Day 309 - Friday
Today I had the day off work. I won ages ago a night's stay at Hilton St Anne's Manor house and Spa down in Wokingham we were due to go for my mum's birthday in July but due to my sister's dad dying and us having my niece who was very poorly at the time we had to cancel and rebook.
Anyways we were pretty excited about going - we dropped the hound off to my aunty Kath's at 11.30 - then we went to Morrisons - got some sarnies and some pop for the journey, filled up with petrol and headed off.
Everything was going pretty well - it's about 2 hours drive from Cardiff - at around an hour and 15 into the trip I stopped at the services for us to have a wee and a break.
This is then when things went wrong!
As I was pulling out of the services (driving around 5mph I might add) I hit the worlds biggest pot hole. Something went CRUNCH but the car seemed okay so back on the motorway.
Driving in the outside lane at around 80mph and the abs light comes on, then the airbag light comes on. I panic a bit and move into the middle land and drop down to 70mph. Then every single light comes on the dashboard, check engine, oil etc etc. I move into the slow lane and the car starts to lose power! The wipers stop, the indicators stop, nothing electrical works not even the hazards, I manage to glide onto the hard shoulder as the car completely gives up the ghost.
I panic slightly - no hazards and visibility is very poor and trucks are getting very very close to the car. It's pouring with rain too! I climb out of the car by climbing out the passenger side (there's no way to get out the drivers side!) the car is half over the line into the traffic. Its stupidly loud and scary. I get my mum to sit in the passenger seat and steer whilst I push the car from the passenger side so we manage to get it completely onto the hard shoulder and away from the traffic - phew!
Called RAC - thankfully we have full cover. They take 45 mins to get to us - its still pouring with rain so we are sat in the car but on the passenger side with the seat belts on in case it gets hit although now its right the way over the hard shoulder there's less risk. The RAC guy takes 5 mins to tell me he thinks its the alternator - which he bashes with a big metal stick a few times - he said that sometimes they seize up and a good bashing gets them running again? but it didnt work :( so he then fits a generator to the battery via cables which he feeds through my window into the car. I have to drive the car being run by the generator down to a RAC approved garage in Swindon. I get t the garage and its gonna cost £288 to repair the car - ouch!
I have no money everyone knows this - my mum has the money but it's in a savings account not in a debit account which you can only access via going into the bank - its 3.30pm we are not gonna be able to get to the bank arrrggghhhh. Finally I call my dad and he agrees to pay on his card - he's due down next week so my mum will pay him back when he is down and I will pay her back when I get paid in 2 weeks.
At the garage they say it will take an hour to be done...we sit in a waiting room stinking of paint/oil fumes and it takes until around 5.45 pm to get fixed. Thankfully my dad is able to pay over the phone and the car is working and we are ready to go - except it's rush hour and we are stuck in Swindon and starving so we drive around the corner to Tesco where they have a Giraffe restaurant - it was crazy expensive to be honest £30 for 2 dinners, 2 diet cokes and a side of onion rings! ouch but at this point we had enough and just wanted to chill.
We left Swindon at 6.45pm and got back onto the motorway - it's around 55minutes drive to the hotel so no probs but there is massive tail backs on the motor way...we eventually arrive at the hotel at 9pm! It's pouring with rain it's really not a good start we just want to get into our room and go to bed!
Check-in was really easy and the hotel itself was lovely. We literally got into our room and crashed out boo
Today's positive? I'm really struggling to find one - it started out so well but then everything just went wrong and got worse! I guess I am glad my dad was able to pay for the car to get fixed otherwise I would have had to get taken back home via a tow truck!
Day 310 - Saturday
After a good nights sleep we could kinda laugh about yesterday in a OMG WTF kinda way!
Anyways - our room included breakfast so we got up in time for that - best hotel breakfast ever! literally an amazing selection of food and drinks available.
We also had chance to review the hotel and the room in more detail and it was pretty awesome (my review is right here if your interested with pics and stuff http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g227132-d227163-r325117067-Hilton_St_Anne_s_Manor_Bracknell-Wokingham_Berkshire_England.html)
We also had free jars of jelly beans and nuts in our room. It doesnt take much to make me happy and a free jar of jelly beans does that!
We were supposed to be staying for afternoon tea but when we checked in for it they told us that the restaurant was over booked and it would be served in the bar! We really weren't keen on that. They offered that we could have it in the conservatory but that was pretty full too as there was a large wedding party there. So we ended up cancelling and just going home!
The drive home was uneventful the car ran fine. I managed to drive straight pass my turn off the motorway and ended up going into a different area of cardiff and driving through to get the dog - the dog was happy to see us. Then it was home for a nap before going out shopping as we had nothing in the house.
I came home to 2 parcels one was a Miffy for my niece for xmas and also a book for her so I am really happy with that
Today's positive was the car running fine home - I was slightly freaked it would go wrong again!
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