Saturday 24 April 2010

Well, the weekends task list had been mounting up all week, and it finally came to the weekend, we knew what we had to do and get sorted but as usual, come 11 am we were still in bed!

Frans yellow SEAT needed some tlc and we had to get her iPhone ringer switch fixed, so after we eventually dragged ourselves out of bed it was off to Brent X to the apple store.

Fran drove the Fez, i was too tired hehe and we managed to park ok despite the car wash people pointing at us and attempting to get the filthy car washed.

Onwards and up to the Apple store, it was PACKED, over to the genius bar and “do you have an appointment”? … erm nope. Ok so we couldn’t just turn up and sort this out so we booked an appointment to come back 2:30!

We made our way back home and wasted no time attempting to start the SEAT, jump leads out, fez bonnet up, car in middle of road, bingo sparks fly and the alarm starts to chirp, we have power!

TO pass the time i plugged in my phone and played starry eyed remix (See our music page) im sure this drained the battery more but we were havin fun in the sun, even a little butterfly joined us, he must of followed us from last week! lol

15 mins later and a few attempts to turn it over the engine finally starts! she lives!! the brakes were still seized up but a few laps round the block and it was sorted!

Next on the list was to clean the damn thing, but no time for that, our apple store appointment was due, Fran jumps in the drivers seat and takes her car for a blast up to brent X.

We make it there in one peice thank god lol and shoot up to the apple store, fran D shown on the plasma tv above the genius bar means its our turn! and thankfully when showing the apple dood, he notices the problem and the resolution is just to give her a brand spanking new iPhone but but but, the info wasn’t totally backed up, so we decided to leave the phone there and come back again on sunday, after the spa!

Hunger kicked in and we went to burger king again, hmmm i love it. But before that, we took a trip to boots…. anyway off we go again back to my house, and the next task was to make the car look a bit more presentable.

We took it to the kosovo style car wash, loads of acid was used to break up the dirt and the car was slowly getting hotter, nearly 120 degrees, we thought it would over heat but thankfully it surived its clean and came out the other end good as new!

it was yellow again! and looked fab.. i got jelous so i took the k1 for a wash also

I booked a hotel earlier in the week for us to stay in on sat night so the drive to Tunbridge wells wasn’t so long on sunday, and after packing all my bits together and saying our good byes we set off on our journey.

The sun was out and the shades were on, we cruised round the m25 for ages and finally came to the small villiage of tonbridge, looks quite nice, and satnav took us striaght to the hotel entrance but where to park? I called reception and the parking was round the back.

Parked up and went in to reception, nice little hotel, just wanted to get up there and chill, we were in room 5, over looking the main high street, the room was boiling hot so i was ordered to strip down, the bed was not too comfy but i was just so tired it didnt matter, i found some much needed spare pillows in the wardrobe and we put on the tv and chilllled.

Hunger was kicking in again, and rather than get my app out i stuck my head out the window and saw an Ask resteraunt… we are so going there tonight! Fran has a shower and looks pritty whilst im wathcing Britains Got Talent.. shh with that hairdryer ! lol

We took the 30 second walk over the road to the resteraunt and was seated right away… I ordered two fantas and Fran got a white wine spritzer. I didn’t complain, she was paying

Just like our 1st date, arms spread over the table, fingers locked together, as hungry as i was, i just didnt want to let go.

Fran had a started, hmm garlic bread i just had to pinch a slice.

My drinks were slowly running out so it was confiscated till my meal came. I had a nice prosciutto pizza and my princess has spaghetti carbonara!

It was lovely and i maneged to eat it all! But still room for desert, i got a hot fudge chocolate cake with choc ice creame! hmmmm !

A very nice meal and all paid for by my wonderful GF, thank u baby x

Back to the hotel now and its time to test how strong that desk really is Good night …

Sunday 25 April 2010

The day of our spa, and the 1st task was to see the outcome, but the stick was a minus rather than a plus, better safe than sorry, one day, one day

Anyway, we go down to checkout of the hotel and then round the back of the hotel to get into the car, sat nav ready and we are off.

Its only 15 mins away, clever wayne for going down night before!

We arrive on the road and go past the entrace, no where to park again so we have to find a multistorey car park and then walk down…

As we enter the spa and get to reception we are told to go change our shoes into flip flop, all good.

Next, we get a tour of the place, Gym, salt water pool, relaxation room, ahh it all looks great, cant wait to get into that poo.

Off to the chaning rooms we go and strip down, luckily we already had our swimming stuff on to save time

we had our moroccan mist treatment products ready and waiting for us in our locker, as well as a towl and robe.

We met back outside the changing rooms, dump our stuff on some sun loungers and walk round to the pool stairs, its cold but we both slowly get in and cuddle for warmth.

After some splashing about and attempted swimming we climbed into the jacuzzi and the bubbles surrounded us, it was luxury, the jucuzzi was infused with moor mud, it spelt a bit but im sure it was doing wonders for the skin.

The jucuzzi water was warm, and when we go out and into the salt water pool again it was absolutely freeezing! lol all good tho because our next stop was the steam room…

We sat on limestone seats and was surrounded by hot steam which filled the room, it was sooo niiice and it helped clear my airways.

