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

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…

When I eventually got to the pump I chose the ‘pay at the kiosk option’ and took the hose. As I pulled it towards me to fill up, it dragged the hose for diesel off with it. I hadn’t noticed but someone had managed to twist all the hoses around each other. As I went to pick it up and replace it  the pump spewed diesel all over my hand. Lovely! I untangled the wires and tried again and it did the same thing.

By this time I was getting a bit flustered but I thought third time lucky.   I managed to get the hose to the car  without incident but nothing happened, there was no petrol forthcoming so I pressed the ‘pay at the kiosk’ button again. Still nothing happened and when I went back to look, it said ‘pump in use’ and it had reverted back to the previous sale. I rather sceptically pressed the button a further time and this time I got the helpful message ‘preparing pump’. At last I got to fill up the car, after which I found a tissue to wipe the diesel off my hand.

I went inside to pay then hopped in the car and set off towards work. On the way there I heard an odd clunk and wondered what it was. I found out when I got to work that it was the petrol cap cover banging shut. It is the first time ever I have forgotten to put the petrol cap back on the car!! Thankfully these days they are attached to the car so you don’t lose them and mine has the added benefit of clipping over the cover.

What a start to the day…