Day to day musings of a cat minder/ sitter in North Tyneside and Newcastle upon Tyne . For details of services go to http://www.catminders.biz

Welcome to CatMinders

Welcome to CatMinders


Saturday 28 June 2008

Seagull Splatt




My car is still semi knackered due to an excess pouring in of oil when in fact oil was not required . I mis read the warning lights in a mild panic at the side of the road on Wednesday night but then I was on the side of a dual carriageway with CatCalls awaiting me ( two delightful cats with a hefty litter tray ) , a migraine chugging away in the background trying to rise above the Topamax and rain threatening in the rush hour traffic .




Admit it , it could happen to anyone . I pay the AA two hundred pounds a year to come and rescue me in such circumstances but when the head is banging one really cannot face a stranger with his kindness and his questions and having to put together a coherent sentence and be polite sometimes defeats me .




So instead I called D and like the knight in shining armour he is , he rolled up bearing oil and with the dog in the back of his car ( a strict no-no due to his smart leather seats and said Dog's long pointy claws ) and following my instructions and without questioning my belief that the light which had ignited was the oil warning light , poured in oil .


He then handed me the book which explains what the lights mean and I realised that it was indeed a "toxic fumes warning light"... oh poop. However as the oil had disappeared down the tubes D confirmed that the car did indeed need it , so as I drove home at a snail's pace and the car was still chugging and sputtering and refusing to rise above thirty mph , asked him to add more . He gallantly took me the rounds of my CatCalls , poured in oil , checked levels later and looking rather anxious stated that now we seemed over rather than under the limit .




Car was then handed over to mobile mechanic , who discovered a coil pack was the issue , fixed it and didnt mention oil .




Today , car was booked in to Renault dealers to have mirror fault recall rectified . Apparently it is likely to set car door on fire if this is not fixed ( though has not done so in previous five years ? ) , but whilst Renault folks had the car in their grasp they kindly did a " safety check " and now tell me my car has twice the required level of oil in it blah blah . Yes yes I say wearily and D says Yes yes , a mistake .




The point of this rather wearying tale is that Nat and I get to take D' s rather dashing little car out with us when we go shopping for her suitcase for her upcoming holiday to Europe's finest destinations . Regular blog readers will recall my difficulties with the automatic transmission of his previous sporty car , but Nat is in control now and manages to multi task , calling her chums on my mobile while issuing instructions at the same time as I gingerly stare at the- thing- which resembles- a- gear- stick ...
" No Mum .... No ..... D not P when you want to move forwards P means park not drive ...... " in a soothing yet warning voice ...... Sorry Paige just sorting my mum out here ...... "
Its a while since I have driven this particular car . I love it and am actually quite keen on it but there is this tendency to scrape the wheels ( sorry alloys ) and recently D has taken to chauffering me round if there is a need rather than simply handing over the keys . But today Nat and I needed some bonding time , and this was achieved in delightful fashion over a huge pink glitter suitcase , a mango frappucino in Starbucks and a quick drive poseur style along the seafront just in case any of her pals should be out .... ( or mine come to that ) .
Happy Days .
And to think it was only six hours ago that a massive seagull splatt narrowly missed landing on my head in the village . What a portent !






Migraine Days

Migraine Days

Flower and Bee on a Sunday

Flower and Bee on a Sunday

art on a sunday

art on a sunday