I don't want to count my chickens but it looks like the saga of the car could be over. I've refrained from giving regular updates on the whole sorry tale but now it looks like the end is in sight. And it's not going to end in the scrapyard! I've refrained from giving updates at the same time as I decided to refrain from doing anything much about it at all - sometimes you just can't face these things.
In the summer, not long after I came back from Sri Lanka, I started up the car, tried to move forward and couldn't. "Silly me" I thought "forgot to put the handbrake off"! But I hadn't .... it was off alright, the car just wasn't budging. It felt like there was something underneath it. A bomb was the first thing that came to mind (I refer you back to my fertile imagination.) On closer inspection (someone else, not me!) it became clear there was nothing underneath it so my uncle (who just happened to be with me at the time and who is a member of the AA) called the AA out and they took it to a garage in Greenock.
£120 it cost me to repair the "seized brakes".
A month or so later I was driving down a hill in 3rd gear when the brakes failed altogether! This time, my cousin happened to be with me (again, how handy!) with HIS AA membership card. Car went back to same garage, 3 month guarantee couldn't be used because it was a "different" brake problem this time.
£135 to repair the "failed brakes".
FIVE DAYS later I step outside, think "ooh it's chilly, so glad I have the car", start it up, try to move back (nope), forward (nope), deja vu, thinking "silly me, handbrake" etc. But no, it was not my fault, the brakes had seized AGAIN!
Saga continued but finally, TWO MONTHS ON, the Greenock garage sent someone up to Glasgow on Tuesday to pick it up and return it to them for inspection.
I waited with baited breath for the outcome of the inspection and finally, the phone rang with the good news that yes, indeed, it WAS their responsibility and they had now repaired the car. Joy oh joy. Today, Saturday, I will pick it up.
I'm STILL not counting any chickens because last night I got a call from my cousin telling me Greenock was inaccessible by car because of floods. This, the rest of the world puts down to higher than average (for Greenock, can you believe that?) rainfall. The readers of this blog however, will know better. It's nothing to do with rain and everything to do with me wanting to get my car back! Aarrgh!
Still, the rain has subsided, the brakes are CURRENTLY working, I'll check before I drive off that they've not drained my radiator of all water again, I'll do my best not to have flashbacks of the 2 occasions when the brakes have just stopped working ... and I'm sure all will be fine.
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