On Vox: Cartrouble
What a tediously long week. Today and tomorrow are my 'weekend', and I would love to spend most of it asleep and/or doing very little, but that's just gonna be impossible.
It didn't get bad until Monday. I went to work at 10am in the morning, and I didn't finish until... hmm... must've been around 11:30. That's 11:30 at night. Thirteen and a half hours in that pub can only drive me insane, and it did. The recent rubbish weather has made trade almost non-existent, especially in the afternoon. I think we had a total of about five customers between 2 and 6, and I finished every crossword or sudoku in the building by 3.
What had happened was another one of those scenarios where it's assumed that I want more work. I don't. I don't care if I have a huge overdraft and a broken car to fix (more on that later) -- I really don't want to be working more than ten hours a day. The rota had been rubbishly put together so that the manager could travel all the way down South for a job interview, and, despite there being another fully capable member of staff on the payroll who could work the bar (and a part-timer who lives right next door, who probably could've come in), it just so happened that both of them had days off on Monday, so it was me. Me and myself. I'm surprised I didn't get cabin fever and attack someone with a screwdriver.
So the shift from hell was over, and I jumped in my car. Almost as soon as I pulled out of the car park, the car's engine started to make an odd sound. Intrigued, yet tired, I turned the radio's volume down, listened for a splitsecond and the ignored it. It sounded a bit loud, but I dismissed it and continued home.
Chrismobile
Oh, I shouldn't have ignored it.
The journey from my house to work is a funny one. Firstly, after getting out of my street, I need to get out of Keswick. This time of year, the main street is flooded with tourists who have no idea of where they're going. They like to sit and muse over every junction, and half of them don't indicate once they finally do decide where they want to be. Sometimes it can take anywhere up to ten minutes to get out of my street and onto the main road through the town, especially if there's another halfwit in front of me.
Second phase is the A66, but only for thirty seconds before I have to turn off. This bit's all right, which brings us onto the final part of my daily journey. Imagine a rally track. Winding, narrow roads that go over multiple hills for about a mile. Average speed across these is around 20mph. It wouldn't be a good place for, say, your power steering to fail.
My power steering failed. The aforementioned "odd sound" was a really loud one, almost like gargling. This was because the fan belt had snapped, and the fan belt is pretty important in a Rover. If the fan belt goes then the power steering and air conditioning goes (the latter not so important). The water cooler also eventually goes, and the battery begins to lose its charge, especially if it's midnight and you need headlights on to navigate the long and winding road of the Keswick badlands. The car had the turning circle of a supertanker, and it was taking a lot of effort to turn the wheel.
Rover 216SI
So I finally got back home with a broken car. I was lucky that my folks were away, so I could pop it into the driveway. Parallel parking was totally out of the question since it was as maneuverable as an aircraft carrier. What a way to end the day.
Yesterday I just ignored it. I was too tired to take it round to a mechanic, so I slept in. I eventually settled on walking to work, but, luckily, I got a lift halfway from a friend. I'm sure the distance I did walk was good for me and all that. I decided that a taxi would be a safer option for the return journey, since the road back to Keswick is Cumbria's equivilant of Deliverence.
Took it to the garage today. Apparently both fan belts had snapped or whatever. I dunno how much all this is gonna cost me. Funnily enough, this happens just before I was gonna get my brakes looked at and changed and go to the opticians for the first time in nearly ten years. Maybe I'll save myself some money!
Ha. Yeah, right.
Originally posted on seigerweiss.vox.com