Behind Closed Doors

The very first time Ross and I set foot in America was on our honeymoon, 27 years ago. We stayed with an old boyfriend of my mother's (don't ask) in Los Angeles. We had a wonderful time and of course, as on any honeymoon, Ross and I enjoyed finding out all about each other. Probably the most important thing we took back to England was that we both shared the same burning ambition. That one day we would own a remote controlled garage door!
We'd never seen such a thing in England at that time. You could press a gadget inside the car and garage doors would open automatically. Brilliant!
When we moved here, our ambition was finally achieved. It was great for two reasons. One, of course, was that we could open the doors electronically. Second, that the garage was always empty so we could actually fit the cars inside. In England our garage was so full of junk we were lucky if we open the doors manually, let alone park a car.
But our love affair with the system came to an abrupt end yesterday morning.
"I can't go to work today," Ross stomped back into the bedroom first thing."I can't get the car out of the garage."
"Er..has it broken down?" I said, half asleep. Since we've been the laughing stock of the town since buying it I was kind of hoping it would be an excuse to give it back and swap it for something cooler. I'd quite fancy a Porsche.
"No, the garage door won't open."
Clicking away with the remote did no good. The opener motor whirred around, but wouldn't budge the door.
Never one to miss an opportunity, I had the perfect solution.
"Ring Jett," I said, rushing to get dressed and made up in case he could come round straight away. "Maybe he can help."
Unfortunately Jett was unable to stop everything to run over, but he did recommend a specialist company who did.
Within 10 minutes the garage door was open. Unfortunately the company is returning on Monday to not only give us a new opener, but a new garage door as well.
"How long have you had this? Haven't seen one for years. Probably couldn't even get the parts. The door's warped.." You get the picture.
Always one to see the silver lining in any cloud, I realised this meant I could finally get the new garage door I had wanted.
Randy gave us a brochure to choose from.
"The price I gave you is for a door without any glass," he said, waving his hand over the pictures. "If you choose from this range, it will be a little more expensive; this range will be more."
We made our choice and told him what we wanted.
"Because it's my wife choosing, we have to have glass from this range," said Ross begrudgingly.
"And because he's my husband, we have to have it from the cheaper section," I growled.