It was freezing outside causing the heating to work overtime. We had a mixture of sunshine and snow blizzards throughout the day. The snow has gained ground from yesterday, but only slightly.

After I walked home from town yesterday I cleared most of the snow off my car and this morning’s sunshine cleared the few remaining bits of snow and ice. The sun also warmed the ground enough to clear most of the snow off my driveway. The road  however was still a little dodgy.

Early this evening rain fell heavily followed by silence and an ominous glow in the sky. On closer inspection the rain had turned to heavy falling snow which lasted for about an hour. Now my car is once again covered with snow!

On a brighter note the postman came for the first time since Friday, delivering a bumper pack of mail which, was mostly but not exclusively Christmas cards. Some of the schools and National Trust properties have been able to reopen but the bin men still haven’t quite made it to empty the bins. Maybe tomorrow…

In the early hours of sunday morning snow started to fall again and didn’t stop for nearly 24 hours. We haven’t seen this much snow for many a year and even when it has snowed it has thawed by mid morning. Not so on this occasion.

I waited a while to see if the sun would melt the snow from my car. I eventually decided to take action and try to remove the snow. I started off with a soft brush, several of my neighbours had used this technique, but I found it rather laborious and not very effective. I resorted to putting a plastic food bag over my glove and scraping the snow off by hand and when I was able to unearth the boot of my car I opened it to retrieve my ice scraper!

There was six inches of snow on the top of my car and several inches on the bonnet so it took me quite some time to remove it. I couldn’t remove it all, the lower layer was ice and the temperature dropped causing the windows to gain a frosty layer.

I had intended to have a go at Mr C’s car too, but I ran out of light and the temperature dropped causing the cars to freeze over again.

I can’t resist sharing a few more snowy garden photographs with you

Today was the first time that I have had an opportunity to take my new car out for a leisurely drive. I decided to go to Attingham Park after lunch and perhaps indulge in an afternoon ‘naughty cake’ delight whilst I was there.

I took my small camera with me thinking that there would not be many photo opportunities. As I walked around the walled garden I regretted my decision but soon changed my mind when it started to rain as I walking along the ‘Mile Walk’. I was able to hold my umbrella in one hand and take photos in the other hand with my small camera, something I am not able to do with my larger camera.

After I had completed the walk I indulged in a naughty cake… I opted to dodge the raindrops and enjoy it underneath the large canvas sunshades outside in the courtyard before returning to my car to set off on my homeward journey.

Today I am sharing photos from the ‘Mile Walk’, there will be a separate post on the photos I took in the walled garden.

I planned my morning to make sure I could set off to work a little earlier than usual just in case the man with the stop go signs was controlling the traffic. All was going well but then I heard the sound of ladders outside our house. The window cleaner had arrived early, he doesn’t usually come before I go to work. Shortly after he arrived he knocked on the front door, which I thought was a little odd because he normally arrives and washes all the windows before knocking on the door.

The gate to the side of our house which should have been unlocked for him was locked… I had to go and find the key so that I could unlock the gate for him. Whilst unlocking the padlock to the gate I noticed that that the latch on the gate was not closed, the gate flung open as I unlocked the padlock. I wondered who had left the gate semi closed and locked like that!

I was left feeling hassled by this unwarranted interruption to my early morning schedule. I don’t do mornings at the best of times

I got back on track getting myself sorted out for work and managed to leave for work earlier as I had planned. There was hardly any traffic on the roads and the road that had the temporary traffic control yesterday seemed clear. I was lulled into a false sense of security, I soon realised that the traffic was still being controlled by stop go signs. However the queues were smaller and I didn’t have to wait long. I followed the cars in front and proceeded slowly through the work area. As I was about to turn back onto the normal portion of the road I heard a large metallic ring sound to the rear offside of my car. It was one of those slow motion moments where you assess everything around you whilst still proceeding along your way.

I had slowed down even more whilst this was going on but could see nothing untoward so I accelerated and continued on my way to work. The car felt a little weird to drive and I felt every bump in the road. I could also hear a rhythmic ‘catchink catchink’ sound which sped up the faster I went. I began to wonder if I had a flat tyre, so I proceeded slowly until I was able to pull up to have a look. The tyre was still inflated so I continued the last few yards to my office car park and parked up. I had a closer but rather brief look at the tyre (I didn’t want to be late again) and noticed that there was something lodged in the tread of the tyre.

