Car troubles

It's rather difficult having a defective vehicle (or no vehicle) when you live in a place like this. Public transport is.... well, almost non-existent. The upside is that you'd feel pretty safe hitching a ride into Hamilton. Luckily it didn't come to that.

First thing Monday morning, I rang the mechanic about the car. Despite being fully booked up, he suggested I bring it in by about 1.30pm, if it was just a spark plug it would only take about 5 minutes to do. So I did - aaannnnddd ttthhhaattt wwaass tthhee lloonnggeesstt hhaallff hhoouurr ddrriivvee II''vvee eevveerr ddoonnee.

Dropped the car off and arranged to come back at 3 to collect it. That would give me time to drive Mim up to Jenny's (she was looking after her while I worked), get changed, pick up Caitlin and drop her at Jenny's as well. Went back at 3... to see the mechanic still scratching his head. Turns out it wasn't as simple as a spark plug or lead! He was conducting tests to see if something or other, and mentioned blown head gasket. I don't know what a head gasket is, but I do know it's hideously expensive!! Upshot was, I wasn't driving anywhere that night!

Called St Jenny, she came into town and grabbed Mim. (Mim thought she was hotshot, sitting in the front seat of Jenny's little Mazda, without a carseat. It was only for a short trip.) I walked up to work, fearing the worst. The mechanic rang a bit later and left a message - one of the coils was faulty, they'd ordered another from Melbourne so it should be delivered the next day.

Jenny had fed the girls a roast dinner and prepared one for us as well. She then offered to lend me Mazzie (her car) as she would not be needing it for a few days. It was most generous of her, and very helpful! There was only one small problem with it - I'm sure the speedo isn't working accurately. I was clicking along at 100km/hr (according to the speedo), and Michael was dropping back behind me - he says I was doing about 115km/hr! Must let Jenny know.

Anyway, my car was ready yesterday, and will send the bill out eventually.