6.45am - Sleep deprivation. My mum had rung me from Spain (where she lives) and I finally got to turn out the light at 1am, after much chatting and being told to look after myself. So when my alarm went off I wasn’t really ready to get up and face the day.
7.35am - EXTREMLY slow driver. I was five minutes out of the house and travelling a fairly quick clip when I came up behind a very slow driver. Now when I say slow, I mean SLOW. He/she was driving at a whopping 60kph in a 100 zone. Now granted it was a little foggy, unfortunately it was foggy enough that I couldn’t overtake safely. So I was stuck behind this w**ker for over 20km’s. Adding a lot of time to my carefully planned morning.
8.30am – Late. I was late for my appointment, however the news I received was good. Although I still have polycystic kidney disease (that will never go away) I have low carlesterol, my blood pressure is stable and my kidneys are working as they should be. Woohoo!
9.15am – Post office balls up. I had to lodge a large amount of letters at the PO. Now, as a volunteer, I edit a newsletter every 3 months. It is a lot of hard work, and seems to be getting harder. The committee insist I use the ‘account’ to send them out, but no one has been able to give information about this ‘account. So with work and some considerable investigation skills on my part I have done the best I can. Today I went to lodge them. Only the PO I went to (and had approval from the head office) had no record of me. I was there for 45 minutes, but the newsletter got posted. At some point today I was going to get to work. Just before getting back into the car to drive to work, I brought myself some food (California rolls) and a freshly made Carrot, Pineapple and Ginger juice.
10.30 – Road Rage. On the F3 freeway, travelling south bound for Sydney. Travelling at 110 – 115 kmph (110 speed limit) in the inside lane. Got a twit on my outside who is pacing me, but when I’m behind, slows. So I try to overtake. Still pacing me. Guy in the car behind speeds up and gets so close I can see his nose hair in the rear view mirror. I put my foot on the pedal on the right to speed up and …NOTHING!In fact, I start to slow!I press the hazard light button and quickly indicate to go to the hard shoulder (breakdown lane). Nosehairs, starts shout and waving, I behave out of character and give him the finger. Pacer, speeds up and takes off and I slowly drift over the shoulder.Once there I try look at the dash, all lights on; engine, battery, petrol, heat, everything! I turn the engine over. Voom Voom Voom.But it doesn’t start.I get out and nearly get swept of my feet by the passing B-Double (very f**king big truck), the car shakes. I start to walk back the way I came, towards the emergency phone. I get there, a police car stops and the driver ask if I am OK. I say ‘Yeah, just gonna call NRMA.’ He offers to stay and wait while I find out how long it will be. After the phone I tell him, ‘I have to wait for a tow truck to come and move me to a safe spot, them NRMA with come and look, them what ever happens after that.’‘OK, be safe, and wait behind the car, not in front.’ He waves and is gone.
I walk back to my car, open the boot and get out my book. Then I retrace my steps until I am about 20m behind my car, in a dip in the rock wall and have somewhere to escape to in case of a car or truck leaving the carriageway.I open my book and start to read. For a Sydney summers day it is surprisedly cool, and I thank the sky for keeping the rain in the clouds. I wait and I read. I read a true story about a 23 year old and his time in rehab. It is touching and for someone how has never taken drugs, humbling. The tow truck arrives fifty minutes after I lost power and as the boy in the book cries for the first time.The tow truck is only allowed to move me and my car to a ‘safe place’, in this case, about 7 km further down the freeway. He drops me off and tells me NRMA should be along soon.I get out, I read and I wait.
1300 – Drive belt buggered. NRMA arrived, just as the boy in the book realises he is ‘f**ked up and out of control’. I’m busting for a pee, gagging for a drink. It still hasn’t rained, but the clouds are still thick and threatening. I explain what happened, tell him about conversation with my service centre (which incidentally the car spent Thursday and Friday with). He tested the Alternator, not that. Then a bit more poking and prodding until the drive belt was revealed to be shredded.
‘Your cam belts stuffed.'
‘Can you fix it?’
‘Nope, got to be done in the workshop, good 4 hours work, gotta take out the radiator to get to it.’
‘Ohh, that’s not too bad.’
‘Well, not if that’s the only problem. If the pistons carried on moving after it went, they could have touched the valves, if they did, you could have more problems.’
‘Ahh!’
‘You’ll have to wait for the tow truck to take you.’
‘Ahh!’
‘I’ll call him and let him know to come and get you.’
‘Thanks!’
We said our good-byes, and I read and I waited.
1415 – Hello Again. The same tow truck arrived as the boy in the book revealed he doesn’t believe in God and never will. I tend to agree with him.
1430 – Service centre. I stand in the service centre, my car in the background having a man looking under the bonnet and shaking his head. That can’t be good. The guy on reception tells me they will have to have a detailed look before he can give me a price or ETA. I give him my contact details and leave.I walk to the train station and the ticket machine is out of order. There is a queue with about twenty people in it and my train is sat on the platform. The next one in 15 minutes, I join the back of the queue and open my book.
1500 – A long ride. It’s the middle of the day. That means all trains stop at all stations. As the train clatters over the sleeps and tracks, I read more about James and his addictions.
1550 – Food. I realised, I haven’t eaten or had anything to drink since ten this morning. I stop between the station and the office. Yeap, I’m still heading for the office! I get a Tandoori Chicken salad and a lemon, lime and orange fizzy drink. As I walk out of the shop I slip and land on my knees. Bam! I scrape my arm on the pavement.
1605 – My desk, really late. What the f**k I am doing!
1610 – Blog. I write it, I post it. On the plus side of my day, I have learnt pretty much all women drivers get sacred when they breakdown on the freeway (the tow truck driver was impressed with my fortitude), the train takes an age to travel 20kms during the afternoon, people do help you when you fall arse over tit in the street and the boy in the book got clean and stayed that way.
1744 - After looking busy for just under two hours i'm going home. I've had a horrid day!
