19 Feb 2013

Car Trouble

Last Friday we ran into a little car trouble.  Which living with a mechanic wouldn't normally be a problem.  However, because I live with a mechanic, we only have one functioning vehicle at the moment.  The out of action vehicle, Juffin's other baby, was supposed to be fixed before the Mushroom came along....

The whole rebuilding engine, living with a mechanic whose car doesn't work, is such a long and boring story, I won't bother recounting the whole thing here.  Needless to say, we rely on my car, to get us all around.  This means dropping off and picking up from work if we want to go anywhere.

Friday's we need the car as we have swimming lessons.  I haven't blogged about swimming yet, but I will, I promise!  The Juffin has just replaced my brakes, airconditioning belt, power steering belt, tyres and radiator, so my car is running like a dream. Or so I thought. I didn't know that all these repairs had recently taken place before this incident.  I don't know anything about cars.  I just thought he was outside avoiding me and doing man things.

We (read I) rush around on Friday morning getting organised for swimming and we're out the door and on our way.  The Mushroom is having a big whinge in the back and thankfully Macklemore and Ryan Lewis comes on and he immediately stops grizzling.  Hallelujah.  Note to self, must buy that CD.  Also, do people still buy CD's anymore?!

We get to the pool and as I'm packing up the burka pram, I notice that there's a weird hissing noise coming from the front of the car.  That's odd, I think to myself, but remember that Juffin has said the brakes will be making funny noises for a few days after putting them on, so just dismiss it and carry on.

Hence the title burka pram... 
Swimming goes really well and the Mushroom is pooped, but still fighting sleep.  Babies are so stupid sometimes!  We make lunch plans with the other Mum's and head out to the car.  I turn it on and pop the Mushroom in his seat with the AC blasting so we can cool the car down.  I put everything away in record time and jump in, excited to get a yummy lunch and hoping that the Mushroom finally conks out.

We get to the end of the road and things start going wrong.  Firstly, I'm dealing with a screaming tired Mushroom in the backseat which makes concentrating on driving a little difficult and secondly the damn air conditioning has stopped working.  Not cool.  Literally.  The last time this happened, it was the belt that had snapped, but that has just been replaced so it can't be broken already... can it?!

Things go from bad to worse as I turn onto Thuringowa Drive, not only has the aircon stopped working, but the temperature gauge starts rising.  Shhhiiiiittttt!  I'm freaking out.  Mushroom is still wailing in the back and we've got hot, humid air gushing at us from every vent.  I turn off the AC and wind the windows all the way down.  I'm rooting around in my giant bag looking for the headset for the phone and trying to keep calm as the temperature gauge keeps climbing into the red zone and my son screams blue murder in the backseat.

At that moment, someone tries to change lanes, nearly wiping me out.  It's all too much.  I start crying.  With tears streaming I try to call the Juffin but he doesn't answer and I'm not sure what to do.  Risk driving home only to get stuck there and unable to pick up the Juffin from work this afternoon, or drive all the way across town to his workshop?  I pick the workshop.  We live 15 mins away on the highway and I think if I try and go 100km/hr the car will definitely explode.  I pull over to the side of the road and gather my thoughts.  Tears are still streaming and I'm worried about how ill prepared we are for things like this happening.  I'm also well aware that we now have a child and we can't even support ourselves properly so what kind of parents does that make us?  I know that people manage with way less and instead of disintegrating into a blubbering mess, I try and pull myself together.  It's oddly quiet inside the car and that's when I realise that  the Mushroom has finally stopped crying and decided to have a sleep.  I wish I could join him.

We drive at 40km/hr all the way to Juffin's work.  I pull over a couple of times and turn the engine off to let it cool down and then go again.  Thankfully Mushroom sleeps through the whole ordeal.  Doubly lucky is that Juffin works around the corner from a major shopping centre so I park the car under a tree, pull the burka pram out and manage a successful sleeping baby transfer, high five!

As soon as I see the Juffin, I can't help but start crying again, stupid girly hormones! He's rushes over and has an appropriately concerned face which just makes me worse.  I am blubbering and trying to talk at the same time explaining that the car is f**ked, must be the radiator, high temperatures, smoke and we don't have any money, and the other car is still not on the road and someone nearly ran into us, and Mushroom was screaming and I'm hot and tired and I didn't know what else to do.  He tells me to take a breath, calm down and tell him exactly what happened.  I repeat the experience and then remember about the hissing when we got to the pool.  He tells me to leave it with him and go hang out in the shops for a bit.  He kisses me and tells me to call my Mum or something but he'll take care of it.  How is it that he can just cope with shit and I fall apart?!  Infuriating.

We plug on down to the shopping centre, me looking like crap with no makeup, chlorine hair, cry eyes and sunscreen stains on my shirt and the Mushroom happily snoozing away in the pram.  I call my Mum and ask her to come and rescue us, thanking my lucky stars that it's Friday and she's not at work.  So with a rescue plan in place we set up in the foodcourt and I get something to eat.  We hang out in the shopping centre soaking up the AC and waiting for the call from Juffin to tell me that the car is really f**ked and we have to catch the bus from now on... talk about negative Nelly!

In the end my parents come to my rescue just before the Juffin calls and says it was just a hose and it's all fixed.  Unbelievable.  He then informs me that he replaced the radiator a couple of weeks ago so wouldn't have been that... right.  I officially know nothing about cars.  Mum and Dad decide to drive us back around the corner to the car anyway and I'm eternally grateful.  What a couple of stars.

Guess who spent most of the weekend working on car number 2 as a result of our little mishap?  Fingers crossed it's back up and running sometime in the next millennium.  I hate that car so much.     

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