Mixed Day

So today I was supposed to be heading down to Coldstream to take Phoebe swimming, however I never managed to get there in time, it went something like this.

I got up at around 05:30, got showered, dressed, put my things in my bag and left early to drive down the road, all went well and I soon arrived in Dundee where I decided to stop for a bacon roll, coffee and a fresh tank of diesel, 10 minutes later I was off again. I passed Perth and soon reached Bridge Of Earn, here there is a large hill to head up and the car began to loose speed, odd I thought since the car was on cruise control, I checked it was still on and sure enough it was, so I switched it off and decided to use my foot although when the accelerator was pressed nothing happened, the car just grumbled and kept loosing speed, I had lost all power.

I managed to nurse the car to the Kinross service station, where I feared my problem may have been something to do with the turbo, big loss in power & high fuel consumption making me assume this. The AA were called and the patrolman started the car and gave it a rev, an enormous cloud of blue smoke was emitted from the exhaust, and I began to think my Octavia which I only bought in January was sick. I just happened to mention how I had filled the car up at Dundee and it was fine then, just after this the car began to splutter and eventually stalled, the AA guy let out a rather interested 'hhhmmmmmm', he then pulled off one of the fuel lines from the fuel filter, put it into a clear plastic bottle and asked me to turn the engine over.

Straight away the man from the AA recognised what was wrong, "you have contaminated diesel". We let the fluid settle in the bottle and could soon see the diesel seperating from what looked like water, it was alarming just how much water was there, for every 5 parts water there was around 1 part diesel!! No wonder the car came to a stuttering halt!

This didn't help me much though, as I was supposed to be in Coldstream at 9 and here I was still at Kinross service station with a sick car, the AA patrolman called around the local garages and found one in Cowdenbeath willing to flush the fuel system through, 30 minutes later I arrived at the garage and they began working on the car immediately.

At around lunchtime I finally got my car back, emptied my wallet of £210 and set off for Edinburgh where I decided to pop into Anths since I was stressed and fed up with the way the morning had worked out, a complete waste of time really!

Eventually I drove down to Coldstream, with the car still playing up, where I was greeted by the best smile in the world and the most beautiful blue eyes of my daughter Phoebe, this was the best remedy for the morning I had. We played then went for a walk after her tea before I drove even further south to Newcastle to stay at my sisters, again with the car spluttering and struggling for power.

I was shattered when I arrived, and with hardly eating suring the day the beers went straight to my head, it did help to get a good sleep though something which I have recently been struggling to get, tomorrow morning should be good, I get to see Phoebe again and take her swimming :)