New Car and other things-Part 1

I haven't been posting on here for quite some while. Life seems to get in the way, in quite a large and uncomfortable way. I had intended updating on happenings around here, but had only just got round to doing it. Carol hasn't be well. A urinary infection which has been impossible to shift. We've been to the doctor's at Ashfield Medical Centre on several occasions. She's been given antibiotics which just don't seem to work. She's been in a great deal of pain and taken paracetamol, cocodomol as well as Ibuprofen. Helps with the discomfort for a short while but then the pain comes back. She eventually saw one of the practice nurses and has an appointment with a consultant at Milton Keynes Hospital next week (23rd August.) Fortunately this came through fairly rapidly and we only wish the doctor could have got this referral a good deal earlier. As a result we've not had the summer we would have liked. It's supposed to be a long relaxing break for Carol, off from work. It's just as well we didn't have anywhere booked for a holiday as it would have been cut short.

On a far better note, we now have a new car, a Renault Captur. The old car a Peugeot 1007 Dolce, had caused us so many problems, what with breaking down twice, once, when we went up to Newcastle to move Daniel into his new flat and then on the way home from our visit to the National Trust Property, Calke Abbey, when it broke down on the M1 and we had to be rescued from the 'coned off' area within the roadworks and then we had to have the big end replaced (at great expense, after the repair done in Newcastle. Then the driver-side sliding door wouldn't work properly (and was never repaired, hence having to slide it manually which was a real annoyance. I could go on: both coil springs had to be replaced when it was MoT'd earlier this year and no end of squeaks and odd noises which really put us both driving the car. So, you can see it hasn't been the most successful of cars. It was definitely time we replaced it. But, the only way we could possibly afford a new, or at least, second hand, car, was get a loan. I managed to arrange an overdraft on our NatWest account, more as a sort of safety net so that, if the worst happens and we don't have sufficient funds in the account when one of the direct debits comes out, it will be covered and we won't be charged something like £30. At the time I was told that we might be able to get a bank loan. After all our problems with our finances which have not been paid off it seemed that at last we might be able to get a bank loan so as to buy a replacement car. It would be a good idea before the winter sets in and the possibility of us spending out vast sums to keep the old Peugeot on the road, what with the possibility of more repairs. In a way, throwing money away on an old car when we might just as well put it towards a newer one.
We visited Brayley's at Westcroft one Sunday and were really taken by the Renault Captur. It was, of course, no use thinking of buying a car without first seeing whether we'd get a loan. Then a few weeks ago we went into our bank, NatWest, and made an appointment to see whether we'd get a loan.
It was a Thursday when we ventured forth with trepidation and went into the bank branch. The staff were very good and we went through the formalities. It's all done on computer and our credit score is taken ito consideration. And, low and behold, we got accepted! The money would be available the following day. So we began the search for a suitable car which would fit our budget. We went back to Brayley's and they had a Captur which was newly in, second hand but not ready for sale, needing servicing and valeting. We couldn't manage to beat them down on the price. So we left it. We went home and did a search on the internet and found that Evans Halshaw in Bedford had a good selection of used cars. So we drove over there and saw a Renault Captur which fitted our budget. The only downside was the fact that it was a diesel and not a petrol model. Also, would they accept our old clapped-out Peugeot in part-payment? What was it worth, if anything? When we bought it, only three years ago, we part-payed with exchanging our old Atoz and were surprised when we got £50. The salesman had to get someone to do an inspection and it turned out it was worth £200. So, we could have spent that easily to get it through it's next MoT and it wasn't likely to make it through the winter.

Another Annoying and Totally Pointless Phone call

I have now got a new mobile. We bought a Samsung Galaxy just over a year ago. A smart phone. I have never had one before, always having a fairly basic model, but it seemed a reasonably good idea to 'upgrade' to a mobile which meant you can have 'apps' on it, are able to get onto the internet etc etc. So we got a fairly basic model from Sainsbury's and went with a 'sim' card which you put into the mobile yourself, which is great, it means you can change your provider when you want and aren't tied to one particular company. It is an 02 sim and you have a 'bundle' of minutes and data for £10 a month (I'm not exactly sure what amount of data it has or the number of minutes for 'talking.' It's strange that it's referred to as a telephone, but most people seem to use these devices more for texting, going on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc etc than using the thing to actually speak to someone. But the Samsung Galaxy wasn't up to much, unfortunately. It didn't have nearly enough memory (0r whatever.) to allow you to have a whole selection of downloadable 'apps' on it. When we joined the A.A. a year or two back, after we broke down on the M1 when we came back from visiting Calke Abbey, we found that you could have an insurance policy, through the A.A., which meant, if you broke down you would not only get rescued by the A.A. (which they have always done since time immemorial; what the organisation was set up to do.) but also, with a reasonable monthly payment, you could have your car repaired, free, up to the value of £500. Which seemed reasonable. Considering the cost of car repairs and the fact that we broke down when we were up in Newcastle-On-Tyne around two years ago, when we went to move Daniel from one flat to another when he was at university there. And it was around a week later that we broke down- again- this time, as I mentioned earlier- on the return journey from visiting Calke Abbey. It was somewhat traumatic, to say the least. Standing and waiting to be rescued, within the area where there were roadworks going on. We had a free rescue and were then deposited in a layby just off the  Motorway, somewhere near Daventry, or was it Northampton? We were with Swinton Insurance and had additional breakdown cover with them, so they came and took us the rest of the way home. (All this mentioned in an earlier blog post on here.) What I am attempting to say, in a very long-winded and roundabout way, is, that, with the A.A. you can have an 'app' on your phone, which you use when necessary, if you break down, as it will show the service where you are exactly. No doubt using some sort of G.P.S. technology, which is good, because when you breakdown (which, in around 45 years of driving has only happened i think, perhaps twice.) you never always know exactly where you are, in order to let the rescue service find you.

