On our way from Tallinn to Tartu the day before yesterday, the alternator belt in our car broke. I am completely uninterested and thus clueless about automotive technology, so I could not diagnose the problem and just hoped that it was a battery problem (which we’ve had before) and that the car would keep running for the 30 km we had left to our accommodation in Tartu.

It almost did. When we were almost there, as I was pulling away in first gear after stopping at a crossroads, the engine stalled and wouldn’t start again. I waved our jumper cables at passing cars; the first one passed by but the second one stopped and the friendly driver got us going again.

At this point it was pretty obvious that the car was really teetering on the edge. I had lost all the niceties that we take for granted in modern cars, including power steering and speedometer functionality. Luckily there were no more traffic lights and no more driving at low speed, and the car got us all the way “home” and didn’t die until I was halfway through parking it.

It actually felt kind of cool to drive this way, old school, but parking without power steering was not easy. Air conditioning is a pretty nice thing, too. The whole incident gave me a new appreciation for all the mod cons we have in our car. At 16 years it is far from new so I wonder what it might be like to drive a really modern car.

I wish I could say that this also made me realize the value of some basic knowledge of troubleshooting engine problems. It didn’t. It did make me realize the value of (1) having jumper cables in the car, and (2) friendly strangers and well-connected acquaintances.

When we arrived the landlady came out to meet us, and some guy who was with her immediately volunteered to look under the hood. He immediately diagnosed the problem and then proceeded to call “a guy I know” who came by with a trailer and took the car away. We got it back the next day with a new alternator belt and a freshly charged battery. And that was that, problem solved.