It did get a bit hot in there, so what better solution is there other than go into a room twice the temp? lol we went into the sauna and got all sweaty untill we couldnt bare ant more and got into the pool!

A good few minutes of pool fun we got back out and chilled on the sun loungers, i read a magazine and fran dozed off for a while just listening to the nice relaxing music and water splashing. Earlier we looked into the relaxation room but it was too busy, but now was the time to go there and just chill together…

We went down into the relaxation room and it was a massive 20 ft bed with pilliows and blankets, we dived on and snuggled up in the corner it was soo nice and comfy, i grabbed an apple and a pear and in what was meant to be quiet room, began to munch loudly hehe.

After my nice fruit we spread out and ended up being so chilled, fell asleep in eachothers arms..ZZZzzzzzzzz…

It seemed like an eternity, we kept waking up and drifting off, just so nice to forget everything and fall asleep together.

The weekend started early, and usually only for one reason… cars… I don’t get up for much else, unless you’re as cryptic as us and understand where im going with this you will know that I do… But anyway that’s another story… Basically what im saying is that Saturday mornings are made to be in bed and only important things will get me out of it, i.e. cars or Fran stuff of course…

We set off on our road trip to Gillingham, which was about 60 miles away, good job I got petrol the night before… My car hadn’t really felt like it was running right so I was going to fit a bigger fuel pump and get a new remap to see if it would improve things.

The trip down was nice and easy, sun was shining and we had our shades on we made it over the Dartford Bridge and headed to the A2 with no problems, our side was fine but the other direction was jammed for about 6 Miles! Eeeek.

We made it to our destination at about 45 mins after my expected arrival so it was straight down to business; I was swapping a fuel pump from one car to the next, my standard one for his modified one with larger pump internals.

After struggling loads to get my pump off we finally managed it and set upon fitting it to his, it was done in no time and the car started up with no issues… until it was time to start mine! It eventually went on ok but when the pump was primed it decided to squirt fuel everywhere… GREAT, just my luck…

So, off the pump came again, Fran getting VERY hungry and having read her Cosmo mag about 3 times through im sure she was getting board…I was going as quick as I can.. A quick call to some people and I was told there may be a washer needed… And by pure luck, deep in the engine bay there it was staring me in the face, a small copper washer… Could this be the cure of my problem?

The pump went back on and we tightened it up but it still pissed out with fuel. Not as much as before but it was definitely leaking… I didn’t want to waste any more of the day so we called time on it and decided to drive to AMD with it semi working.

Taking it slow, and eventually hitting the A2 traffic I just didn’t feel safe letting my car sit in stationary traffic, we had to get to the garage to fix the pump leak… So clever Fran gets out the iPhone (because TOM TOM is stupid and wants me to sit in a 6 mile tailback) and manages to find a nice country route around the A2 and back onto the M25. The drive was nice, through peaceful villages and greenery, just a shame we couldn’t stop and admire it, or stop and eat! All we had was a few dry biscuits lol

Sitting at Frans getting ready for the journey to mine, still deciding which car to take, hmm lets just go in the Cupra meaning I would need to drive back Sunday all seemed good and we were on our way, little did we know it would end in tears.

M4 traffic was good, a few little races but on the most part some sensible driving if i do say so myself.

We get onto the m25 and i decide to drop into 4th as a scooby estate is trying to undertake me, i changed gear a split second too late hitting the limiter thus causing something to give and the car immediately goes into limp mode with no throttle response.. JOYS!

Over to the hard shoulder we go, still within the “free recovery zone” I called Seat assistance and was told i was a top priority as I’m on the motorway and someone will be there in 10 mins.

10 mins passes and we treck up the embankment of the motorway to see whats on the other side, its only a field, i was hoping for a river or at least some sheep…

Anyway, a tow truck comes, its not the AA…. its a highway patrol vehicle who came to remove me from the roadworks zone.. great!

So he says he will take me a few mines down the m25 to the main depot and i could await my recovery there, back on the phone to Seat assistance letting them know ill be in there instead of along the m25 somewhere…

We make it to the depot and the car is unloaded and the tow bloke vanishes leaving us to a very cold cabin all by ourselves, there were sofas but it was too cold for any funny business, plus the mood was sour, mainly because we wanted tea to warm up but there wasn’t any milk…

Few moments later the real AA man turned up, a young ish bloke who i could tell wasn’t going to find the issue..

I uncovered my diagnostics port ready for him to plug in his device and waited eagerly to find out what the computer had to say, but it told me very little… only that there was a misfire in cylinder four, but I know a misfire doesn’t make the car act how it was so it must be a much larger problem.

I pulled out the coil pack on cylinder 4 and the spark plug chamber was full of water! how the hell did it get in there? head gasket? cracked head, who knows but this is BAD….

We let the car idle and it was kicking out a lot of smoke, water was getting in there somehow and i just wanted to cry.

Deciding its best not to drive the car we arranged to get a tow back to my house.

We waited and waited for what seemed like an age, playing hangman and listening to N-dubz to keep us busy. Finally a large AA truck arrived and we wasted no time getting it loaded up and we were on our way back to mine.

Now all we had to do was figure out a way how to get back to Frans on Sunday What a start to the Birthday weekend I had planned.