Colin Goes to Carters

So...Colin's MOT...we drove over to Capel on Saturday morning, convoy style (deciding to take the back roads)...first off, when we stopped for petrol Colin just *wouldn't* start again (for love nor money) I ended up having to push his heavy ass away from the petrol pump to try and cheer up the miserable looking queue forming at the station entrance...ten minutes of waiting and re-trying later and he *finally* splutters into life, but we are now worryingly behind schedule so head off at high speed across country, next - a totally suicidal old gentleman with small white dog throws himself in front of Colin by Earlswood lakes, causing Flyingpops to slam on the breaks (so as not to cause his death), we both honk our horns angrily and give the old chap *very* hard stares (trying to to resume normal cardiac rates) then back on the gas, meeting in quick succession 2 horse riders, a large number of tour de France wannabes, a small girl being led along on a very fat pony, 2 more horse riders and finally a man and woman on the back of a large trailer as they whip the tiniest miniature horse I have ever seen (the size of an average dog) who is struggling to drag them up the lane in the extreme heat as the woman flicks him with a long whip...(on reflection the main roads might have been a little less stressful, even though we were running a bit late)...anyway, we dropped Colin off with the owner, Flyingpops telling him that the engine might not start again, and that we are expecting a fail for the welding the other garage had spotted, and then we popped off for a tea and cake in the garage up the road.

Forty-five minutes later (after a little wander around the village), we sit watching the last few tests, and the mechanic feeding the expected red form through his printer and then wait anxiously for the verdict...and...it wasn't too bad, it failed on one break disc (very thin), emissions (but that is likely to be just a tuning issue thanks to the new fuel pump and carb that recently went in), the hazard lights didn't work (but I fixed that there and then with a new fuse), indicators too fast (thought the fuse would fix that too but it didn't) and a dodgy wheel bearing...No welding required at all! The bloke said that he went around the bodywork and chassis 3 times looking for it, thinking he must have missed it! Excellent news!

So we drove Colin over to the RANS household, where Uncle Al had kindly agreed to take a look (and was also expecting to be busy with welding torch, so I think he was pleasantly suprised too)... ;)

Wedding was very enjoyable, excellent sermon and very funny speech from the best man, lovely venue too, and then yesterday such an incredible Grand Prix...I think that is probably the end of Alonso (as far as the team is concerned)...very silly boy...