Opinion Australia

There I was rushing about this morning to get the kids off to school. I’d booked the car in for 9:00 a.m. for it’s 48,000 k service and wanted to get in and out quickly.

Kids were dropped off and I zoomed away. I made good time despite it being early in the morning and got to the service station at 8:30 a.m. Whoohoo!!

I pull into the reception area and up walks an agent. We exchange pleasantries… I pass the keys over noting there was a nice little cafe attached and decided it would be a good place to wait. I asked how long it would take expecting an answer of an hour or two.

“Ooohh…” says he… “should be completed at about 4:00 p.m.”. After I picked my jaw up off the ground I asked him to repeat it. He says “Well it *is* a major service. It needs to be examined from one end to the other”.Oh joy. I was expecting to be able to get back to take the kids to their guitar and singing lessons… but it was not to be.

Luckily this particular service station is a twenty minute walk from Penrith town centre, so despite the drizzle, and the pain in my knee and hip… I went walking… and walking… and walking.

I walked to the town, I walked round the shops, I walked up, walked down, walked around… and then go a phone call from the Service station telling me that Leaseplan (who are financing the purchase and ‘taking care of’ little things like maintenance, insurance and rego) say they’ve never heard of the car despite them having authorised services for the past year or so. I tell them to check again… and contact the wife who sets the ball rolling to get the company to sort out the issue… and I again start walking, this time back to the service station just in case there is a *real* issue that needs to be sorted.

I arrive at 2:00 p.m…. the ‘problem’ was that the agent had given the lease company the rego numbers in reverse…!! I kid you not!! Once he passed them on in the right order all was well… except he didn’t bother to call me to *tell* me that! Does this mean they will speed up the service? Nope. I still had to wait… for two more hours.

Eventually it was completed… and to be fair the car is in much better nick mechanically than it was and I’m quite happy to go there again… except I wish I’d asked how long it would be *before* I drove merrily into the glue

I hate blood tests. I think I’m allergic to pain This time I’m not even sure what they were for, though I’m sure Stephen Parsons does. Results in a week or two when I go back to see him… in the meantime… plodding on with ‘stuff’.

About to clear out the car so it’s ready for it’s service tomorrow morning. Already filled with petrol so all I need do is drop the kids off and zoom away.

It’s hard to believe a car could become *so* messy with just the kids in it… but in the past I’ve taken 6 carrier bags full of rubbish out of the car and while this time it isn’t as bad, it ain’t good! Why they seem to think it’s ok to just dump stuff on the floor is beyond me. It’s not for the want of telling!

Grrr…..

Well inside is a tip. Outside is looking a little better… as it should be after the time I’ve spent out there! I had to mow the lawns again yesterday despite having only mowed it last weekend! Seems bizarre really… you feed and water it, then cut it short. May just as well leave it in peace and never cut it at all!

Also spread a general fertiliser over the garden beds and pots and had to water it all down. It looks ok as far as I’ve gone but the big bed on the left of the house (as you look at it) is still a mess. I decided it needs replanting so after Xmas will go looking for bushes rather than bedding plants and just fill it up.

Something that produces lots of colour through the summer would be nice so I’ll have to look in the garden centres to see what suits our locality.

Not yet though.. loads to do *inside* as well!