Car Trouble.

Phew, what a day! Raining for most of the day and warm.This morning Peter had to go up to the hospital about his cataracts. He had lots of tests and it was confirmed that he has cataracts bad enough for surgery. He still has to decide if he should have the regular NHS treatment for both eyes (at no charge) as the consultant suggested  a toric lens to correct the astigmatism in one eye which would have to be done privately at a cost of £2.5k. 

When Peter got back we set off to collect the camper so that Peter could take it to the garage that had done the previous repair for the last owner. However, as we drove away with me driving the car behind the camper suddenly clouds of steam erupted from the car's engine. Banging on the horn which luckily got Peter's attention, I turned off the engine, grabbed my bag and leapt out of the car. Once the engine cooled we could see that there was no water in the tank (it's that orange puddle under the car). It was due a hose leading into the car coming away and a broken connector. Peter tried to do a temporary repair without any success so we phoned the AA. They promised to be there within the hour so Peter went off to take the camper to the garage and gave me the house keys. Half an hour later the AA phoned to say they wouldn't come because the car's MOT wasn't up to date. That was a shock as we always get our cars booked in as soon as our local garage sends us a reminder. Then I realised that although we've been there several times since we moved they may well have sent the reminder to Dingles. I couldn't get any signal to phone Peter so the only thing I could do was to leave a note in the car which luckily wasn't causing an obstruction and set off to walk back to Barnstaple. About half a mile later I got to the main road and a sign informing me that it was 7 miles to Barnstaple. It wasn't raining and quite pleasant walking along the road, in flip-flops, but I stuck my thumb out in the hope that some kind soul would give me a lift. No such luck. A bus went past in the opposite direction but I wasn't holding out much hope for one going my way. The bus to Shirwell used to run twice a day in each direction. I carried on walking and all of  a sudden I was passed by a bus going my way. I'd had my thumb out but couldn't believe it when the bus drew up. I ran to get on and yes, it was going to Barnstaple though the driver told me they weren't supposed to stop just anywhere. I thanked the driver profusely and paid the £1.40 bus fare to the Bus Station in the centre of Barnstaple. I was able to phone Peter and let him know what was happening. When I got to our local garage, not the same one the camper was at, Alec knew straight away what the problem was. He even had a temporary fix to get the car back to town. But he didn't have a tow truck or trailer to bring the car back. When I explained the situation he suggested that Peter made his way to him and after Alec had finished work he would drive Peter out to our busted car and fix it. I'm now waiting for Peter to return home but he'll be without the car as it will stay at the garage for an MOT tomorrow. If it fails then off to the scrap man it will go and we'll have to get something else. A difficult day but at least there's a solution to each problem.