Car saga revisited

It was losing water!!! This caused overheating which made it go into "limp mode"

The problem was that they could not find where it was doing this losing of water. They had it from Wednesday to Friday and Mr M brought it home - he was sick of driving the courtesy daewoo because his knees were bruising his ears and Mr M is not built for folding.

When he arrived home he did the usual three-point turn at the top of the street and when he got out he could clearly see the trail of water on the road surface. He discussed it with Youngest Son who said "Let's go and have a look." so they did but they could not see where the water was coming from, no puddle under the engine.

Mr M said he would do another turn around and see if that helped so YS stood and watched and as the car pulled forward it revealed a large puddle - under the BACK of the car. The pipes that take the hot water to the rear heaters were leaking like a sieve! A quick call the the garage and at 8am today they took it down and showed them exactly where it is leaking. It is being fixed as I write

Who would think to look at the rear of a car for a water leak on the cooling system? Well not them or us obviously. Thank goodness that YS began his army career in vehicle maintenance before changing trades.

Me on Monday sorry Tuesday. - sick car

It was a weekend of good ideas thwarted, staying home knitting and unknitting and having to dry uniforms in the house because it is raining.

Mr M had a really good idea for one of the Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt pictures so on Saturday morning we set off, stopping for fuel and a bottle of water on the way. We were, to quote from The Blues Brothers "Heading north to put the word on the streets".
Well, perhaps not literally.
Anyhoooo, off we went. Along the A4042 heading for Abergavenny then onto the bypass. As we passed the turning that leads back into Abergavenny the car began to slow down and there was no vrooom when Mr M pressed the accelerator - sorry to get so technical - so we turned into the road that led back and kind of coasted into the first layby. We waited a few minutes then Mr M tried again but still no vrooom. I rang the AA and the very nice lady took the details and then said "the time is now 10.10am and the patrolman will be with you by 11.30am"
So we waited. We opened the back of the car and had a good sort out and then fixed the very back seat - it's a seven seat Kia Sedona and the back seat can be pushed forward to make more luggage space. Somehow it had got itself half pushed forward so it flopped about when we were travelling, very irritating.
We got back into our seats and waited.
We had a little snooze and then waited some more. Then the nice man rang me to make sure he knew where we were.
He arrived. turned the key, the car started but we knew that would happen. He pressed the accelerator and it vrooomed!!
They kept the engine running and stood by the open bonnet (Hood for my American  readers) and had what looked like a serious discussion. I was sitting in my seat working out how to strangle a car so I couldn't hear them.
He filled out the form, I signed it and off we went. By this time it was too late to go where we intended for the picture so we headed for Paige's Fish and Chips in Cwmbran and b****r me if the car didn't do exactly the same thing again. We decided to go have some lunch then get the thing home and talk to the garage on Monday.
brainstorming it with son and daughter and son-in-law later we decided that it has to be something to do with the cooling system because Mr M assured me that what it did by losing vrooom and allowing us to pootle along in first gear was something called "limp mode"
I know, it sounds kind of vaguely like we ought to snigger when we say it but it's not that sort of limp apparently, it is the lame kind of limp.
I have been informed by those who know these things that with electronic acceleration (and who knew we had such new fangled shi stuff in our car) if things get overheated then the vroom cuts out so it could be either the thermostat is not working or the water pump. Mr M has his fingers crossed for the thermostat
The rest of the weekend was quiet. I knitted and unknitted the same piece four times before I got it right and I did manage to get the uniforms for youngest son washed and dried.
The car goes to the garage on Wednesday and should be back on Thursday - Mr Ms shifts get in the way of collecting it any sooner and then who knows, perhaps we can try for that picture again. It will be worth it

That's me on Monday Tuesday 

Me on Monday - meals on wheels

It was a nip out to take the tetrapacks to the tip and buy birdseed and find nice yarn instead, a let's get fish and chips and take it to the Bluefunnels for dinner because Lady B is incapacitated, put two loads of washing on the line and stare in amazement as rain falls like (as we say around here) stair-rods, a let's get the tomatoes watered even though said stair-rods should have been enough, a "Mum remind me to buy milk" "we have a cows nest in the fridge so take two from there" kind of a weekend.

Mr M suggested that we should take the bagful of tetrapacks to the tip before they do him permanent damage. The bag hangs on the side of the cupboard and as it fills it sticks out enough to catch his shoulder every time he goes to the bathroom downstairs. I don't notice it as it is over my head. He added that we could go to "Buyology" where they always have stuff we desperately need and get a bag of seed for the wild birds. So we picked up the bag and off we went. We remembered to take the used batteries too. Buyology only had peanuts. Sparrows don't really care for peanuts, the last big bag we bought went mouldy. we moved on and I managed to get anoth contender for 6. A Metal Bridge in the Summertime Scavenger Hunt - our lovely Transporter Bridge.
We had arranged with Lord and Lady B that we would pick up Fish and Chips and take it up to their eirie because Lady be had a new knee just two weeks ago and while her recovery is happening it is not going as quickly as she had scheduled. Lady B cannot bear to be idle so the enforced rest is driving her insane and yet her trauma to her body is not going away even though she has shouted at it. I am sure that she thought she would be able to cope with the pain without the major league pain-killers and now feels she has failed because she has to take them. I have probably said this before when talking about Lord and Lady B but as an only child Lord B was and is the closest I have to a baby brother and when he first brought the girl who was to become his wife to meet us we found an instant connection that has continued for the rest of our lives. We are not the same, oh no but we think the same thoughts and laugh at the same things and if I called her and said "I need you" she would keep me on the phone while she was running for the car - new knee or not.

