Another first

[linda_joyce]

I've just had another first in my driving career, at the rate I'm going I'll have had all my first in the first month of driving. While the first time out alone, the first time I've used a petrol pump, the first time I got lost and found myself again and the first time I drove with a passenger were to be expected and welcomed this first was not. I have just spent my first afternoon sitting by the car waiting for the AA man to come and try to fix a break down.

I was going out to by ink for my printer and the car started shuddering when I got up to 45 on the dual carriage way. I calmly got off there on to one of our slow valley raods and about 2 miles further on found a place to park. Thank god for mobile phones, most of the public ones in our valley don't work.

After phoning the car owner, my cousin Beth, she got on to the AA and then had to get a neighbour to bring her to me as she had to be with the car. After 45 mins this lovely yellow van with a very nice man turned up and 30 mins later found the problem. Th gearbox mount had sheared and at high speed the gear box was shaking around in the engine and causing the whole car to shudder. So this led to yet another first, my first trip in a recovery vehicle as he could not make the car safe for us to drive home. And I still haven't got any ink!

Comments

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Sounds expensive, like my last two repairs. It's not your car, is it?

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

No it's not thank goodness. I haven't got a car myself yet, I work in Newport town center and parking there is problematical and expensive the bus is much cheaper and just as quick during the rush hours I would be traveling in so I haven't bothered. I'm using this time to try and save to get something decent without having to get a loan to pay for a car.

Beth has a friend who's a mechanic and will do the repair at cost + a little for labour but not as much as putting it in a garage would cost.

She has been noticing a clunking in that area for about a month but her friend hasn't felt anything when he took it out on test drive so wasn't able to identify exactly what was wrong.

Just my luck for the mount to finally collapse completely when I was driving it.

Th AA man said I did exactly the right thing by getting off the by pass and parking up. The problem could have got much worse if I had continued driving.