Monday round-up

Hello and good Monday morning, all,

I hope you are all doing OK. For anyone who's joined the community over the past week, a warm welcome and be assured we're a friendly bunch of people here with inside knowledge of how challenging Caring is. So please join in and make yourself known to us and ask if you need help, or share your knowledge with us!

Today, for me, is one of the dreaded days of the year. Never mind what actual date it falls on. It's the annual torture of the car's MOT test.

My husband likes to stick with the garage and dealership where we first bought the vehicle, some time ago now, so there's an annual 20 mile pilgrimage there, always tinged with some fear that it will fail its test or a hefty repair bill will be coming our way.

In happier times we often have a day out doing some shopping, and a pub lunch while waiting for it to be ready, but this year with nothing to entice us to stay out, we asked for a courtesy car to get us home and return us later.

So far, so good...... but isn't it awful how things will sometimes compound to try and derail your plans, and inevitably, that happened to us today.

We were delighted to be directed to an almost new vehicle to borrow and gleefully climbed aboard and set out for home. Only half way there the low fuel alarm started to beep. There was some pretty strong language from us both as we'd hoped the garage would have provided enough fuel to get us home and back again.

So we detoured to Costco with the intention of putting in a little fuel and do some retail therapy to cheer us up.

At the pumps we discovered no trace of information as to the fuel to be used! A hunt for booklets, stickers, fuel cap revealed nothing, and in desperation we opted to call the garage. The receptionist looked it up and said flippantly that 'of COURSE it was a petrol vehicle. Couldn't we tell?' Well, yes, it drove like one, but would she have been happy if we assumed that and put petrol in a diesel vehicle? I think not!

Happily back in charge of ourselves we went to park up at the warehouse. "Let me just check I can get this into reverse" said my husband. Well, he couldn't! Not for a good ten minutes anyway, while we checked for cuffs, levers, buttons, anything, that would give us reverse! Consequently we've been out for most of the morning.

However I think we have it all under control now, and please wish us luck with our bill!

I hope you've all had a nicer start to your Monday. Does anyone have snow?

[Lynd]

Twenty miles is a long way to go, I am so glad our garage is within walking distance. Keeping fingers crossed it passes MOT with no problem.x

[Hidden in reply to Lynd]

Hi Lynd, Yes I'd love it to be closer! I'll make sure our next vehicle comes from somewhere closer! The good news is it's passed it's MOT and we're just awaiting the courtesy wash now and we're good to go!

[Lynd in reply to Hidden]

Good news.Mine passed too in November.

Happy days x

[sassy59]

Hello Callendersgal, I’m so pleased your car actually passed its MOT. That’s such a relief.

Hope you had a good weekend. Any snow? We’ve had a light dusting but nothing else since. Our grandsons were very excited this morning though,

Hoping everyone is doing as well as possible and want to wish you all a good week.

Stay safe and warm. Take care xxx👍🥰😊

[Hidden in reply to sassy59]

Glad to hear there's not enough snow to be an inconvenience sassy59. Children tend to view it very differently to adults and I'm only sorry for them that it's such a rare thing these days. Have a good week too! ⛄️❄️😃🌈🙏 xxx

[Sara_2611]

yes we have snow in middleton -its snowing but not laying. I remember the times when i had my car & I rememeber when it failed its MOT 3 times so I was stuck without transport -thankfully (well i say thankfully) i was living with a partner then so he transported me to places I needed to go until i got it back- then the next time it went in for its MOT it PASSED FIRST TIME THANK GOD so I was releived

[Hidden in reply to Sara_2611]

It always makes you very tense when waiting for the outcome Sara_2611 👍😊

[Hidden]

Busy start to the week here with an early morning walk first thing and its great how the mornings are getting lighter, listening to music and been busy with future learn as well and having a leisurely afternoon today as a reward!

That's one of my hated things in life is when you have psyched yourself up to do something only to have it result in nothing!

It does seem bleak with no pubs and cafes to sit in at present.

[Hidden]

Hi catgirl1976, I just noticed myself that the evenings have lengthened a tiny bit. It's always a lovely reminder that spring's on the way, even when the weather's as cold as it is at the moment. It can be really hard to have nothing much to focus on which is what's happening with lots of us at the moment, me included. But it does help if you can factor in the things that we are allowed to do, like a daily walk in the fresh air, or some time with a hobby.

But it doesn't alter the fact that life is a bit bleak at the moment. We aren't as naive as we were during the first lockdown. We somehow saw life returning to something more normal, but this time around we know it's not quite that simple. But stay cheerful. You've done a fantastic job of that so far, so don't give up now!

[Goldenanny in reply to Hidden]

Good morning all .... so glad your car passed it’s MOT Callendersgal 😆my daughter learnt a lesson the hard way last week with her MOT. She always goes to the same local family garage but she took up an offer where the MOT was £20 off at another garage in the town only to find it sadly failed and needed £500 worth of work. 😳 She explicitly told the garage not to change the oil and filter unless it passed as it could need scrapping but they charged £80 for this. She took the car to our usual local garage and they said the work would cost £200 and then told her to take it back to the other garage within 10 days for a FREE retest which she did. It passed 👍👍 she saved herself £200. The moral of the story is something that looks like a bargain could end up a big loss and thankfully our local family garage were happy to help and were not offended! She’ll be sticking with them in future.

I know what you mean Callendersgal about missing the welcome things we took for granted. We have what we call “the soul patrol” where we travel to our family cemeteries with flowers one full day every few weeks (about 70 miles round trip to three cemeteries) and then on returning home treat ourselves to a lovely tea and a few drinks at a nearby village pub. We then have a good chat about family and talk to the locals. It is not a depressing day but a very happy one but we cannot travel so far during the lockdown.

We really miss visiting our grandchildren who cheer us up and are looking forward to the birth of a new grandchild next week (the daughter whose car was MOTd ). It is their first child after many years together so the family are so excited and we have something happy to look forward to. Keep safe and well everyone 🥰🥰

[Hidden]

Oh commiserations to your daughter Goldenanny. It's one of the major reasons we chose to travel to our dealership. They are inclined to be a little more expensive, but they've learned to know us well and on occasions have even done minor repairs cost-free. In a normal year it's been almost a social occasion with lots of coffee and biscuits and when we'd been shopping I'd always share with our friendly receptionist where we'd been, what we had for lunch and the new outfit I'd bought. Of course it was a cheerless exchange this year so let's hope by next that things are a bit cheerier!Your 'soul patrol' sounds so good! I think it's a lovely idea to continue to honour the memories of your departed loved ones in this way! And to treat it as a pleasant occasion, just as you would have if they were still here physically.

Pleased to hear that you've got something exciting on the horizon with the arrival of a new grandchild. We really need t cling on for dear life to any pleasure that comes our way at the moment!

Take care and stay safe 🙏😊👍