Thankfully I was not in the wagon that was following Princess Diana's wagon the day that she died. Instead I was a content passenger in Abigail Noonan's beloved Anglia wagon, as it made its way home from Mighty Morrinsville..
To honour this day I do need to tell the whole story....
So as Julie Andrews would say: "Lets start at the very beginning"!
Miss Jayne, Miss Flea Delonghi, Miss (now Mama) Abigail, and myself had descended on our journey, from Taranaki to Morrinsville, on the Friday afternoon I believe, and whilst driving through Mount Messenger, the beloved Anglia became extremely overheated - I'm sure it was menopause, but Mama Abigail, I'm sure, would beg to differ.
My memory evades me at this point but I do remember, later that evening, driving between Ohaupo and Hamilton when her tyre blew out. We ended up on the right hand side of the ride, safely parked in a driveway, in the dark, with no wheel brace. A wagon was flagged down - and although they had no wheel brace, they kindly parked, safely, facing the beloved Anglia, with lights shining so all could see their way. Another wagon was flagged down, and as it abruptly stopped,the wagon behind it swerved and spun a full 360Degrees on the wet road - taking out a few other wagons in its path. One hit wagon flew at the very first wagon that had stopped, hitting it hard from behind, which in turn smacked into the beloved Anglia just as I had stepped out of it's path.....
Thankfully no one was hurt, although all wagon's were very unhappy as they were towed away. The beloved Anglia suffered a very minor dent (randomly enough in exactly the same place where I had been standing!) and the police officers kindly used their wheel brace to change the blown out tyre....
Phew.. I remember the beloved Anglia full were all very shocked and keen to get to our destination asap.. But that, dear followers, was not the end of it!
No, no, no...... We stopped in Hamilton to get coffee and to pass water at a service station, and then continued on into the township. After all we had experienced that day, a whiskey was what was called for.. But alas, Miss Jayney discovered, as we parked outside a Hip Hop bar (Abigail's choice), that her handbag was nowhere to be seen - and therefore, her precious belongings were also nowhere to be seen. Missy Jayne, and the beloved Anglia had been selflessly robbed....
By now the whiskey was yelling down the staircase of the Hip Hop bar, so Miss Jayne polished her beautiful face and we entered the bar.. After a few whiskeys, a dance or two to distract the minds, and some random sideways glances from huge Samoan Hip Hop blokes, we drove to Morrinsville to sleep the night away..... A huge evening!
To cut a looong story short, and please do excuse the longevity of this novel, as we left Morrinsville to return home to Taranaki a few days later, we stopped atae petrol station to fill the beloved Anglia with precious petrol.. As Mama Abigail re-entered the beloved Anglia, she proclaimed, " Oh my goodness (well something along the lines of), Princess Diana is dead"...
Following stunned silence, not one of us believed her, but as Mama Abigail reported just this evening, "Why would I joke about something like that?"... precisely.....
.........................and now that is a true story......!
And I do believe that Camilla should have sung the following song on Charles and Diana's wedding day all those years past.... it just might have stopped a whole lot of shenanigans ya?
