I left the sidelights on on my car this morning. :smack:
Needless to say the battery was flat when I returned to my car. :smack::smack:
And I’d not put the jump leads back in the car after I’d had it MOTed. :smack::smack::smack:
But a total stranger came and helped me jump start the car. In my current financial state, I was unable to reward him - and I think he’d have refused anyway.
So, Richard, if you’re reading this, thank you.
This warms my heart. Not only because of the kindness of a stranger, but your show of gratitude by posting this.
I am a little happier right now because of it.
That’s a great post, Quartz – I echo what Dusty Rose said.
Out of curiosity, where do you live? I don’t know what “sidelights” are on a car, I’ve never heard the expression “battery was flat” (although it’s obvious from context what it means), I presume “jump leads” are what we call “jumper cables,” and I don’t know what MOTed means.
Brits don’t have the Department of Motor Vehicles or Department of Transportation per state, they have the Ministry of Transportation. I guess their “tax disc” is a sticker of having paid car registered. I think what the poster here meant was getting the safety checks done.
I think the sidelights are the ones on the side 
: the running lights.
This is provided I’ve understood the context of phrases correctly on Top Gear.
You got it Cardinal! Strictly speaking it’s the the MOT test. He certainly had to open the bonnet to get this job done, and probably usually keeps the jump leads in the boot etc etc.
Sidelights are ‘parking lamps’ in US English.
Pay It Forward.
Words to live by.
I can vouch for that. In my apartment building I seem to have the only pair of decent jumper cables (I lived in Minnesota and bought the extra heavy kind that pass more current). They ask me for a jump, where I have to get shoes on, move my car to theirs, explain how it all works and then their car is started and they just leave, no thanks of any kind, not even a wave.
Referring to “parking lights” as “running lights” is darned confusing all by itself.
Am I the only one who lives in a place where this sort of thing is not only common, but expected? In fact, reading some of the posts on here has made me question ever moving to a larger town.
I had a total stranger pull over on a Chicago expressway to help me when my radiator had run low on fluid due to a slow leak. Even if something is common, expressing gratitude is still a “karmically-good” thing to do.
Boots, bonnets, lamps, carriageways…
You gotta love the Brits! I know I do.
I find unfamiliar uses of language so enchanting!
highjack – I was reading a recipe in a cookbook and it warned me to be careful to not let the oil “catch light” and burn. What? So I turn to the publishing information in front and find it is an English cookbook. I’d never heard this term before, which I gather means to catch fire.
You’re not the only one.
In snowy weather, there’s a group of us with 4WD trucks that rates each storm by tallying up how many each of us pulled out of the ditch. I feel comfortable knowing that if my wife’s car breaks down or gets stuck out in some area without cell phone service, someone will stop and help her out. Most people around here use their jumper cables more for helping other people than starting our own cars.
I’ve lived in several big towns/cities, and you could sit on the side of the road all day before someone would stop and help. I hated it.
I had the nicest guy change my tire once. I was on my hands and knees, trying to undo the lug nuts, when he happened along. He had a lovely white button down on and I remember protesting that his shirt would get dirty, but he just shook his head.
I have never forgotten that guy,
Nah, I have a friend who has some sort of bolt under the hood that gets loose and the car won’t start, so she has a little tool and knows right where it is and how to fix it. People see her with the hood up and stop and try to help almost every single time, and she’s no hottie.
I know your location reads “U.S.”, but I’ve never heard of “parking lights”.
Maybe this is another American regional difference, although I spent about 2 years in Jeff Davis (yes, named after the Confederate president) County in Georgia.
Does the MOT safety test require jump(er) “leads” (cables, to us Yanks) to be carried?
I have a pair of hefty cables, but I don’t think they’ve ever been used for my car, only for people with stupid auto transmission. That’s one of the reasons I don’t have it.
No, but it’s good practice. For emergencies. Like when you or someone else has a flat battery. 
Likewise I normally carry a petrol can, a rug and a shovel. And water and a warning triangle.
In 25 years of driving, I’ve never had a flat battery before - I had a battery that exploded, but that’s another story (and not a particularly interesting one).
I have always lived in Kentucky, and they’re called parking lights here. For when you’re … parking. At the drive-in, in lover’s lane, etc. Of course it makes no sense when you’re driving in the twilight and turn on your parking lights but that’s what I believe people around here say.