Today got off to a great start when I got a call from my garage around 10am going "Umm, you were supposed to be bringing your car in today..?" Cue headdesking and hasty scampering. Hurrah for an understanding line manager and my garage being over the road from where I work :P

And then work was busy all day. Not completely overwhelmingly so, just often enough and persistent enough that I was never able to take my eye off the ball. And nothing seemed straightforward today, everything seemed to need something checked or created or sorted before being processed. Gagh.

And then tonight it took me two attempts to boil water - someone got sidetracked and forgot she had put a pan of water on to boil until someone started sniffing the air and going "What's that burning smell?!"

On the plus side, I made a great dinner of stuffed peppers with smoked sausage and I have an excellent episode of Mythbusters to watch. Hopefully the day's ending better than it started :D

I scurried out of the flat this morning, leapt into my trusty automobile, turned the key and was greeted with the sort of wheezing associated with motheaten bagpipes. Either the battery's died, or the ghosts of a Scottish Pipe Band have taken up residence under the bonnet :P

Cue frantic phone call to FogHorn who, thankfully, hadn't left for work and was willing and able to swing by and pick me up. I totally owe her chocolates. The downside was I was stuck in work until 6.30pm waiting for her to leave. Needing to do work was understandable and obviously I am totally and slobberingly grateful she gave me a lift but starting a 20 minute gab fest with the boss at 6pm strained my goodwill a smidge....

Ah well :) I'm home and there's food a-cooking, I suspect I'll live!

The garage is picking the car up tomorrow morning and taking it away to hopefully make it all better. I'll have to see how long I'll be car-less. Thank gods I can afford to be without it now! If this had happened a couple of months back, I'd have been well and truly screwed.

So oh lovely flist of mine, how was YOUR Monday? :)

My morning so far:-

Wake up to alarm at 7.15, resist urge to burrow back under duvet.
Peer out of window to assess weather. There's snow but not too deep.
Get dressed
FogHorn calls and confirms she's taking daughter to school, will meet me at 8.30am.
Hop in car and slither carefully to garage - snow has eased considerably, it's mostly a very fine rain/sleet.
Drop car at garage, arrange for boss man to ring me.
Trudge home, noting the snow is getting heavier. And heavier. And deary me, it's rather heavy now.
About halfway home, get call from FogHorn - she's changed her mind about venturing out. I agree wholeheartedly and tell her I'm taking the day off as we'd discussed yesterday.
Make it home resembling something like an Abominable Dormouse.
Slurp tea, attempt to thaw out.
Boss chap at garage calls - I ask if they're willing to do the MoT but wait for payment until payday*. He goes to consult with boss.
Garage calls back - nope, no credit can be given. Sigh in disappointment but it was a long shot.
Enjoy remainder of tea.
Clamber back into wet coat and soggy scarf and start the thirty minute trudge back to the garage. The snow has stopped, but it's raining deceptively steadily.
Reclaim car, rebook MoT for payday.
Drive home.
Collapse on sofa with more tea, toast and hot water bottle.

At least I have the day off to recover :)

* - just heard that my cheque for the car tax bounced and can they have payment NOW please. Dammit. So I had to use the money I'd earmarked for the MoT and living expenses this month. Eh. I can eat next month :P **
** Seriously, it's ok, just annoying.

razzing frazzin' jazzin' car!

Stoopid thing has come out in sympathy with the computer and is refusing to start. Dammit. I thought I'd driven it enough this week but thinking about it, I haven't used it since Tuesday. Bollocks.