Taking an age to get to the point of this post, but it's coming up in the next bit. I needed to explain the 'how's and why's of things before I got to the main point. A sort of Ronnie Corbett, monologue-moment. If you don't know what I'm on about, just Google 'Two Ronnies' comedy monologue or something.

So, we decided to upgrade the mobile again, this time with an iPhone. Not the latest, an iPhone 5. It has a good deal more reliable and has a good deal more memory than the Samsung has.

I have removed the sim card from the Samsung and put it in the iPhone. I notice that it's easier to get at the sim card as Apple see fit to make this simpler by having a little drawer at the side of the phone which you gain access to by the use of a little metal device, little more than a glorified paper clip. But if you have to remove the sim card from the Samsung you have to remove the back of the phone and then it's not that easy to find where the sim is. I discovered this by going on Google and finding a handy video on YouTube.

Well, no sooner had I got the thing up-and-running (not managing to get the passwords for various apps to work, but that's a completely other story.) I had several phone calls during the afternoon. One just rang and rang and I didn't bother to answer because they're usually just for P.P.I. or at least they don't sound too genuine. Telling me my computer needs up-grading and they're from the Microsoft office or something. Which is crazy, as this is a Macintosh and doesn't use Microsoft software. So they are more than likely just a scam, eager to get into my computer and all manner of nasty things. I saw that I had two calls from Liverpool, I don't know from whom, but they didn't ring for long enough to allow me to reach the phone to answer. Crazy, as it takes long enough if I don't have the mobile within arms length in order to pick the thing up before it rang off. But this afternoon I decided to ring back. I got a bit of music, the Minute Waltz, the music they use on the Radio 4 show 'Just A Minute.' I eventually got an answer, and it was about the accident we had a couple of years ago, when we went to Ascott, the National Trust property outside Leighton Buzzard, and when we drove home we bumped the car into a pot-hole which set the alarm off, something to do with keeping the car on track, I don't know how it worked exactly. But these insurance people think I was injured as a passenger, which I wasn't. I think it's just a crafty way to get people to claim thousands of pounds of compensation so that they can get commission out of it. I was not injured and just wish they'd stop ringing about this incident. 

A Walk Beside The Grand Union

We were without the car. We were told not to drive it, after our adventure on the M1 on Saturday. It hasn't gone anywhere. It was left on our drive when we were bought back home by the rescue truck on Saturday evening. It will have to remain inoperative until we can find a mechanic who can let us know the extent of the fault and how much it is going to cost. Regrettable, considering that it's a little over a week ago since the confounded thing had to have the clutch repaired when we visited Daniel in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne.

As a result of all of this we were determined to not let it upset our time together, with Carol on summer holiday. We wanted to have some sort of walk and hd taken both dogs for walks to the shop in Galloways in Coffee Hall as well as the local shop in Eaglestone. We decided on walking into the centre of Milton Keynes and take the route along the towpath that runs alongside the Grand Union Canal, which is only a short walk along the Redway which runs behind our home.

The weather was overcast, but at least it was dry when we set out. We took the minimum of items with us, but had intended visiting Marks and Spencers in the shopping centre as we needed to get fruit. Without the car it was going to be difficult to do our usual weekly shop, as with the amount we generally buy it fills the boot of the car, so we had ordered using Sainsbury's on-line, and booked the delivery for Tuesday morning. 

It's a fairly steady walk along the canal path and we didn't meet many people, except for a couple of people walking their dogs. We couldn't have taken our dogs with us because we ow;don't have been able to take them into the shopping centre. We had been surprised by how many dogs there were at Calke Abbey last Saturday. We were even more surprised, as well as shocked, when we saw two dogs which had been left by some visitors to this National Trust property's car park, because we know it is unwise to leave your dog in your car as it can be fatal to a dog if left in a hot car interior, although it was particularly hot last Saturday.

We arrived in the city centre and walked into the shopping centre through John Lewis. We had coffee and chocolate croissants in a new-by Cafe Nero branch and then visited a new store which had opened next door called Tiger, which, it turns out, is a Danish company. They sell a very reasonably-priced range of products such as stationary, toys, artists materials, games and food. We purchased some things and then walked towards Marks and Spencers which is at the opposite end of the shopping centre. We went into Superdrug and then Marks and Spencer. By now time was moving on so we decided to have something to eat in M and S, really tasty roast meat in burger buns. Actually some of the best we've tasted. We managed to go into the Marks and Spencer food hall and buy food for tonight's dinner.

