Transportation blues.....

We've had extremely hot weather recently. The weekend was difficult as I have a hot little house. Its better if we can open the back door for a through breeze but last year, the door blew back on its hinges in a strong wind and developed a large crack. So we jammed it closed and it hadn't been opened since.

I stuck it out at home on the Saturday but on Sunday, as it was just as hot, I relented and took the boys down the public pool. My car has an overheating problem but I refilled the water and it seemed okay. We enjoyed a pleasant couple of hours at the pool. I had made popcorn and mixed juice at home so that I wouldn't have to buy snacks. We drove home and almost nearing town on the freeway my car was making a lot of engine tappet noise. As I stopped at the traffic lights, the car cut out. Freaking out a bit, I snapped on my hazard lights and popped open the bonnet. Dael got out to check and the cap of the water bottle had come off from the pressure and disappeared. He eventually found the cap further down in the motor and we refilled the water bottle and limped to the garage. At the garage, Dael and friend S refilled the water bottle several times and cooled the engine by throwing water over it (which is apparently the wrong thing to do) and eventually we moved off again. As we travelled through town and neared home, my oil buzzer came on. Now the last time that happened, I had to have my whole engine cleaned out as the oil was clogging and not flowing freely. I was really worried that I had blown my cylinder head or something.

Once home, I phoned my brother, and he dutifully arrived with his steel glue. He discovered that the sensor on top of the water bottle was split and this was not only causing water to flow out but was also not sending a message for my fan to switch on and thus causing my engine to overheat. Anyway long story short story, he wasn't able to fix it with the glue, took the part away to buy another part and I ended up using the spare car for work on Monday.

I drove the spare car the whole day and it was fine. I did hear a bit of a rumbly noise like something rolling round in the boot but otherwise no problems. I drove up the driveway in the evening and ended up parking on a sloping part of the drive behind my brother's bakkie as he was already there. Kind soul that he is, he had bought parts and installed them and was fixing my back door so that we can now open it.

Dael reversed the spare car down the drive again so that my brother could get out and when he changed gear to accelerate down the road, he discovered that the car wasn't driving. The drive shaft had come out on one side. Anyway that car is also still on the road as Dael and my brother were unable to fix it and I'm going to have to get it towed to the top of the driveway as I don't think my neighbour wants the car in a corner of his driveway forever!

On Monday, I had a callback from a job advertisement that I had applied for on behalf of Dael. It seemed quite suitable, working with tarpaulins, good hours, basic pay. Unfortunately the workshop is situated a bit out of the way for me as Brad's school and my work are in the opposite direction from the workshop and there's a considerable amount of traffic build-up at that time of the morning. Although Dael would have been taken on, I had to decline. There was a bit of negativity from those I spoke to. "But can't you just do this..." "There's not much out there..." I told them when Dael has his own vehicle he can work wherever he wants but as long as I'm the transporter, he will have to find a job in an area that suits my schedule. Its tough at the top hey!

His friend who has been staying with us for the month of January has been called in this week to train as a waiter so that's positive. Dael had also applied but he doesn't have experience as a waiter. So he's still at home and we're still looking for that elusive job for him that suits all of us.