Bad Car (ma)?

Hey... you know it was bad a couple of days ago...WELL... today took the biscuit! Where to start?

Daile's car has been making a noise, a bearing noise to be precise, and I noticed it last week when I borrowed her car. It sounded like a quieter version of the problem that it had when we bought it, and that was the reason that we got it cheap. THAT time it was the bearing in the power steering belt tensioner. I watched the guy at the garage put a new bearing in, and thought he was a bit agricultural with the pulley when he took the bearing out. I'd been kind of expecting to hear the bearing again, cos he was less than gentle or scientific when he put the new one in. (The reason it was at the garage doing it at all was that we thought it was the air con... and after doing the air con in the Alhambra in the UK, I decided I'd rather have the time. (I was working then!).

I was going to fix it last weekend, but we ended up doing other things that just got in the way, and I was concentrating on photographing products for the website. So as a result she went off this morning with the radio up.

At about 2.20 I got a call to say she was broken down on the motorway. Steam pissing out and the engine overheated. She was on the hard shoulder but quite near to a slip road onto the motorway. I asked her to have a look under the bonnet and call me back. Whilst she was doing this, a tosser in a 4WD with a car trailer nearly stoved into the back of her, skidded but regained control! She was a bit shaken, she had her head under the bonnet when she heard the skids, and jumped clear to see him get hold of it and tear past!

I was picking up the kids, so I didn't get off until almost an hour later. After I'd been going about 5 Min's, and just before getting to the motorway, I got a call from Daile to see where I was. I explained, and was about to hang up when I heard the sound of a police siren, and flashing lights, and both were behind me. I pulled over and was told they'd seen me on the phone (big no-no here too!) They breathalysed me (cos, hey, you'd have to be pissed to talk on a mobile in a car eh!) and informed me that my car tax was four days out of date. I got a fine of $300 and 3 points.

La di dah. Not good then.

So, since we get a weeks grace here on out of date road tax, I was able to carry on. When I got there, I put some water in, and saw it pissing out the back of the engine. But I couldn't see where from. I decided to drive the now cold car, to the next exit. We made it. Daile went of in the Ute to see if there was a garage with a car trailer for hire as she'd phoned Andrew to see if its illegal to tow a car on the motorway here. He reckoned it is, but suggested the trailer hire option.

She came back a short while later empty handed. By then I'd determined that it was the water pump. It must have been the pump that was making all the noise as the pulley was wobbling about, and that must have caused the seal to pop. I couldn't sort that there and then, so we plotted a route that would get us the 30k home without going on the motorway, and set off. We'd got about twenty K with the kids in the Ute with me, and Daile doing an admirable job in the towed car. We were averaging a safe 35 to 40kph, hazards flashing on both cars, and using a proper tow strap that I got when I went to Frazer. Then from nowhere, a twat in a powerful car pulled right out in front of me and I slammed on the breaks. (Daile slammed hers on before me though, as I felt the car jerk) Despite standing on the pedal, there was stuff all to be done. I ploughed into him broadside. He tried to pull away, and drove into another car that had been behind Daile, but had swerved when she braked. I braced myself for the impact of Daile's car, but it didn't happen. As a matter of fact, when I got out, she was nearly at the full distance. The two other cars had pulled up on the other side of the road, and the slap head was examining his car. He didn't admit he was at fault, but he didn't say I was to blame either. I just gave him a considered look, not wanting to say anything that can be used against me (from past experience). Someone called the police, who said if no one was hurt they wouldn't be attending. (Too busy pulling up people for talking on mobile phones). Then as luck would have it, someone spotted a police car coming out of the same entrance the lad had come out of. They were clearly 'inconvenienced' by having to stop, and had no intention of getting involved. One of them organised for us to all write our details on a card each, she collected them and then proceeded to hand them out, mine went to the guy who'd pulled out, the guy he hit got his...and I got my own details back! SMOOTH! Yeah...er thanks for your help! Once we'd got that sorted, the young chancer had recovered his tongue and was trying to suggest that I was at fault because I was towing and that he thought I was turning left cos I was indicating (Hazards!!) Idiot. The police drove off, presumably snickering cos they'd managed to avoid paperwork.

At this point we discover that the boy racer has no insurance. Shortly after that I discover that neither do I! In Queensland, third party insurance comes with your road licence.. and whilst I was still covered for 7 days on that even though my road licence (Tax disc) had run out as I mentioned earlier, what I hadn't realised until I spoke to the insurance company was that 'third party' as in CTP insurance doesn't mean the same thing that it does in the UK. Whereas third party insurance UK stylee covers ALL losses incurred by the innocent third party, in Australia it covers you for injury only. There's a separate third party insurance for physical property (i.e the cars themselves). SO this means that since that's the kind of insurance that the racer has (otherwise known as 'no insurance') I'm going to have to either pursue the arrogant little shit through the courts for whatever I can get from him, (along with the other fella whose car he hit) or pay for the damage to my vehicle myself!

I'm hoping that the kids, who were screaming after the impact (from shock I figured at the time since they seem unharmed) don't get any inexplicable headaches or neck pains. (Matilda was complaining of a headache when she went to bed) All in it had taken us 4 hours from when they left school to get home.

What a day! You couln't make this stuff up!

What shall we do tomorrow? :-)