My life just seems to be getting worse and worse right now.
Aside from the fact that I STILL cannot figure out how to make the wish list cookie split 4 times for my college assignment (10% of my final assignment, which is itself 60% of my grade, and due in in a week), which is causing me to lose hours of sleep in a massive stress....
Today I almost DIED!
OK... slightly over the top. Although had this happened minutes before hand - when I was still on the motorway doing 70mph - it could have come to that.
I made the choice not to sit through 3/4 of an hour of gridlocked traffic today between dropping Yorkie off at work and starting at the Marina. I chose to drive out of my way for a quicker journey by taking the M6 motorway round the outside of Lancaster instead of the A6 through the middle.
I'm not stupid. I don't drive at daft speeds. I have a micra, daft speeds are not something they are built for and the car struggles to do more than 70 so I tend not to. Today was no different. I got on the M6 at Carnforth (Jnt 35) and drove to the Lancaster South turn off (only jnt 33).
As I came up the slip road the car suddenly jerked towards the central reservation. I was only doing about 45 or 50 mph, nothing daft about the speed, but I lost control. The car swerved, I tried to brake but the car just spun round 180 degrees, bashing it's nose on the metal barrier and leaving a lovely yellow stripe, before stopping.
Luckily, the chap in the car behind me had time to slow down when I started to swerve and stopped short of hitting me. He dashed out of the car to see if I was alright (which I was, aside from a pounding heart and a serious tremble on) then made sure the road was safe while I turned the car round and pulled into the hard shoulder.
The car ahead of me had also pulled over and the couple who were inside got out to come and check if I was OK too. The two fellers tried to call for the police for me while the lady fussed over me. A police car was passing and we flagged it down. The other drivers left, with my many many thanks and the policemen stayed with me for a while.
We looked over the car. Crumpled bonnet, smashed drivers side head light, damage to the bumper. And the reason.... passenger side rear tire. Flat. Burst! My NEW tire had blown and caused me to lose control of the car!
They called the AA for me (lucky I had my members card with me) as I had my mobile, but was still very shaky, made sure I didn't want an ambulance or anything, and ran through the safety routine (stay away from the car, off the hard shoulder, behind the barrier etc) and assured me the AA would be there within 40 mins. Time to text Yorkie and tell him what had happened!
40mins later the AA man arrived (with a limp from football the night before). He hadn't been told there was an accident, just a flat tire. He changed the tire for me, and looked the car over. It was OK to drive, not legally for any time, but sound enough to get to the garage without a tow-truck, so he followed me back to my local garage.
I was not impressed with being back behind the wheel right away... but it's probably a good job. I might not have wanted to at all it I hadn't.
So my poor little crumpled micra went back to the garage and I got home, where I called mum (left a voice mail) and texted dad (don't think he's checked his phone yet though). Later this afternoon the garage called back.
£900 to fix! There's not just body work to do. The blown tire meant that the wheel is knackered too! So that needs replacing. Luckily, the new tired are (like I said before) under guarantee, so at least I'm saving £31.25 there..... As for the rest. Well, I only have 3rd party fire and theft cover. SO we'll have to find the money from somewhere because this isn't covered by the insurance! I guess I'll be tagging another £900 to the debt I owe my mother.
Aside from the fact that I STILL cannot figure out how to make the wish list cookie split 4 times for my college assignment (10% of my final assignment, which is itself 60% of my grade, and due in in a week), which is causing me to lose hours of sleep in a massive stress....
Today I almost DIED!
OK... slightly over the top. Although had this happened minutes before hand - when I was still on the motorway doing 70mph - it could have come to that.
I made the choice not to sit through 3/4 of an hour of gridlocked traffic today between dropping Yorkie off at work and starting at the Marina. I chose to drive out of my way for a quicker journey by taking the M6 motorway round the outside of Lancaster instead of the A6 through the middle.
I'm not stupid. I don't drive at daft speeds. I have a micra, daft speeds are not something they are built for and the car struggles to do more than 70 so I tend not to. Today was no different. I got on the M6 at Carnforth (Jnt 35) and drove to the Lancaster South turn off (only jnt 33).
As I came up the slip road the car suddenly jerked towards the central reservation. I was only doing about 45 or 50 mph, nothing daft about the speed, but I lost control. The car swerved, I tried to brake but the car just spun round 180 degrees, bashing it's nose on the metal barrier and leaving a lovely yellow stripe, before stopping.
Luckily, the chap in the car behind me had time to slow down when I started to swerve and stopped short of hitting me. He dashed out of the car to see if I was alright (which I was, aside from a pounding heart and a serious tremble on) then made sure the road was safe while I turned the car round and pulled into the hard shoulder.
The car ahead of me had also pulled over and the couple who were inside got out to come and check if I was OK too. The two fellers tried to call for the police for me while the lady fussed over me. A police car was passing and we flagged it down. The other drivers left, with my many many thanks and the policemen stayed with me for a while.
We looked over the car. Crumpled bonnet, smashed drivers side head light, damage to the bumper. And the reason.... passenger side rear tire. Flat. Burst! My NEW tire had blown and caused me to lose control of the car!
They called the AA for me (lucky I had my members card with me) as I had my mobile, but was still very shaky, made sure I didn't want an ambulance or anything, and ran through the safety routine (stay away from the car, off the hard shoulder, behind the barrier etc) and assured me the AA would be there within 40 mins. Time to text Yorkie and tell him what had happened!
40mins later the AA man arrived (with a limp from football the night before). He hadn't been told there was an accident, just a flat tire. He changed the tire for me, and looked the car over. It was OK to drive, not legally for any time, but sound enough to get to the garage without a tow-truck, so he followed me back to my local garage.
I was not impressed with being back behind the wheel right away... but it's probably a good job. I might not have wanted to at all it I hadn't.
So my poor little crumpled micra went back to the garage and I got home, where I called mum (left a voice mail) and texted dad (don't think he's checked his phone yet though). Later this afternoon the garage called back.
£900 to fix! There's not just body work to do. The blown tire meant that the wheel is knackered too! So that needs replacing. Luckily, the new tired are (like I said before) under guarantee, so at least I'm saving £31.25 there..... As for the rest. Well, I only have 3rd party fire and theft cover. SO we'll have to find the money from somewhere because this isn't covered by the insurance! I guess I'll be tagging another £900 to the debt I owe my mother.
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