JUST A LITTLE SNIPPIT BLOG

Over past times I have often referred to my lack of computer skills so it will come as no surprise to many of you when I say I hate all things technical!!! What ever happened to being able to fix things with a big hammer and a block of wood? When I look under the bonnet of my car it's a different world, gone are the days when one could strip an engine, grind in the valves ( on the kitchen table, of course) and pop it all back together all on a Saturday afternoon. Oh happy days.

Where is this all leading ? The past few weeks have seen me threatening to throw the laptop in the bin, make phone calls to people I didn't need to and call on the service's of a garage ( it needs connecting to the computer to sort the problem sir) to sort out the heating problems I have had from the start.

Oh and also booking a ferry crossing on line. Still we wouldn't be English if we didn't have something to moan about would we?

But let me take you back to when the snow was deep and crisp and even. Throughout the winter months we have suffered with a lack of warmth in our car it could take for ever to get any heat out of the heating system and even then we were never sure how long it would stay. So in despiration I contacted a friend who knew another friend who knew a man with the right softwear that could read my engine. ( now softwear to me is a nice vest and pants, or maybe a lambs wool pullover. {In a nice pastel color of course} I'll leave you to decide which) and so I parted with 10 lats to have my car read, not to bad I thought!!!! My friend reported back, “Oh dear you have BIG BIG problem” (sharp intake of breath) “ the engine needs big repair's” apparently the cylinder head needed to be taken off as the gasket has blown or there is a crack in the cylinder head and it will need to be replaced!!!! How much? At this moment my mind was watching the Lats clock up like the tills in Tesco's on a Friday night. If it is only the gasket broken then 175 Lats (about 200 pounds) if it is not then who knows????

Let me say here that in the UK it would be a case of now is the time to change the car and let the garage deal with the problem!! Here a bit of a different approach was needed and so biting the bullet I said go ahead and while the job is being done could you change the cambelt. No problem, until I Googled how much it was likley to cost. I had to use a UK site and the cheapest I could find was a 2006 price and that was 350—400 pounds.

Time for a Brandy ( just for medicinal purposes of course)

Surrendering my car key's to the garage I went and lay down in a darkened room whilst they went to work on it. Three days later I collected it and paid the final bill 375 lats inc VAT at 21% and drove away . The moral of this story ? Well perhaps you can come up with one.

P.S.It was just as well I had the car repaired as I was about to embark upon a road trip that would have “Thelma and Louise” on the edge of there seats !!!