I put the washing on the line while Mr M did a grocery shop on Sunday and I was so proud of myself for getting two loads of washing out onto the line. As he returned with all the bags of groceries the heavens opened and dumped a river onto the road outside the front door.
Later that evening I went down to see if anything was dry enough to bring in and on checking the tomato plants I discovered that they were really dry.
My daughter popped in on her way to play tennis with Miss Boo and mentioned that she would have to buy milk. For some reason we haven't used as much as usual so I told her to take a couple of bottles from the cows nest - there were 11 pints of milk in there and only the two of us this weekend.

So that was me on Monday. This was invented by Sian at FromHighInTheSky so why not pop over there now that you've read this.

Me on Monday - limping again

It's been a good grief where did the week go kind of a weekend. A hugging unexpected visitors, avoiding cooking, going grocery shopping and taking painkillers for that darned twanged muscle kind of a weekend. It has also been a strawberries from my own plants eating kind of a weekend and a counting the tomatoes forming on the vines too. Also it was a finding out that my cuz was already in hospital and had her new knee while I was thinking she would be going in this week kind of a shocking weekend

Coming home from our weekend on a Monday threw everything out of kilter and it was Wednesday for three days. We settled in on Saturday morning to a I'll-just-get-this-washing-out-and-then-we'll-go-out kind of a day when I got a message on FB from someone we dearly love. Would we, he asked, be available for some visitors?
I conveyed the query to Mr M who gave me a delighted smile and said yes. I sent the message and we waited. I did other things like eat some strawberries off my four plants and check the tomato plants for sideshoots and the bean plants for signs of flowers. Then suddenly they were here and we were hugged and even though Pax Draconis really doesn't hug he had to submit. His partner, Doberman A, does hug so that was great. We did the teabag experiment* and tried to cram as much talking about stuff into as short a time as possible.
The twanged muscle keeps re-twanging itself, this is such a darned inconvenience and I prepared to have a real good moan and be a bit of a martyr about it. Then I discovered that my cousin had her operation for a new knee last week and is now recovering and that put my pain into perspective, so I rubbed the offending area with Voltarol Gel and I will be elevating my legs just as soon as I finish here

*Teabag experiment: Where there are unidentified teabags in the same tin as the airtight bag of green tea and you know you only bought one pack of green tea so they have to be brewed and tasted. They were mint tea

MeOnMonday was invented by Sian over at FromHighInTheSky why not pop over there and read hers now that you've read mine

Me on MOnday - The Ninja Cat of Ilminster

It's been an Anniversary celebrating, five days on our own, Wolf Hall costumes, Ninja Cat experiencing, laughing till I fell out of bed,  Donkey sanctuary visiting, Gift wrapping a Castle kind of a weekend.

Wolf Hall Costumes

Barrington Hall was the second property on our list of places we wanted to visit. the first was Lytes Cary Manor (say it fast and see what we call it). Barrington Hall is wonderful and weird and was the setting for several scenes in the Wolf Hall series and there is a display of the costumes from the series. The stitching is just amazing. All the visible stitching is hand done and I believe that the costumes were made according to the way they would really have been done in Tudor times.

Anniversary Dinner at a Hungry Horse The Stone Gallows at Taunton. The food was fabulous and my medium steak was done to perfection

but they don't tell you how much they charge

OK so now let me tell you about the NInja Cat of Ilminster. We were staying at the Travelodge at Ilminster, on the ground floor. The windows only open a little way so that unwelcome intruders can't get in and unsacoury people can't throw the furniture out of the windows and make off with it. We had been out all day visiting places and eating and came back to the hotel about 8pm - dirty stop-outs that we are. We read our books and kindles and talked. We listened to the cast of Riverdance practising upstairs and eventually we settled down and went to sleep. We were woken at around 2am by loud Miaowing outside it was only for about half a minute and it stopped. We dozed off again and around 2.30am the miaowing began again. Mr M decided to have a look and shoo the cat away. He got out of bed and went to the window. Now the curtains in the travelodge hotels are pretty effective at blocking the light so he reached for the curtain to pull it open and pushed the cat back out of the window! Somehow it had managed to wiggle itself through the little gap into our room.
Mr M was so shocked he stepped swiftly back before grabbing the curtain and then shutting the windows. I started to laugh and sit up and fell off the bed. Fortunately I landed on my feet or it would have taken a crane to lift me up again.