We had spent a couple of hours in the shopping centre and then caught the number 5 bus back home from just outside the shopping centre. It had begun to rain, but not very heavy thankfully. 

Calke Abbey and Car Break-Down

The sun was shining. Why spend a Saturday indoors when you could be outside, visiting a National Trust property? Visiting Whipsnade or even London Zoo or any of the attractions in and around Milton Keynes and the adjacent counties? We had looked in the National Trust handbook and on-line at their website and decided on Calke Abbey, which we had intended visiting a while ago and had given up on the journey up the M1 as it was in the middle of being widened or some other roadworks on it's length for I don't know how many miles going north from Milton Keynes and junction 14 on. We left home at around 9.30 a.m., having filled up with petrol at our usual Shell station in Grafton Street. We got on the motorway and the journey wasn't too bad but the confounded roadworks we eventually met meant we could only travel at 50 m.p.h. I don't know why they have to have these coned-off sections or why you have to drive so slowly and at one point along what would have been the hard shoulder. It really put a damper on the day's outing. We came off the motorway at junction 23 and headed for Calke Abbey and Ashby de la Zouche. Infact, it turned out to be not far from Twycross Zoo, which we visited a few months ago (see earlier blog post for details.) We arrived at Calke Abbey to discover the carpark overflowing. You drive in through a very attractive avenue of trees and through a park with sheep in it and at one point these sheep were laying down in the shade of the trees and one sheep in particular looked as if it might be dead rather than asleep and almost in the path of our car and others who followed into the carpark. We had to get a timed ticket in order to visit the house (it is to prevent too many people walking around at once.) Our time slot was at 1.45 which gave us time enough to have a drink and a sandwich in the very nice restaurant (there are actually two, as we discovered.) as well as browsing in the shop and then watching a video about Calke Abbey. I think it was actually a video of a television programme from a series that has been shown on the Sky Arts channel on National Trust properties and narrated by Martin Jarvis. I'd know his voice anywhere as he seems to make a living doing voice-overs and narrating books on B.B.C. Radio 4 Extra. We'd seen a couple of these documentaries and saw one on Waddesdon and another on Stourhead, two places we've visited at one time or other over the years. We wandered around the gardens, very beautifully kept, with attractive flower beds and all the rest and then wandered into the house. I'm not sure whether I liked it as much as some places we've visited, perhaps because it has been left in a  somewhat decayed and unkempt manner. Some of the rooms a a little too over furnished and in the Victorian style whereby there are too many ornaments for our taste. Some of the upstairs rooms are in a very poor state, but it's good that they are allowing the public to see how they go about restoring not only the structure of these old properties but also the artefacts within them, such as tapestries and pieces of furniture. A pity that so much of the house has to be left in almost complete darkness. I realise that they want to protect the interiors and furniture and other items from the damage which can be caused by light, but in some cases it's so dark you can barely see what's in some of the rooms.

We finished our tour of the house. We spent more time meandering around the grounds and then had a further rest to have ice-cream and a drink and then left for home. It took some while before we hit the correct road which lead to the M1. We again had to endure the confounded 50 m.p.h. zone through the roadworks. After a fairly short distance Carol, who was driving, said there was a problem with the car. An oil light came on on the dashboard and then a 'stop' sign lit up on the display. We've got used to the alarm which keeps coming on which shows there's a problem with the E.S.P. mechanism (described in greater detail in an earlier post, after we had visited another National Trust property at Ascott a few months ago.) What were we to do? Were we to continue with our journey, or find somewhere to draw into at the side of the motorway and wait for a recovery vehicle to come and rescue us as the signs kept on telling us on the boards all along the section of roadworks on the M1? There seemed no option but to pull over between the cones which sectioned off the lane which would in another situation been the hard shoulder which is intended for breakdowns. This is what we did and fortunately we have our own breakdown cover with Swinton insurance. I used my mobile to call for assistance which took a long time to connect. By the time I'd done this a breakdown truck had arrived and we had to be taken off the motorway at junction 16 and left in a truck-stop lay-by which fortunately had a pub where we could get a drink and a sandwich as well as very convenient toilets. We had to re-arrange the breakdown rescue from Swinton as they had been directed to collect us from the motorway. We we then informed that it would be a good two hours before they could arrive. But by then we were relieved to have been rescued from the motorway roadside as it was somewhat nerve -wracking, to say the least. Not something I would ever want to repeat, even though the traffic was moving at 50 m.p.h. through the roadworks it was still extremely heavy-flowing and dangerous. I have never, in all my driving career of some 45 years or so, broken down on a motorway and had to be rescued. Indeed, I think in all that time I have perhaps had no more than three callouts or had to use my car insurance for some incident. The rescue truck did eventually arrive and the car was lifted up onto the back of the truck and we were taken home. A very upsetting and annoying end to what had started out as such a pleasant day out and, considering what had happened to the car exactly a week ago in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne not something we had anticipated happening again. The driver who took us back to Milton Keynes had a look at the car when it had been delivered safely onto our driveway and said he thought it could be the head gasket that had caused the problem.