The whole incident unsettled me (again) and I was feeling out of sorts as I entered the office which wasn’t helped by phone calls, visitors and some of our systems being down as soon as I arrived. One of my colleagues suggested that I check the car out properly at lunchtime to make sure the tyre had not gone down since I left it. I took his advice, the tyre was still inflated but on on closer inspection I realised that a bolt had become embedded in the tyre! I rang Mr C who suggested that rather than me trying to get it fixed today he would change my wheel for the spare when I got home this evening.

I left work earlier than usually so that I didn’t get held up in any traffic which might delay a smooth journey home. Thankfully the roadworks with the stop go signs had finished for the evening so I didn’t have that to endure all over again. Mr C swapped the wheel over and I went for a short drive. My car feels normal again, but I am trying not to think about what tomorrow will bring!

This evening I left the office a few minutes earlier than usual because Mr C was working from home. I knew Mr C would have finished his work and I didn’t have to wait for him to travel from his office to home.

I joined the always busy roundabout, that needs a bit of due care and attention to navigate around. I was waiting patiently for the traffic to move when I heard a crunch at the rear of my car. A sickening crunch that takes a few moments to process and realise that is you that has been hit… I moved my car as best I could out of the way of the other traffic trying to navigate the roundabout, so that I could exchange details with the young man in the other car.

Most importantly neither of us were hurt apart from a little bit of shock!

I was a little bit slow off the mark this morning. Mr C left the house for work earlier than usual because he had to catch an early train to London for a meeting. The lack of movement in the house and the fact that the radio’s Breakfast Show had a different presenter than normal which led to me to sleeping through the alarm. I managed to recover the lost time but as I was leaving the  house I heard the phone ring. I realised that it was my mum so I answered the phone.

She sounded flustered and said, ‘Oh you’re still at home! I have a sorry tale to tell you.’ My heart had that sinking feeling as I wondered what she was about to tell me. She went on to say that Mr C’s car had rolled off her drive (she lives near the railway station) coming to rest against the wall across the road and that the car’s bumper was hanging off. Not exactly good news, but not exactly bad news either; my heart resumed its normal position. She asked me to bring the spare key so that I could move the car. I went round straight after I had phoned work to let them know I would be late.

I drove to my Mum’s house and was pleasantly surprised to see that although the car was at a jaunty angle, it was taking up no more room than other cars that park on the side of the road. As I walked up my mum’s drive I saw a man coming out of the property behind the wall and we met on mum’s drive. I told him that I had the key to move the car but was not sure if I knew how to move the car because I had never driven it and it has a silly automatic handbrake and a quirky way of starting! I have often quipped with Mr C that his car is a gadget and not a car.

We went over to the car and I unlocked it. We both pondered the handbrake and decided we didn’t know how to work it… We considered various options and I elected to phone Mr C but his phone went to voicemail. The gentleman assistant suggested that I leave the car in neutral and he would push it back onto the driveway if I would steer the car. Whilst doing this we encountered two problems at the same time… The steering lock was on (even though the key was in the ignition) so it was hard to line up the car with the drive and, once we got the car to the curb, it started to roll backwards. I was worried that it might knock my gentleman assistant over so I applied the foot brake. Now that the car was away from the wall I tried to start the engine so I could drive it and in the process managed only to activate the automatic handbrake. No matter what I tried the handbrake would not turn off and the engine would not start up!

By now the car was blocking the road and another man had stopped to assist. He looked at the handbrake and shook his head. At this point Mr C rang back and I was able to ask him to tell me how to get the car started. He told me the exact same procedure that I had just tried and the car started like a dream… Then he gave instructions for the handbrake and I found that I had been doing the right thing but for some reason it hadn’t worked. At this point I said I would call him back when the car was safely on mum’s drive. By this time a lady had also come to assist. She mentioned that her husband had an older model of the same car and that its automatic handbrake had failed on more than one occasion… I left the car in first gear and mum put bricks behind the rear wheels before I left for work.

