Texaco Station

My After Hours Adventure

When I got home from work and shopping, I opened my door and switched on the hall light and - nothing. I came into the dark living room and switched on another light. Nothing. Crap! Apparently my electricity credit had run out. I got my outdoor cupboard key and opened the cupboard to look at the electric meter. I stuck the key in and it gave me “emergency” credit. I took my packages into the house and then left in search of somewhere to load up credit on my electric key. “Oh, you can get it done anywhere” I had been told. Well, my first thought was ASDA. They do everything. Or so I thought. I was kicking myself because I had just been there to pick up dinner and an inexpensive phone.
I walked up to customer service. “Do you do the credit for electric keys?” I asked.
The two ladies at the customer service desk looked at me like I was speaking Greek. I forget that people sometimes won’t understand me because I’m “Canadian”. I went on to explain, “to put credit on the key to insert into my meter at home so the lights will come back on.”
“Oh, no” the older lady replied, “we don’t do that”.
“Would you happen to know where I can go to get that done?”
“No” was their reply, in unison.

As I walked back to my car I was thinking “SH*T. Now what do I do?” It was 8:30 pm and I was worried that even if I found somewhere to complete this task, they could be closed by the time I found them. Things seem to close early here. I had visions of going back home to a lightless and heatless house and getting sicker and then greeting the engineer in the morning with no electricity. My heart sank. But, pressing on, I thought I would try Tesco, another large grocery type store. Now if I could only find it. I knew it was hear the place where Springfield Rd should be but isn’t. I had been circling the nearby roundabout several times recently, finally figuring out that the roadway had been altered since the sat nav (GPS navigator) map was created. I drove around for a while, trying to find the correct street. Needless to say, the sat nav was no help. I finally stumbled upon it, and stumbling it was. I have enough trouble with the layout of Chelmsford in the daylight. After dark, it’s totally confusing. I found Tesco, parked, and walked in. To my dismay, the 2 guys at the service desk gave me the same sad news as ASDA. Nope. Can’t do it here. I asked if they had any idea where I could get it done. One told me Melbourne Avenue at a News shop, or some such. I returned to my car, entered Melbourne Avenue into the satnav, and took off once again. I found the street and drove its entire length, finding no News shop of any kind. I was not feeling very positive about the situation and started to think about going home. As I was entering “GO HOME” on the satnav, I thought about stopping at a gas station to see if it could be done there, or if the staff would know where it could be done. I found a station nearby and stopped in. There was a young woman with lots of piercings and long straight chestnut hair working. I asked her and she told me no, they did not do it here. When I asked if she knew where it could be done, she immediately gave me directions to a Texaco station not too far away that had the “pay point” machine necessary to put credit on my electric key. I thanked her profusely. She grinned and lightheartedly wished me a good night. She was my evening’s angel. Just exactly as she had described (and my satnav confirmed), the Texaco station was not far, just a right turn at the light and continue down the road. I parked my car and went in to the convenience type store at Texaco, waited my turn, and put 30 GBP on the key. As I left the store, I told myself that the first thing I was to do when I got in the car was SAVE this location on my satnav before doing anything else. Never again did I want to have to go searching like this. Now, I may find other more convenient places along my travels to accomplish this task, but I wasn’t going to take any chances. This one was definite.

I didn’t know there were still Texaco stations anywhere.