Adventures in a Rover 114 Part III

Having damaged my passenger door we then proceeded to enjoy the rest of the weekend in fine style.

The Guildford festival was it's usual self but we were much aided by the presence of Angie and her car. She has a club foot and so has a ticket which allows her special parking privileges. We exploited this, using her MPV to move us all to and from the festival en masse. On Sunday, Rosie described the Guildford festival as a festival of one hit wonders and we all greed.

Monday morning I drove Tom back to Brighton, looked up a mate that wasn't in and drove up into London in the sweltering 34 degree centigrade heat.

MsP seemed fine and we headed off back up North in the cooler evening temperatures getting home about 1.30 Tuesday morning. Even at night there are traffic jams on the M1.

All well and good and a fortnight to go to the next festival ... or so I thought.

Had a sleep got up and nipped out to book the car in to have the timing belt done and then get a quote or two on the door repair. My usual garage couldn't do the timing belt until the 16th August and the first estimate on the door repair was for £250!!! I decided to nip to Sainsbury's and then get some more quotes after a gym and swim.

I just could not believe when I pulled into a parking bay in Sainsbury's with steam pouring out from the bonnet. I parked the car and got out to look at the expanding pool of rusty boiling water spreading out from the front of the car.

I am a member of the RAC and so I rang them using the store's public phone. It's an 0800 number so you get your money back at the end of the call but you have to have 30p to make that call in the first place.

The RAC came out within about twenty minutes and we discovered it was a water pipe that had corroded. So mercifully at least it was not the radiator itself but simply a metal water pipe that had corroded in one part. The RAC man pulled the hose that fitted over it further on, to cover the hole in the pipe and make the vehicle road worthy again.

I grabbed the cat litter and other sundries I needed from the supermarket and dived off home. Got to the swimming pool late and let my swimming companion know I had a problem with the car.

Adventures in a Rover 114 II

Yep well there we were ... in London

MsP had been appeased for her twials and twibulations and we'd all slept a bit. I am finding it really difficult to sleep in the heat of the night but I was up at 7 am and so caught the flat at one of it's better times of day. The sun was up and shining and there was no traffic noise.

A nice cup of tea and twenty minutes later the rumbles of the city rush hour start.

I was promised breakfast but never got it. I fed the parking meter just before 9am and caught up on my sleep, getting an extra two hours of snooze time on the sofa. I woke and realised the meter had run out so lept up threw my overnight stuff together and went off in the car, leaving MsP to be served by yet another human.

I got to Horsell about 1230 picked up my mate and off we went to Guildford.

"It's only a sapling", he said. That's what he said. It's only a sapling.

Never trust an accountant - especially when it comes to trees - and especially when they are directing your pride and joy into a tight parking space delineated by a tree and an edge down to the next parking space.

I now need a new passenger door for the Rover because the 'sapling' was a cut down tree with young off shoots covering the door level stump that was left.

So we went to the pub where he bought the food and the drink and I drowned my sorrows in a pint of lager.

Adventures with a Rover 114

I had the Honda Civic crushed but knew I had to get another car. I had a new tyre put on the front of the bike and used that for a while. Luckily the weather was good. Located a Rover 114 with automatic transmission in Wakefield and went and bought it. 23.8K on the clock and in average condition for the year.

Last weekend I drove to London and dropped the cat off at her London wesidence then proceeded on to Guildford. Off we went, down the M1 and I kept an eye on the fuel gauge because I was starting off with a 3/4 full tank. The Rover is certainly more gassy than the Honda was. I stopped en route to give Pwecious and myself a short break and then we toodled on. I knew I would need petrol but wasn't sure how much longer that 1/4 tankful would last as I shot past Toddington thinking I'd be ok for getting to London Gateway if I get desperate.

Then we hit a traffic jam. The outside lane went to a dead stop with the inner two slowly edging forward. I watched the petrol guage and the cat and the cat and the petrol guage and pulled off into a service station at Flamstead where I fueled up, parked in the shade and rang to let him know we were a bit stuck with traffic.

Decided to try to navigate into London using A roads and headed off in the wrong direction. Turned round and toodled back, saw a really nice B road going to Hemel Hempstead and took that; getting a reasonable turn of speed and air flow through the car to keep me and the cat cool.

Said B road goes under the motorway which is now moving freely so I followed signs and checked roadmaps and found my way to the next junction down, stopping off for 10 cigs at a petrol station. Have you noticed the price of cigarettes in these places? Outrageous. I really should deal with this nicotine addiction before it bankrupts me!

Anyhow, MsP and I managed to get safely back on the M1 and continue our journey safely to MsP's London wesidence where much fuss was made of her and she was happy to be out of the car.

Various sundry tweats fwom Sainsbuwy's were offered in appeasement of her ordeal.

More anon ....