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Assiduously contemplating kittens
Apr. 25th, 2006 01:45 pmKittens.
They're very fluffy.
They gambol in a tranquil fashion.
They will relax my brain.
Which is in sore need of being relaxed, since today I was collected at 10am by a Man with a Van to collect all my possessions from Cheltenham. We got in the van, and proceeded down to just before Royston. At which point a car from VOSA pulled in in front of us with a 'FOLLOW ME' sign flashing, and led us into a layby (http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=535375&y=242250&z=3&sv=535375,242250&st=4&ar=Y), whereupon a VOSAn declared that the van was leaking diesel to the extent that it was unfit to travel on Her Majesty's highway.
This was apparently due to loose nuts on the fuel-lines; Andy the driver had no suitable spanner, but fortunately this was a layby into which many commercial vehicles had been pulled (generally on account of inadequate tires), and some of them had spanners in the boot. After half an hour, I phoned home and asked Dad to collect me; twenty minutes after that Andy claimed to have fixed the van, ten minutes after *that* Dad appeared, and I said that I wanted to continue to Cheltenham with Andy in the hope of getting this all over and done with. Twenty minutes after that, documentation stating that the van was only so broken as to be unfit to travel on HM's highway from next Tuesday appeared.
Unfortunately, while tightening the fuel lines with a variety of spanners of not quite the right size, Andy had managed to break the brake line, and the now-brakeless van was once again declared unroadworthy.
I walked into Royston, caught the train back to Cambridge, had a sandwich at an expensive station cafe, and caught a taxi into work. It was at least a healthier way of wasting a half-day of holiday than the traditional one of waiting for a man not to deliver a television.
Trying again Friday. Hoping my bad karma for the week has been used up. Contemplating the Buddha of Tranquillity.
They're very fluffy.
They gambol in a tranquil fashion.
They will relax my brain.
Which is in sore need of being relaxed, since today I was collected at 10am by a Man with a Van to collect all my possessions from Cheltenham. We got in the van, and proceeded down to just before Royston. At which point a car from VOSA pulled in in front of us with a 'FOLLOW ME' sign flashing, and led us into a layby (http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=535375&y=242250&z=3&sv=535375,242250&st=4&ar=Y), whereupon a VOSAn declared that the van was leaking diesel to the extent that it was unfit to travel on Her Majesty's highway.
This was apparently due to loose nuts on the fuel-lines; Andy the driver had no suitable spanner, but fortunately this was a layby into which many commercial vehicles had been pulled (generally on account of inadequate tires), and some of them had spanners in the boot. After half an hour, I phoned home and asked Dad to collect me; twenty minutes after that Andy claimed to have fixed the van, ten minutes after *that* Dad appeared, and I said that I wanted to continue to Cheltenham with Andy in the hope of getting this all over and done with. Twenty minutes after that, documentation stating that the van was only so broken as to be unfit to travel on HM's highway from next Tuesday appeared.
Unfortunately, while tightening the fuel lines with a variety of spanners of not quite the right size, Andy had managed to break the brake line, and the now-brakeless van was once again declared unroadworthy.
I walked into Royston, caught the train back to Cambridge, had a sandwich at an expensive station cafe, and caught a taxi into work. It was at least a healthier way of wasting a half-day of holiday than the traditional one of waiting for a man not to deliver a television.
Trying again Friday. Hoping my bad karma for the week has been used up. Contemplating the Buddha of Tranquillity.
