitting with her watercolours. Up to this point, we both felt we'd had a good morning painting. Mother had even completed 3 pages of her new sketchbook. But we'd both got cold and hungry, so I finished off, packed up, hopped in, and visualised a steaming Sunday roast, and perhaps a sticky toffee pudding to follow, but oh, custard or ice cream? 
    I was snapped out of my daydream when I realised nothing was happening when I turned the ignition key. Just to be sure, I twisted the key several times more. The battery warning light flickered, then dimmed, then flickered and dimmed at the same time. The engine did nothing. 
    I soon realised what I'd done. I had been standing next to the car, trying to capture with my oil paints, the patches of sunlight brushing the surface of the Berwyn mountain range. Meanwhile, The keys were sitting in the ignition with the day-lights running, gobbling up battery power like a small village.
    I calmly pulled out my mobile. Full battery! No signal. I shoved it back in my pocket feeling like a popped balloon. 
    Just over an hour before, a cycle club had passed. Whilst I couldn't imagine them having a tow rope or jump leads, I felt the chances of someone else passing within a couple of days was pretty good. 
    In the meantime, I thought I'd make myself useful and try to push the car out of its parking spot on the chance of a jump start. Essentially, if you use 4x4 to get in, you'll need it to get out. Nothing moved. 
    - No mother, the handbrake isn't on.  
    By now, mother had abandoned her walker to give the car a token shove, but it just become a surrogate for her walker. Behind us, said walker was gathering momentum down the road.  
    I paused to think of all the countless options I gave my mother the impression we had. In truth, I visualised wandering lost about the mountains all night looking for help, only to find the car again, with my dead mother clutching an empty dispenser of Sweetex. 
    Just as I was bracing myself to seek help in the valleys below, a great big Shogun 4x4 came over the brow, and suddenly my problems were solved: ice cream and custard! 
    Thanks Lee. 
    Sorry Mum. 

Mother's watercolour #1

Mother's watercolour #2


 
______________________________

"Custard or ice-cream? Comments below"
Alex Harbron
harbronplainair@gmail.com



Comments

  1. UnknownSeptember 10, 2021 at 6:32 PM

    I use my car boot to work out of. I learned the hard way that you should remove your boot bulb to stop running down your battery. Thank God for the AA and their ability to find you location from your mob phone signature

    ReplyDelete
  2. Alex HarbronMarch 21, 2022 at 9:21 AM

    Thank you Hamza. All the best to you :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousSeptember 4, 2022 at 11:37 PM

    Glad you and your Mother got back for your lunch. I enjoyed your blog. How lovely that you were both out painting together. What tripod do you use, it’s probably really expensive, so could you recommend a half decent one that won’t break the bank please?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Alex HarbronSeptember 5, 2022 at 8:39 PM

    Thanks for your kind feedback. Here's a link to a blog I wrote about choosing a suitable tripod for a tripod easel:

    https://www.harbronpleinair.com/2021/05/which-tripod-for-harbron-easels.html

    If you have problems using it, the article is in the Blog section of this website - keep scrolling to find it. I would highlight that most tripods will work for a tripod easel or pochade box. For the Harbron Tripod Shelf I make, the legs need to be less than 30mm diameter, but they don't have to be round (some cheaper tripods have square legs and that's fine). For the easel, the tripod head needs to have a standad 1/4in thread. You will find most tripods have this specification. Essentially it is then down to budjet. I've owned my tripod for several years and can't find it online, but there are exact copies of it branded with a different name. It cost £60 at the time. I also have a cheap, second hand tripod which i bought for £20 that I use in the studio. I hope that helps and thanks again for your feedback.

    Alex

    ReplyDelete

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