Thanks for the kind words chaps -& for not calling me a muppet for filling my car with the wrong fuel, (I'm sure someone will now I've said that). PD reckons every 4 seconds someone somewhere misfills their car. bet they're getting fed up with it by now.
Fortunately it's fairly easily rectified & hasn't caused any damage. For those that don't know, last week I bought a sensible commuting car for the 35 mile trip to work from Taz's cottage. Got a 2 year old 1.4 diesel Fiesta. I realised what I'd done staight away. As I was stood there thinking "Hang on, that pump hose should be black, not green", I still had my finger on the trigger, filling the tank. Poo! Had the thing less than a week & on it's first fill up I've buggered it up already. I put 20 quid's worth of unleaded in, on top of about a quarter of a tank of diesel, so at least it was dilluted a bit. I drove it off the forcourt & parked up in an industrial area 100 yards away. Most annoying bit was having to queue up to pay for the fuel I didn't want.
Then it was time to call up the MMMotors International Rescue team.
It's at times like that, that you realise just how lucky you are to have good friends. On my own Id've been completely stuffed. No way of moving the car, no breakdown cover, no way of getting home, no way of getting to work the next day & God knows how much it would've cost to fix or how long it would've taken.
I rang Taz. She dropped everything at work, went straight home & rang the garage I bought the car from. They said it'd be a couple of hours before their recovery truck could pick the car up. So she rang Lunatic. He's been at home ill for the past week, but within 10 minutes he was there to collect me.
More phone calls followed after Taz's brake problems & PD gave up his evening to help, ordering replacement pads from his supplier &, when they failed to arrive, running us to the local Halfords to buy some. Then I knocked on the door of a breakdown/recovery driver I'd met only once or twice before & asked for help. He grabbed his coat & within 10 minutes the car was loaded up & heading for Lunatic's workshop.
Tomorrow afternoon Loony's going to drain my fuel tank & flush the system through & I'll, (hopefully), be back on the road.
This afternoon he drove to Bagshot in Surrey to buy new pads & front discs for the Beemer, (the discs were cracked & the pads worn right down). When he got back we found they'd given him the wrong pads so he's got to go all the way back to return them. Then he set to & stripped the front end, replacing the discs & putting the Halfords pads back on, (they're for a different model but will do the job). Total cost, 87 quid in parts.
So Taz's car is fixed & mine will be tomorrow.
A huge, heartfelt thanks guys. You're all stars. I'm very, very lucky to count you as mates.
Oh, & PD ran out of petrol just as he arrived home last night!