Donkey sanctuary

We visited the Donkey Sanctuary and confirmed in my mind that when I win the lottery I will have a place where we can foster some of the donkeys

 We visited Killerton Court and gardens and on Sunday went to Castle Drogo and Finch Foundry

Castle Drogo is 2 years into a 5 year programme of conservation and repair which is seeing the roof removed and a special membrane put in and then the roof put back. To do this they have to remove part of the walls too and the stones are numbered and mapped and then stored. it was so interesting even though we couldn't see the rooms as they usually are just learning about the work and how it is done was fascinating.

We liked it so much we had it gift wrapped

 To finish our break we came home via Tiverton where we visited Knightshayes - designed and built by William Burgess who also did Castall Coch and Cardiff Castle. amazing, although a long walk from the car park to the house when Mr M has poorly knees and my twanged muscle was making my tendon click. All together a fantastic weekend and just what we needed.

Me on Monday is the brainchild of Sian at FromHighinTheSky why not pop over there and take a look at hers now that you've read mine.

Me on Monday - The Bluefunnels

 It was a day out with the Bluefunnels and the Black Country Living Museum, buy a harmonica for Miss Boo, play the legs game on the way home, stay in because of the Velathon on Sunday sort of a weekend.

Mr M once said that there are very few people that we could spend 10 or more hours in the company of and still be speaking and planning the next excursion. The Lord Admiral and his Lady are two of that exclusive band. We travelled on the Trolley Bus at the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley. It was great and the "clippie" was brilliant.


Mr M sitting at the trolley/tram/bus stop. His knees hurt - as do the knees of Lord and Lady B. I am the oldest and the only one that is pain free!

We did enjoy the shops and the houses, the pub with sawdust on the floor. Expensive but well worth a visit. As it was quite a journey from our home town we stopped at Jo's Place for breakfast and that set us up and kept us going so that we could travel the pretty way and play the legs game. Lord and Lady B were in a dead heat with 12 points when we arrived home. I came last.

We stopped in our favourite eaterie for a burger, well burgers for me and her Ladyship while the two Cs had the "All the Way" Hotdog. free refills for coffee for me and afterwards we slumped in the car and had to work hard to keep alert.

A brief stop at a garden centre for me to buy a new watering can as my old one had developed a squirt - no way it could be called a leak as the water was squirting across the garden as I was trying to fill it.

I grudgingly bought a plastic one this time. Now I am convinced that I will fill it with water and then drop it and break it. I had only had the old metal one for 40 years

Thought you might like to see my view when we are travelling in the Bluefunnels car. In our car I sit behind the driver - what? why? well, because that's the way we have always done it so that the longest legs are in the front. OH and their car has a glass roof which makes things really light but does strange things to your brain when watching the rain drops on it at 60 mph

So that's Me on Monday. This was invented by Sian at FromHighInTheSky why not pop over there and read hers now that you've read mine. This weeke she has fishlips kissing ... go on you know you want to

Me on MOnday - Strawberries, visits, and new slippers dance

It was a garden centre, Gang Show visitor, down off the high, connect four and hangman and saying goodbye, then new slippers from Grandma sort of a weekend

We "popped out" to a garden centre to get a couple of strawberry plants. I have a trough that held a Rosemary bush until I killed it and as this is the year of the garden for meI want all pots and troughs to be planted. I came home with food for the tomato plants and lovely smelly slug pellets for the slugs that are eating my clamatis and a little blue flowered thing I have forgotten the name of to go in another pot. OH and a sage plant for my herb sink.
We paused to visit my lovely Father-in-Law, who puts up with my constant chatter and even manages to get a word in edgeways occasionally. He is going to save me some seeds from his yellow poppy plants and give me a bit of his Dicentra as the chickens ate mine.
When we got home Wicked Uncle Cliff had arrived to go and watch Miss Boo perform in the Gang Show presented by Newport Scouts and Guides. For those that understand these things the Assessors have awarded them the Red Necker for another five years so loud hurrahs were heard. It was late to bed but not too late because WUC was feeling decidedly unwell. We discovered that he had taken Ibuprofen earlier on Saturday and it had an adverse effect.
Sunday was a slow start and a sit around and talk and talk. we haven't seen WUC since New Year and it is always good.
Early to bed on Sunday and then on Monday I filled the trough with compost from my own bin and planted the strawberries. I cut up the cardboard box that has been in the cellar since 2009 when we bought the chicken house and I moved the compost bin from one side of the garden to the other - then had to call Biker Boy to come and shovel the compost onto the garden and the not quite ready stuff back into the bin. Then I planted the sage, put out a load of washing on the line chatted to the lovely Debbie who lives next door and is  just about the best neighbour you could ever hope to have.
Then I came in and elevated my legs and that's when Miss Boo came home from school and tried on the dragon scale slippers - they fit and she is thrilled.

That's me on Monday - knackered. Why not take a look at Sians blog over at FromHighInTheSky