The cost of gentrification

I celebrated the Eucharist with eleven others at St John's yesterday morning. I'm following Clare wirh a developing sore throat. I felt well, nevertheless and walked six miles in the afternoon. Frustratingly, today the throat gave way to an unpleasant virus, attacking my lungs and digestive system painfully. I went to bed early after supper, and passed an unpleasant congested night of coughing and spluttering.

In today's post was a notification from the GPO about a letter to be collected from the main depot in Penarth Road, addressed to me, and requiring £2 penalty postage. No idea of who it's from. I drove to the Hadfield Road recycling centre on my way there, to drop off a couple of toxic items and an old blood pressure monitor which has been sitting in the car ready for dumping for the last six months. As I was about to leave one of the site's operatives pointed out that I had a flat tyre. Panic! Another couple of miles to drive back to Quikfit in Canton, and a stopover at the GPO en route. Also, I had timed my journey to end up at the wound clinic by three. Oh dear.

At the GPO, the letter turned out to be a waste of money, someone trying to benefit from a dedicated Freepost item to send me a scrap of paper with a message from Kath in Spanish relating to the first novel in Spanish she sent me last year.. How odd! And two quid down the drain.

I thought it would be safer to try and change the flat tyre for the spare on the GPO forecourt. I was the first time for me to tackle a tyre change on the Polo. I got luck, in that a passing stranger offered his help. As a result I was able to drive straight to the clinic and arrive fifteen minutes late, but five minutes within my time slot! Then, a short drive west up the main street to Quikfit, where a got a new tyre fitted. Having not noticed the deflation, the tyre wall was damaged, and that costs me just under fifty quid - all due to a small screw embedded in the tyre tread.

I think this is the third time in ten years that we've lost a tyre because careless builders and DIY enthusiasts working in the street have not checked for small screws in the gutters before finishing the job. Like it not, neighbours also suffer from neighbourhood gentrification, from builders noise, mess and carelessness.

I went for a walk before supper. I was still fighting against the effects of the virus, but managed just over four miles. Owain arrived to spend his birthday weekend with us. We dined al fresco at Stefano's as it was just warm enough for comfort. I wasn't feeling great, and survived the meal, but left before Owain and Clare, and took myself to bed early again. Such a shame, but with the prospect of a busy Sunday, with Masses at St Saviour's and St Germans, self preservation was vital.

  

A repair and replacement week

After celebrating the midweek Eucharist with ten people at St German's Wednesday morning, I took the car into Canton Quikfit depot to get something done about the exhaust, which sounds like a hole is developing. Later, I had a phone call to say it needed the catalyst replacing, and had to be ordered.  It was going to be expensive. Time to think. At 24 years old the car's scrap value is a hundred pounds, but it's mechanically in good nick and the bodywork surprisingly sound for a car of its age.

Clare's nephew and godson David had expressed an interest in the car's potential and having it when we've finished with it, during our East Anglian birthday party visit, as it would be a worthy candidate for restoration, or customizing for racing if one was so inclined, not that we'd want to take this course but we're minded to hand it on to him when we change cars. It has to be driveable when we do, as he lives in Scotland, so I decided there was no option but to go ahead, spend the money and keep the car for a while longer. 

Thursday afternoon there was another call to say that the catalyst's sensor was also irretrievable due to corrosion. More expense, and delay while the part is ordered. Today, a third call to say that a further pipe section has to be ordered. More cost, more delay until Monday, which means a car-less weekend. The only useable component of the exhaust remaining is the muffler section which Quikfit replaced several years ago. We don't use the car that much. It's only when it's not there at our beck and call that we notice.

Meanwhile, back at the office, the Acer desktop failed yet again to self-repair. It remains stuck in a loop after re-boot, with no error message to indicate the real problem. So, this afternoon I unplugged it, put it back in its packaging and returned to John Lewis'. Rather than a like for like replacement I've decided it's better to go for the HP equivalent, even if we have to wait a few days for one to arrive at the store. In the five weeks since it was purchased, I don't think we've had more than five days use out it. Most disappointing, and such a waste of time, all that machine minding while it pretended to repair itself.