Me and the farmer

This is a supplementary entry to the previous one, as I think I need to expand on a few thing.

First of all, I mentioned breaking down on the motorway in October with alternator trouble. Since I’m facing weekly trips over the M62 for the foreseeable future, and because I don’t 100% trust my car, I decided to join a breakdown service the following week, just in case. Last Saturday night I was over in Leeds. I set off for home at 00:30 and was presently cruising along the M62 in wintry weather, expecting to be home in under an hour from that particular point. I’d just reached the summit of the motorway when all of a sudden… BROOOOMM followed by a clang and rattle. My bloomin’ exhaust had fallen apart! Yikes. And something was obviously dragging on the ground. I thought “oh dear”, in rather more industrial terms, and contemplated what to do. I was just coming up to the Saddleworth exit, so I thought about driving back to one of my friends houses in the area and then sorting it out in the morning. I didn’t think I could get away with driving it all the way home from there, as I was scared that the front box (snigger) would fall off if I risked it. It would be ok if I could tie it up somehow though, albeit noisy.

Since I has the breakdown cover, I decided to give them a go. So I limped on another 10 miles and turned off at Birch services, where I gave them a ring at about 1 am. Initially they said that it could be 75 minutes before somebody could come out to me (bah), but in the end a sub contractor turned up just before 2, with a low loader. I got taken home with my car on the back. Hooray! It’s a good job I bought the full cover eh? The driver was a friendly sort. We had a good chat about punk music on the way. I got home at about 3.

Bloody car. It’s jinxed. Or maybe it doesn’t like Yorkshire. A vehicle of taste. Hee. Anyway, I took it to the ace tyre and exhaust place that’s opposite my old Sixth Form on Wednesday and they sorted it out in about an hour. The bill was £40, which was pleasingly good value, I thought.

Now, this farm business. My grandad died on Boxing Day last year. The last grandparent to go. He’d been in and out of hospital for the last two years though, and back in for a couple of weeks before he drifted off for the final time. My mum inherited the family farm. My dad spent about 9 months clearing out an assortment of barns, sheds and outbuildings of rubbish. Crikes, by the look of it they never threw anything away for the last 30 years. So much junk! With that sorted, and probate cleared, they could think about livestock and stuff, so they’ve bought 5 Highland moos (3 brown, 2 black) that they got from a farm auction to keep the grass down. I’ve got a couple of photos of them, but I might take some better ones and stick ’em on here if anyone’s interested.

I went to see the Pains of Being Pure at Heart in Manchester on Friday. Eh? When did this band suddenly get so big? They played in the Academy 2 in the university, which is a large room that reminds me of a school gymnasium. It was pretty full as well… lots of people were jumping around and singing along. Bonkers. I thought of them as just a little indie band on a tiny indie label. Decent gig though. The car behaved itself on the way there and back too, possibly because I stuck to Lancashire.