The 306 trundles on! So far my money-saving plan is going pretty well. The Pug gets over 500 miles to a tank, which is at least 300 more than the RX8 did. Sure, it tops out at 100 (and feels decidedly ropey above 90!) but in doing the job of transporting me from A to B without costing me the earth, it’s doing a great job.
What’s more, it’s coped with over 3500 miles in the last four weeks alone. Unfortunately, the concept of ‘zero maintenance’ seems to have passed by the wayside.
As mentioned the other week, the radiator appears to have a little leak. However, I can report that chucking a small packet of Radweld into it appears to have plugged it up. How long it’ll last, however, is anyone’s guess.
There was heavy rain the other day driving down the M18, heavy enough to necessitate the use of the ‘fast’ wiper settings. However, this vigorous wiper use revealed a hidden horror of the vehicle – the rear and front passenger wipers were held on with (very well concealed) zip ties! After a few minutes, the wipers were scraping the window as opposed to removing rain. A new set of wipers ran to 20 quid from Halfrauds. Bugger.
So, it’s been a couple of weeks with the bargain basement 306, and I’ve spent enough time with it to find its faults – we’ll see how much more falls off in the coming weeks.
The radiator seems to have a leak. I’ve had to top the beast up with water a couple of times in the last three weeks. A red light flickers on the dashboard when the water level drops below a certain level in the system. Topping this up seems to cure the light for a week or so. I read on t’interweb that 306′s have a tendancy to eat radiators, and with age and mileage, they tend to leak at the bottom of the radiator. From a quick inspection this seems to be where my water is leaking from.
I can find a replacement radiator off eBay for about 40 quid, and I think i could make a reasonable crack at fitting it myself – the DTurbo is a purely mechanical beast, no crazy engine electrics or anything, but this car is supposed to be ‘zero maintenance’ for me, so I’m tempted to just chuck a can of Radweld in the rad and see how it goes…
I know, I know, I know. I’m as disappointed in myself as you all must be. What a bastard, not updating the blog for a whole week.
Well, that’s well and truly broken the New Year’s resolution. Damnit.
As it happens, the last week has been very busy, and has had some ups as well as downs. There was a ‘shock’ announcement at work, David came to visit us, and Aimee learned how to point to the various parts of ones body in the “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” song! Such a busy life!
Anyhow, David came to visit and stay for the weekend, which was great. We’re doing some preliminary investigations into how feasible it might be for us to ‘tank’ out our cellar, and make it a livable room. Presently, the floor is laid with bricks – David dug some up and discovered that there’s just bare soil underneath – so it might be possible for us to rip the bricks out and get a proper floor laid.
In other news – last week, my employers decided to announce the closure of the office I work from, and relocate all staff to their head office some 45 miles away. This is somewhat surprising and certainly disappointing news, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t totally unexpected.
Up nice and early to get to work on time to meet the engineer I’m assisting on-site. Gotta love working on Saturdays.
It’s dull work, but it’s stuff that needs doing and it’s the kind of thing that can only really be done when you haven’t got 300 users sitting on the network you’re in the midst of tearing apart.
Get things done and dusted for about 1pm, and head back home. Catriona is visiting for the day and when I arrive back Aimee is entertaining her new visitor.
After Aimee’s bedtime we crack out the Xbox and Wii. Not played on the Wii for ages, really. We have a bash at the Mario and Sonic at the Olympics game, and it’s great fun with the three of us playing – exhausting too! The gameplay harks back to the days of joystick waggling on Daley Thompson’s Decathlon and Summer Games on the Commodore 64!
British Summer Time steals an hour of my sleep tonight, and I won’t get it back til October. Bah.
A day spent in the drizzly, cold Docklands. Installed the kit I was in town to sort out and then popped over to Harbour Exchange for my delayed meeting.
The meeting goes well and fairly quickly, and I’m left with three hours to kill before my late train back. I’d much rather get open returns, but one must always count the pennies when dealing with expense claims!
I figure that it wouldn’t be too much of a wait if I made my way over to St Pancras, and sip a couple of quiet ones at the Baby Betjeman, where I could use the wireless and get on with some stuff. So, I make my way back across town and just miss the 5pm mad-dash – which was nice.
However, disaster strikes. The Baby Betjeman is no more. It has ceased to be. Bereft of life, it lies in peace. Well. It’s closed, anyhow. All that’s left is the giant parasol and a chalk noticeboard saying that they’ve closed up because the ‘proper’ Betjeman pub is nearing completion – at the end of April! Bollocks.
The only other option is the on-platform ‘Champagne Bar’, which is entirely as pretentious as it sounds. I find a seat by the bar and order a cup of tea, in true British stiff-upper-lip style. However, tea doesn’t last 2 hours and curiosity gets the better of me, and after supping my (rather bland) tea I take a look at the drinks menu.