False Economy

I take the car in to the garage this morning for a pre-holiday check up. It passed it’s MOT at the end of June but the exhaust only got through by the skin of its teeth and the whole car is rattling somewhat...

However the garage say everything is fine. Yes, the exhaust is a bit cracked and a bit noisy but it would be false economy to have it fixed now. The chap says it would be much better to wait until the whole thing gives up the ghost. 

‘Like half way up the M6 on Thursday?’ I ask. 

He does one of those shrugs that mechanics are quite good at. He says he doesn’t want to take my money off me unnecessarily. Really? He’s in the wrong job.

‘But...’ he says. Ah, there is always a but. ‘You could do with two new tyres’.

So the car is all sorted but I was nearly looking for another co-pilot for the trip.

Due to her recently acquired criminal record, Hastings Direct have decided that they will not insure L any more. Why they couldn’t have told me this last week, when I first raised the issue with them, I have no idea.

Anyhow I quickly did an on-line search for a new insurer and it produced a list of 70 who were willing to take our custom. So we have now jumped ship to Swinton and the entire premium with them is less than it was at Hastings. So, result. Hastings must lose a lot of customers this way.

L says she feels bad for causing so much hassle. Hassle? She means excitement. I’ve never lived with a criminal before.

(Monday 14^th August)

Mental Trauma

The car is still sounding dodgy, so fixing the exhaust hasn’t fixed it.

L is desperate to try the new pool at Harvey Haddon, like the Beechdale-ites are but I think you need to know the secret password.

L has been thrown into a mental trauma by the fact the 25 mile bike ride I have entered her for is off road. My mistake. Mental trauma is good though. Active mind, active body and all that.

As it’s already been paid for, financially it would make sense for her to just upgrade to the 50m. As she’s always looking for a new challenge, this is another good reason upgrade to the 50m. Also as she’s just entered the Leeds Triathlon, practice wise it would make good sense to upgrade to the 50m. Travel wise, it's practically just outside our front door. No brainer.

Dodgy knee wise though, she should stay in bed. Then there's the mental trauma of actually doing it. No brainer. I think I’ll be doing it on my own.

A rare game of tennis tonight and a pint in the Victoria.  

(Thursday 20^th August)

Exhaust Exhausted

The car is still very noisy and I finally take it in to have the exhaust replaced as recommended by the garage six months ago. It appears to have a dodgy tyre as well as a dodgy exhaust. These things do tend to happen once it crosses the threshold into the garage.

I head to the pool tonight, the old short one at John Carroll and do 64 lengths. That’s a mile and I get a lane to myself for the full duration of it.

(Wednesday 19^th August)

Mob Rule

I take the car in for its MOT today. It requires a new tyre (expected), a new exhaust (sort of expected), a few bulbs and a brake cylinder which will come to about £2,000 obviously. That’s a slight exaggeration, I hope.

Luis Suarez gets four month ban from football, that’ll teach him to have a sandwich before games in future.

Tonight we finally get our ‘last’ game of squash in before we indulge in a spot of summer tennis. Obviously it will rain every week now.

In my capacity as dog club secretary I am tasked with calling a SGM today because a third of members have signed a petition demanding one. Mob rule basically. Nobody mentioned this in the job description when I agreed to the role.

(Thursday 26^th June)