MOT Day...

Following on from yesterdays post office saga, I woke this morning and waited patiently for the postie to turn up.  Im not going to spend another day chasing Pat down the road for parcels.  Nothing of interest turned up so I swallowed my pride and trundled down to the sorting office to collect the fire extinguisher that was waiting for me. 

Despite the mucking about yesterday it was a swift enough visit so this time I decided not to waste 70 pence on parking for a simple 2 minute visit, so I pretended that I was in a big double decker Mondeo and parked it in the bus stop whilst I nipped in.  First sight of me and chuckles started his "have you signed your card yet routine".  I explained that I wasn't parked in the true spirit of the highway code and could I just have my parcel and this seemed to deflate his day.  I gave him the "we missed you" card and my ID and he wandered off out the back for an eternity.  I could see my car when he returned and I could also see a bus next to it blocking traffic where some tit had parked in his pull in zone.  Never mind I thought, I'll be off in a mo, then chuckles explained (very slowly) that it was a tracked parcel and that he needed to find his scanner.  Then he wandered off somewhere out the back with my package.  After about 10 minutes he returned and handed it over to me. 

The looks I was getting as I got back into the car made me wonder about parting with 70p again next time.

On the way back I decided to nip into the garage to book for an MOT on the ScumRunner.  I've explained the scumrun thing to the guy, banged on about charity and kids and how I really need the car to be done as cheap as possible and if blind eye syndrome existed it would be quite useful.  The guy at Leigh Park Service Station was, unfortunately, completely straight when it came to cars which is probably a very good thing under normal circumstances, but a bad thing if you're on a budget.

I returned with Juliette at half 12 and the first thing he said was "the sunstrips a fail straight away".  Bollocks.  I explained I've only had it a couple days and could he just pretend he hadnt seen it.  Apparantly not.  He asked me to come back in an hour or so when he'd done his thing.  I don't know how many of you reading this have been to Leigh Park center but it isnt possible to browse the shops for an hour.  So I had an all day breakfast, bought a lotto ticket, sat down and read the paper, and still had time to kill.  After a while my phone rang...  The mechanic.  A summary of the call:  Mr Savage, the car's ready to pick up, didnt pass but nothing too drastic.

So I returned to the service station to see him and he's ushered me into his office to discuss what "nothing too drastic meant".  When ushered out of a public area to hear this, you know it's not gonna be cheap.

Failure sheet:

Emissions:

Look at the margins that scraped through on!  cant get much closer than that!!!

It was about 2 pm ish by now so I asked how long it would take to do.  Remember Im not in a hurry, but it needs to be done by April.  I left it with him and he said he'd give me a call.  by 4pm I was on my way to collect it.  Awesomely fast.  Thanks guys.  When I got there, they'd even left the sunshade on the bonnet for me as a souvenier and said stick it back on after I got home so they could deny responsibility.  It's a bit too creased to go back on, but it was a lovely thought of them.

Advisory notes:

The Bill:

The guys to go to - Recommended highly if you're Havant or near by:

Basically, needed lots of work, but including the test fee and all vat, labour, parts still came in at less than £250.  Thats sunshade removed(boooooooooo), exhaust, new tyre, 2 MOT's, welding both sides and a wiper blade.

Half 4 is with us so I wandered round the corner to the post office to get the road fund sorted when the lovely scottish lady pointed out I had forgotten the insurance certificate.  I went back home, pulled it out the office, returned just before they closed and got it taxed.   That done and feeling very legal indeedy, I figured I'd give it a little work out so threw some fuel in, and twatted (drove steadily M'Lord) it up the nearest B-road I could find. 

The strut brace and firm suspension really are noticeable as these are missing from the newer cab we have, and the grin returned as driving pleasure had returned.  This felt like a smaller version of my old car, Fang, a Rover 220GSI that went like stink.  Every bump is noticeable, every camber change is notified to you by a tugging to the side, this is a car now that feels designed for country lanes.  And it's feeling surprisingly pokey.  As luck would have it, that road led on to the A3 which made sense that I should maybe give a little throttle to clear out the sooty , oily water.  That quick potter led from Clanfied ish down the A3, onto A3M, A27, and across to Gosport.  Picked up a pack of nappies in a co-op, then returned.  This is really a nice car to drive.  A little firm and lively, but enormous fun.

So today, we've got it road legal.  Needs a good hard spanking to get it to breathe better, but a happy day.

RIP Sunshade.  Our thoughts are with you.

Final piece of news for the day, through the facebook group I believe ,we have a new sponsor of note, but I await to see what the requirements are for the advertising before we start drafting up the print run.  Either way Paul, we look forward to getting the company name and contact details from you.

It's silly O'clock again so Im going to go sleepy byes.

After I've had a ciggy, and tucked the car in and read it a story.

Savage