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.