So I ring the AA, who you will recall came out last week, no bother, only to be informed that my membership has lapsed and I need to rejoin. There was outrage but fair enough, it's entirely possible I missed a direct debit back in February. *snarls* So I go through the palavar of rejoining...and then I'm handed a bill for £162, which has to be paid in one lump sum. I was Not Pleased, that's like 5 times the current membership cost but because it's a callout situation, it's the standard charge. *seethes* Anyway, I got a number to ring and filed a complaint. I was very civil but made it clear I thought it was appalling customer service to a long standing customer. I'm not complaining about the rejoining, that's fair enough. But to charge a customer who's been with the AA for well over 15 years £162 to rejoin is bloody awful. It's not like I'm someone who's never been with the AA just ringing up to get coverage for the first time because they've broken down, y'know? A very nice lady called Shirley promised to pass on my comments so I expect I'll get a polite letter two months from now going "Thank you for your comments, unfortunately blah blah company policy blah sucks to be you have a nice day". Eh. At least I complained, I feel slightly better :P

Thank god I still have room on my credit card for emergencies. BTW, we have an estimated completion date for Eve's house of 1st December. It can't come soon enough. *eyes empty bank account and sighs*

I have a new sick note waiting at my doctor's surgery and I was going to drive over (it's not far) to pick it up. Figured I'd be ok for a short journey. Strolled happily out to the car, feeling pretty good, attempted to use the remote locking and...nothing happened. Then I recall that the car's been sat outside for the best part of 2 months with no-one driving it and guess the battery's flatter than a pancake. One swift manual opening of car door later, I put the key in the ignition, turn it and yep, absolutely nothing happens.

So I'm waiting for the AA to arrive *cuddles her AA membership* Adding Home Start to my AA package all those years ago was so smart :)

I'll keep you advised how the subsequent driving goes, assuming we get the heap going :)

Got the car back half a day ahead of schedule *beams* 's all MoT'd and taxed for another year! Hurrah!

Now hopefully it won't cost me any more money for a while *touches wood*

So now the decision to be made is: Given the amount that's been spent on it, would I be better off selling now and risking buying a clunker or hang onto this one for the duration, see if my finances improve over the next 12 months? Hmm. I'm thinking I might have to stick with this heap but I'll see. I might at least see how much I could get for it and what I could afford to buy based on that.

But for now, I have my car back! Yay! :)

Public transport sucketh the rocks mightily.

I had it all planned, I did. 8.29 bus from WGC bus station, arrive around 9am in Hertford, followed by a 15 minute scamper to County Hall. I was on time! I was at the bus station for 8.15am! And the bloody bus never showed up.

*snarls*

At 8.55, I said "Sod it, Plan B" and scampered to the railway station to catch the 9.01 to Stevenage. Now, in scouting options yesterday, I'd noted that at 8.01, there was a train to Stevenage, followed by a train at 8.30 to Hertford. Silly, silly me, I thought the same would apply after 9am.

It didn't.

I spent 40 freezing minutes at Stevenage waiting for the 10 o'clock train to Hertford. A 25 minute scamper to County Hall meant I finally got to work for 10.40am.

*snarls*

The good news is that I will probably be able to get a lift from Wednesday mornings onwards from FogHorn although so far it's looking like I'll have to take the train home (she leaves earlier than me). Battleship, bless her, is putting out feelers to see if there's anyone heading back WGC around 5 or 5.30 who could help out. But if I get a lift in the mornings, that'll take the strain out of things. I don't mind training it back of an evening, at least I'm not in a tearing hurry to get somewhere on time. The big downside is it is expensive :( Going to cost £40 a week, unless single tickets are much cheaper than the websites are showing me.

But in even better news is Brook Street rang me this morning to tell me a plum permanent job has come in and I was the first match for it out of their database. So they've sent off my CV and are waiting for feedback. *crosses everything* It's a place I've interviewed before but different department, I believe. The salary and benefits are fantastic and if I'm still car-less, it's an easy commute by train up to Hatfield, where they have a shuttle bus to the company from the station. Oh pleasepleaseplease let me at least get an interview. I must be due a lucky break by now?

Regarding the car, Direct Line confirmed what I suspected and that is they will only write off a car if it's been involved in an accident. They were ever so helpful though, they did double check all the options and assured me I was dead right to ask. So that leaves trying to figure out how to scrape up the cash to get it repaired or seeing if I can sell it to someone/some garage. I'm not holding my breath but I am feeling quite optimistic that somehow it'll all work out.