The really puzzling thing is that my mums drive is level which means some form of manual intervention, accidental or deliberate, must have set the vehicle in motion…

This morning I got up earlier than I usually would on a Saturday so that Mr C & I could help my mum order wallpaper from a local retail outlet. When Mr C returned mum to her house we picked up some heavy bench ends that were cluttering up her garden, but that is a story for another day

When we returned home I noticed (much to my annoyance) that the new tyre that had been causing me a problem was flat as a pancake. After Mr C removed the heavy bench ends from his car he went to look for the electric tyre pump which was nowhere to be seen. He improvised and blew up the tyre with a bicycle floor pump!

I phoned the garage where the tyres had been fitted to explain that I had a problem. Initially the after-sales lady suggested I take in on Monday. I wasn’t too keen on this idea and asked if someone could look at it today. It was agreed that I could take it in to be looked at straight away.

When I arrived at the garage I explained what the problem was and handed over the key. A short while later I was called to look at my tyre. There was a screw embedded in it in such a way that the tyre could not be repaired!!

I expressed my surprise that this could have happened within a few days of the new tyre being fitted. I went back to the waiting area whilst the after-sales lady went to check the price of a new tyre. When the after sales lady came back she advised me that I would only have to pay for the tyre at purchasing cost to them.

Whilst the tyre was being fitted I sat and watched people come and go, buying accessories, picking up a new car and listening to their conversations. It was an interesting hour or so
After the tyre had been fitted I returned back home and persuaded Mr C that I needed to take him out for lunch. I can confirm that the car now feels right (whilst driving) and I am happy with it again after all the recent dramas.

Lunch was delicious and relaxing

Then we went to look at televisions because hers is showing its age. We looked and she ordered one. When she had finished making her purchase she said would like to look at the cordless vacuum cleaners so we went up stairs to find them. As we were looking the Dyson rep appeared out of nowhere and proceeded to tell us all about them and which one would be best for her needs. I am not quite sure how it happened (I am not an impulse buyer) but I came away with one!! When I got home I found out how much easier and convenient it is to use than the upright one I had previously been using.

Tomorrow my car goes in for some repairs. Last Monday as I was reversing out of a car park space at work I heard a clunk and I felt something shift. Initially I thought it was something in the boot but every time I went over a bump there was a c lunk. When I got home I checked it over but couldn’t see anything untoward. It was still doing it the next day and then I heard a metallic ring as something fell off the bottom of the car. I couldn’t see anything so concluded it was a small object.

At lunch time the following day I was able to take it into the garage for them to check it over to see if it was safe. Unfortunately I couldn’t have the afternoon off as planned because too many other people were already on leave that afternoon. This meant I was under pressure to get back to work within a reasonable time frame. The problem turned out to be a broken suspension spring and they also noticed that my air conditioning isn’t working and that I need two new tyres…

This morning when I turned the key in my car ignition nothing happened… I was reminded that on Friday the car had been a bit sluggish starting and that I had taken it for a bit of drive on Saturday to boost the battery.

Now I was in a bit of a dilemma. How was I going to get to work on time? I considered a taxi but I thought it was unlikely that one would be available straight away at that time in the morning. I prevailed on the services of Mr C, although I had to wait for him to finish getting ready for work. I was a little hassled when I arrived at work with moments to spare.

I was left wondering how to go about arranging to get my car checked and fixed as I wasn’t entirely convinced the problem was the battery. Mr C checked the car when he got home and he decided it wasn’t a battery problem. That left me with two obvious choices to try; phone the garage for them them to pick it up and check it over or check my RAC cover. I did the latter and as I suspected I hadn’t opted for the home cover option. I chose to upgrade to the home cover option and a very nice gentleman appeared on my doorstop in less than an hour.

He asked me when I last drove it and I mentioned my Saturday drive and that it had been popped on and off the drive the day before (Mr C had been shuffling cars after visitors). Straight away he said your engine is flooded and then proceeded to fix the problem and tell me all the technical details of what causes the problem. Within ten minutes he had gone and I was left to decide what I might like for dinner…