Following on from my recent post about what I want to do for a house next year I have come to a few decisions.
Firstly, I think it is almost certain that Liz and I will be moving into a flat in the city centre. After all I am 25, so not that many chances left to squeeze in some hard core party time before I have to start thinking about responsibility and the cost of my mortgage. There seem to be some nice looking places in Leeds that meet most of my criteria – i.e. large(ish) living area, at least 2 big double bedrooms and a kitchen that you can actually use, but they do come at a price premium. This means my budget for nect year is going to be pretty tight, even with my pay rises and bonus.
This leads on to my second decision. I am going to ditch my car. I worked out that it costs me between two and three thousand pounds a year to run in insurance, maintenance, tax, petrol etc which I just can’t afford if I live in the city centre.
The money would be better spent on bus tickets and car hire when using a car is unavoidable (holidays etc).
So it is going to be the end of an era. I have owned a car since before I could drive and have always loved the independence and freedom that owning a car brings. It is going to take some adjustment, but it actually isn’t that bad. My car has eben in the agarge this week getting the handbrake fixed so have had to catch the bus to work and back everyday. Whilst it adds over an hour a day on to my commute time, it doesn’t feel that much. In fact, the time I spend on the bus is time I loo forward to. It gives me time to listen to music, read books and write notes etc for artcles and blog posts. All stuff that I never had time for before.
My car has been in the garage since Monday, it is now Thursday. Usually, this would not be a problem but this is not a major job! This should not be taking a week! I needed my thermostat replacing, the coolant filling up and a new bracket to be fixed to the underside of my coolant housing due to old one rusting off! Gordon, the mechanic, fixed the thermostat and put a temporary bracket on for me whilst he orderd a replacement bracket from a parts supplier. This part was supposed to be delivered and fitted this morning. Instead, I receive a telephone call from Gordon asking if I would drive to Thornton and pick up the part myself and drop both the car and part back to him tomorrow morning. This basically means that I won’t even be able to think about heading back to Leeds until Friday!!
It is ridiculous!
Yesterday saw my car’s first break down since I bought it. I had just left the petrol station in Greenhalgh when I noticed my temperature light was flashing, I pulled over as soon as was safe and was somewhat shocked by the quantity of steam pouring from under my bonnet. On closer inspection I found that the coolant filler bottle was leaking under pressure and that was the source of the steam. I decided that this needed professional attention, so slowly made my way home (a journey that normally would take ten minutes or so under normal circumstances, but it took over 30 mins this time). I am still waiting to hear back from my mum’s mechanic, so I still don’t know exactly what is wrong or how much it is going to cost me.
It is just my luck that this would happen at home in Kirkham so I can’t get back to Leeds until it is fixed, which also means that Liz can’t get home either and she has to be at work on Monday! It also means I am without transport in the rural Fylde for the first time since I passed my test. It is horrible to have to be so reliant on my mother for getting around, especially when your girlfriend is visiting!