Car Crazy

Those of you that follow me on Twitter and FB know that this last month has been a litany of car trouble...


Firstly the service was delayed by 24 hours as they were short staffed...


Then they needed to get parts to fix bits....


Then they tried to repair chips on the windscreen and cracked it...


Then the mechanic dropped a bolt whilst replacing the sump and they had to start over, delaying collection by 24 hours...


My windscreen was replaced after I moved to new house:

the mechanic accidentally drove off with my car keys in his tool box...

Then my oil light came on amber so I took car to garage and found out that my brand new sump was cracked and therefore car undrivable! It took several days before I got it back...

And now I've discovered that in heavy rain the passenger footwell is flooding so the windscreen replacement has obviously not been done correctly....

Just wish I could get by without a car but need it for getting kids to school and to run my business....

As easy as riding a bicycle?

Not as far as my kids are concerned!!


It all started off so well a fortnight ago when I decided kids could cycle the less than a mile to our new church as they were looking so confident... Then DS managed to fall off/crash 4 times in the first 1/4 mile... made him lose all confidence and I carried his bike for much of the way there. DD faired much better and arrived in one piece.


The journey home was better for DS with no accidents but DD misjudged a driveway on the pavement and took a minor tumble. She had no ill effects and shot off so fast she took a wrong turn on our estate and went round in circles for quite a while.....


So back to today time to try again. This time both keen to go but DS whined all the way there and made me either place a hand on his back or the handlebars all the way there. DD a bit too cautious at road crossings after her previous spill and dismounted every time.


Just before church there is a yellow box junction crossing with traffic lights across main road into Kendal. On previous trip kids had cycled safely across diagonally before lights changed. Today DD decided she needed to push hers... resulting in her entangling the stabiliser from her bike in brother's wheel stranding us smack bang in middle of road! At this point she ran off abandoning me to untangle bikes and remove DS to safety. Another dad did run out to rescue us as it looked quite hairy.


Return trip I had to again give DS a hand all the way back to our estate. DD was looking off centre and I kept trying to get her to sit with her bottom in the middle of the saddle - but she wouldn't listen. Eventually she did straighten up and it made her much more stable and she shot off confidentally. DS only let me let go once we were back on our estate and then sailed off quite happily:

Here's hoping that it's 3rd time lucky in a fortnight when we try and cycle there again!

Home Sweet Home

Hello have you missed me?


Well I am finally settling nicely into my new home with the kids. Its not all gone smoothly but we are here and feeling very much happier.


In the end I had to upgrade to a 7.5 tonne lorry and drive it myself!! This was initially scary but was quite good fun on the motorway. I had a great loading crew in Hastings and in fact got away earlier than expected. The journey was pretty awful due to the worst traffic for a long time on the M25 meaning I reached my parents' house after midnight. My kids were so pleased to find mummy had appeared during the night...


It felt really strange getting keys to the empty house on the Saturday. There was still the smell of fresh paint as they had touched up all the walls etc. My lovely landlady and her parents had left me house warming presents including a bird feeding table, wine and biscuits. Being in a house that wasn't cluttered or in need of a string of unfinished DIY to be completed felt heavenly.


My unloading crew of aunt, uncle, cousin plus his lady made short work of unloading the furniture and re-assembling them. The empty house was soon looking like a home as beds, chests of drawers, ladderax and book case all came in. My aunt had a the job of unpacking all my books and that made me smile as some had been languishing in boxes for 7 years!


The kitchen proved to be a minor problem as the storage is much less than my previous one. Half of the crockery and glassware had to be packed back up and taken back to my parents. On the Sunday night we emptied the remaining boxes into my parents' garage so that the lorry could go south on the Monday.


My dad accompanied me back down and helped to move the remaining wanted items to the ground floor. We eventually got my allegedly fixed car from garage, loaded it up and headed north on the Tuesday lunch time. 


We were finally able to move in on the Wednesday and since then have been getting ourselves sorted and finding our feet in a new town. We have also sneaked in a long medieval weekend down south combined with a transit van to get the last of our possessions from Hastings!


The kids and I are starting to make new friends through our new church and with the neighbours in our close. Most of the neighbours are young families so we fit in quite well. Being able to cycle out the front and draw in chalk on the road is really appealing to the kids.


I probably won't get the house finally sorted until the kids are both at their new schools but we are able to have room to play, cook and relax. The amount of paperwork involved in moving house when in the midst of a divorce and on benefits is horrendous but hopefully its all nearly done.


Looking forward to our new lives up here in a lovely house close to my family and making a fresh start for us all.


Sorry for lack of photos but laptop failure means I'm still not fully back to speed ;-)