Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away ...

"But now it looks as though they're here to stay.

Oh yesterday came suddenly"

The morning started OK.

I took my son to work at 'Tesco,where he works on the cash till every Saturday - I was just on the A406 North Circular, coming up to the turn-off for 'Tesco' and 'IKEA', when as I slowed down and changed gear, I heard a metallic clunking noise, which did not sound good. I thought to myself, just get into the Car park and at least you will be able to sort things out safely. How I got there I don't know, because everytime I tried to change gear that awful noise seemed to be getting louder. I got into the car park and parked at the quiet end where not many people park - my son went into work and I called the 'AA' - my knights in shining armour. They said they would be about an hour and 10 mins and would text me when they were getting nearer. I thought - I'll go and get a newspaper and a coffee and sit in the cafeteria - NO CHANCE - bought the paper, got in the queue for a latte, sat down and my phone chimed with a text message 'the patrolman will be with you in 2 minutes' - well that was good, but I was really looking forward to my latte(skinny, by the way) - so I went and got a paper cup from the counter and ran back to my car, the guy was already there waiting. Now that's what I call service!!

He had a look at the car, there was a sharp intake of breath and then it was 'Sorry love, it looks like it's your gearbox'. GRRREEAATT!! I am so unlucky with cars, it probably doesn't help that they are always at least 10 years old by the time I get them, but it's not like I don't look after them.

BUGGER
BUGGER
BUGGER

I then had to wait an hour and 40 minutes for an 'AA' car transporter to come and take me to my garage, where as you know I am on first name terms with most of the mechanics, the owners, the office staff and probably even the guys that deliver spare parts. I was thinking of getting a camp bed put in for me somewhere as I spend so much time there!

By the time I got to the garage it was 12 noon, three and a quarter hours since I had left my house that morning - with no weekly shopping also no shopping from Portobello Road, where I normally buy really nice halal lamb chops, for the family bbq, which was today. Oh, yes and no car.

I had arranged to go to help my Mum with some more house cleaning - it was a really hot day and I was starting to feel a bit fretful, I had the wrong shoes for walking in, so I went and got a mini cab up to my Mum's. I was there for a couple of hours, when my boyfriend phoned an said that he had finished work early and he offered to take me to get my shopping. Lovely I thought.

I got to 'Tesco' again - and got myself a trolley and proceeded to work my way through my shopping list - the boyfriend kept disappearing and coming back with random items for himself - he kept phoning me to ask where I was and kept asking me 'Have you finished yet?'. Good Lord!! If you offer to take someone shopping don't start bloody hassling them all the way through their shopping, as a result of his hassling, I came away without, pasta, olive oil, vinegar, sanitary towels, toothpaste and prawns.

Took all the shopping home, whilst unpacking stuff to put it away - the boyfriend - kept giving me helpful tips such as, don't forget to put your frozen stuff in the freezer, did you know that you have 4 tins of chopped tomatoes and my personal favourite 'I don't think you will get all that in there' %@&*, if I needed advice I would have married him!!!

Had to go to Wing Yip's to get the prawns, as they had been forgotten! Then went to Kingsbury HighRoad, for the halal chops. Shopping All Done, hurray!!

Back to boyfriend's for the night - to chill-out. He's not all bad and definitely has many good points.

In the grand scheme of things I don't have a bad life really - but a good moan always helps!!

Today I bought myself a copy of 'a Short History of Tractors in Ukranian' by Marina Lewycka, don't know if I will enjoy it, but it has had some good reviews and is on the bestseller list, so I'll give it a go.

No pictures today, I can't get anything to upload??

You say goodbye and I say hello. Jo xx