Monday, August 22, 2005
One of *those* evenings
Everything was going swimmingly until I decided to come home this afternoon. In fact, it went rather swimmingly after that too:
I always dread my Monday morning meetings. My boss is rather a high flier in the world of academia and likes to ensure all his minions are doing as they should. These meetings tend to be a bit "we're doing this" - "we need someone to go to that" - "What have you been upto X?"... fortunately Mr.Boss was away today (on holiday sailing around the English Channel I suspect), so we had a stand in. She's an even higher flier in the world of academia, although fortunately we aren't her minions so she was a little less bothered. However, unfortunately we still had the "What have you been upto X?" bit, which is generally the bit I hate. "I've been busy trying to setup businesses so I can get out of here" I hear my brain holding back.
Anyway, the rest of the day went ok. I actually did a fair amount of work even! On my way out of work I was given a lift around to the car park by a collegue in his wife's extremely posh MGF. That was nice. I set off home. My route home is approximately 66% motorway, followed by 33% roundabouts interspersed with short stretches of dual carriageway. As I approached the 66% mark, and the first roundabout, my oil light popped on (well, the car's oil light).
"That's strange" I thought to myself. "I only checked that the other day before the trip to Wales"
On accelerating out of the roundabout the car didn't feel quite right. It didn't want to go. I looked in my mirror and was horrified at the enormous plume of black smoke I was covering the car behind in.
"Oh dear. This doesn't look good."
The car was getting less happy. The next roundabout came, and as I changed down a gear the rev-ometer dropped and the car stuttered. EEKS! I began my toe-heel extravaganza that I learnt when I was a much less sensible driver that still had ambitions of becoming a rally driver. It worked for about 10 yards, but the car wasn't having it. Fortunately immediately after this roundabout there was a pull-in, and that's where my car expired.
Because of Saturday's videoing stuff I'd left my mobile in my bike bag -- back at home. So I headed to a nearby pub and the owners were kind enough to let me use their phone. I phoned Dad who duly dropped everything he was doing to come a get me. When I got back to my stranded car, I noticed a big puddle of oil under the front. I looked inside. The whole engine bay was spattered in oil. Eek.
Dad arrived and towed me to his place. He said an oil pipe had snapped off and I'd have to get a new one ordered. Tsk.
For tea, Daisy was making a lovely thai green curry with the remains of last night's chicken while I went out and watered the veg and stuff. I don't know why I hadn't thought of it before, but tonight I found out where all the caterpillars that are eating my veg hide - in the broccoli flowers! There were piles of them in there. I had a massive squashing spree. I then got the hose all ready and as I started it up, it began spurting from the reel. Bugger. It was from the centre of the reel too. Double bugger. So I unwound the whole reel and found the pipe had come loose in the centre. I re-did the pipe and before I could get on with the actual watering tea was ready.
So after a superb dinner, I went back out. I watered our veg. As I was watering our Sunflowers I heard a noise. It started as a "psss". A second later it was a "pshhh", and before I had worked out what it was it became a "POOOOSHHHH". The hose split and pushed its way out of where the gun attaches. Water went everywhere. Sprayed in our sunlounge. Sprayed into the air. Covered me from head to toe. Grrrrrreat.
I turned off the water, snipped the end of the split hose, screwed it back in and continued watering.
I'm back inside now. Stripped off out of my wet clothes and feeling much better.
What an evening, though.
Best thing is that I don't have to go to work this week - legitimate reason too: no transport! 30 miles is a bit far to cycle.
The Meeting
I always dread my Monday morning meetings. My boss is rather a high flier in the world of academia and likes to ensure all his minions are doing as they should. These meetings tend to be a bit "we're doing this" - "we need someone to go to that" - "What have you been upto X?"... fortunately Mr.Boss was away today (on holiday sailing around the English Channel I suspect), so we had a stand in. She's an even higher flier in the world of academia, although fortunately we aren't her minions so she was a little less bothered. However, unfortunately we still had the "What have you been upto X?" bit, which is generally the bit I hate. "I've been busy trying to setup businesses so I can get out of here" I hear my brain holding back.
The Car
Anyway, the rest of the day went ok. I actually did a fair amount of work even! On my way out of work I was given a lift around to the car park by a collegue in his wife's extremely posh MGF. That was nice. I set off home. My route home is approximately 66% motorway, followed by 33% roundabouts interspersed with short stretches of dual carriageway. As I approached the 66% mark, and the first roundabout, my oil light popped on (well, the car's oil light).
"That's strange" I thought to myself. "I only checked that the other day before the trip to Wales"
On accelerating out of the roundabout the car didn't feel quite right. It didn't want to go. I looked in my mirror and was horrified at the enormous plume of black smoke I was covering the car behind in.
"Oh dear. This doesn't look good."
The car was getting less happy. The next roundabout came, and as I changed down a gear the rev-ometer dropped and the car stuttered. EEKS! I began my toe-heel extravaganza that I learnt when I was a much less sensible driver that still had ambitions of becoming a rally driver. It worked for about 10 yards, but the car wasn't having it. Fortunately immediately after this roundabout there was a pull-in, and that's where my car expired.
Because of Saturday's videoing stuff I'd left my mobile in my bike bag -- back at home. So I headed to a nearby pub and the owners were kind enough to let me use their phone. I phoned Dad who duly dropped everything he was doing to come a get me. When I got back to my stranded car, I noticed a big puddle of oil under the front. I looked inside. The whole engine bay was spattered in oil. Eek.
Dad arrived and towed me to his place. He said an oil pipe had snapped off and I'd have to get a new one ordered. Tsk.
The Garden
For tea, Daisy was making a lovely thai green curry with the remains of last night's chicken while I went out and watered the veg and stuff. I don't know why I hadn't thought of it before, but tonight I found out where all the caterpillars that are eating my veg hide - in the broccoli flowers! There were piles of them in there. I had a massive squashing spree. I then got the hose all ready and as I started it up, it began spurting from the reel. Bugger. It was from the centre of the reel too. Double bugger. So I unwound the whole reel and found the pipe had come loose in the centre. I re-did the pipe and before I could get on with the actual watering tea was ready.
So after a superb dinner, I went back out. I watered our veg. As I was watering our Sunflowers I heard a noise. It started as a "psss". A second later it was a "pshhh", and before I had worked out what it was it became a "POOOOSHHHH". The hose split and pushed its way out of where the gun attaches. Water went everywhere. Sprayed in our sunlounge. Sprayed into the air. Covered me from head to toe. Grrrrrreat.
I turned off the water, snipped the end of the split hose, screwed it back in and continued watering.
I'm back inside now. Stripped off out of my wet clothes and feeling much better.
What an evening, though.
Best thing is that I don't have to go to work this week - legitimate reason too: no transport! 30 miles is a bit far to cycle.
