There was a very small window today in which the Morgan, the weather and I all appeared willing to cooperate. Naturally, it closed at almost exactly the moment the car started.
The Morgan has been sitting at Martins Farm looking every inch the classic British sports car: handsome, dignified and entirely uninterested in going anywhere. The battery needed help, which would normally have meant jump leads and five minutes of optimistic fiddling.
Except the bonnet springs had been replaced. This was excellent news for the bonnet and less useful for me, because I could no longer get the jump leads onto the right side to attach them properly. There are few things more frustrating than having the correct equipment and being unable to put it anywhere useful.
So the quick rescue became a slow one. I connected the trickle charger and waited. Then waited some more. Nearly two days later, the battery had finally accumulated enough enthusiasm to try again.
Today it turned over, caught and came properly to life. For a moment I pictured the drive that might follow: out from Martins Farm, through Frant and along the lanes of the High Weald, with those folds of East Sussex countryside that make even a short journey feel like an occasion.
The photographs are evidence of what that version of events can look like: roof down, blue sky, the family aboard and the Morgan behaving as though this had all been effortless. Today, however, the first proper signs of rain arrived almost on cue.
Winston came out to inspect the noise, the car and my optimism in that order. He gave the Morgan one considered look, checked the sky and returned to the house. It was the most sensible travel decision made all afternoon.
So the Morgan is running again. The High Weald drive remains waiting, tantalisingly close, and the rain has reminded us who sets the timetable in East Sussex. With an old car, success is sometimes simply hearing the engine and having somewhere dry to put it afterwards.
With an old car, success is sometimes simply hearing the engine and having somewhere dry to put it afterwards.
The drive as it looks when the weather agrees
Roof down, hands on the thin wheel, on one of the days it all went to plan.