After my fun and games last night, I called the recovery service once more this morning, at 8:08. Once again, they promised attendance within the hour, but at about half past nine I got a phone call from their office to tell me that the bloke was stuck on the M4, in a queue for Junction 10. He eventually arrived at 10:24.
We took the car to my local dealership, and I handed the keys over to the person behind the desk. They're fully booked just now, so I'll be without the car until they've managed to look at it -- it may be several days. I'm already planning on not having it to hand at the weekend. I don't know what I'll do if one of my non-London clients needs a visit before I get the car back.
I was then faced with a choice. I could walk to Wokingham station, get a train to Bracknell, and then walk home... but I'm supposed to be spending today walking anyway, so I decided simply to walk home. It took almost exactly an hour, so it's entirely possible that I got home sooner than if I'd taken the train.
I should make a car-related userpic.