To all who know me, I have recently left my first full time job since graduation at Foxtons the estate agent, in their St Johns Wood branch.
With this job I was given a company phone, laptop and car, which out of the three items given, the car was one I adored the most.
Unlike any other car I have previously driven, this car was something very different and I loved it.
All new Foxtons employees have the privilege of trekking down to North Acton to collect their shiny Foxtons mini for the depo known as “Fleet”.
Fleet is a large warehouse which contains all of the branded minis, and the upgrade cars to those who perform well in the company. Home to all of the company’s unclaimed cars, they sit neatly in a row, a sea of silver, and green branded cars with numbers and initials printed on the side of them.
The numbers help for anyone to identify the employee easily should there be any dangerous driving - or in my case, for parking tickets and clamping fines issued by heart less wardens, (by the way, this was something I became a regular to experiencing).
The initials stood for the office we would belong to, such as St John Wood was SJW, Mayfair was MFR, and Camden was CAM etc..
I couldn’t wait to find out which one of these minis would be mine, and after a brief training on how to look after our cars we were handed our keys.
The minute I saw my mini I felt myself almost instantly falling in love. This mini wasn’t like the other almost identical mini standing on the court yard, this one was quite simply perfect. Flawlessly beautiful, I was smitten, as I excitedly opened the door and climbed in the driver’s seat taking in the smell of a new interior and faint hint of vanilla.
But like every other love story, this one had a difficult start.
Fully equipped with the gadgets for their new jobs, the new Foxton’s employees are sent off in own directions to their area meetings which would be taking place in just over 3 and a half hours.
For me I was sent of Camden, which from north Acton, should only take no longer then 40mins. Looking at my map I was given I thought I was in for a easy ride, so my instant plan was to arrive in Camden, prepare my self to look flawless in my new suit, heels and make up and then sneak off for a cheeky latte at Starbucks just before the meeting.
Oh but how wrong I was, sitting in my car I went to set my Sat Nav, but soon realised that I had forgotten to charge it before use, so it had approximately 2 minutes of power left. Digging into my almost bottom less pit of a handbag, I realised that my hand bag really was the home to everything BUT the kitchen sink and yes you’ve guessed it, my charger.
Forcing my self not to panic, I reassured my self that I could just follow the map, as people have used always used maps and survived before the sat nav even existed.
So equipped with my new found map reading confidence I joined the congo line of new Foxtons minis making their way out of the depo and onto to the main road.
One by one the minis left the depo, which was heavily guarded by a set of electronic iron gates. The gates were set to stay open for the exit of 9 minis, but due to sheer misfortune, the driver of the 6th car found the gates sliding shut just as it edged forward to leave. Adding to the misfortune of the scene, the driver of 6th car was me.
Panicking as I realised the gates were about to shut on the front half of my shiny new mini, I looked around looking for the solution to this problem. The main road ahead was a hazard scene with lorries, and cars rushing past at 40mph in both directions. The path behind was filled with an over eager male driver who had positioned his mini scarily close to mine.
So with an iron gate ready to clamp the front half of my car, and no clear exit route, I had only one thing left to do. With a super quick flick I pressed the button to open the window on the driver’s side, stuck my head of the window and shouted the loudest I have ever shouted “OH MY GOD! REVERSE! REVERSE YOUR CARS DAM IT!”.
One by one, the 3 drivers behind me, realised what was about to happen, and started to slowly reverse back in order to give enough room for me to edge back far enough not to get my car clamped in the gates. The overall scene was so nail biting the men who work in the “fleet” depo all rushed out from their offices and from under cars to watch how this scene was going to turn out.
Sadly for me I couldn’t reverse back in time and my mini received what I prefer to call a small “ Beauty spot” or a dent from the gate to everyone else. This “Beauty spot” lead to the birth name of foxy, my now slightly dented Foxtons mini.
But with the clock ticking I quickly recovered from my shock, as the count down to area meetings had only just begun…
To be continued on part two “The long road ahead”
