It’s cactus

Yesterday was a not-my-favourite kind of day, but it had some nice bits.

Let’s start with the nice bits: I went to a Pump class in the morning and I had belated farewell lunch with two lovely former colleagues from my contracting gig. There was a lot of laughter and chitter chat.

OK, that’s the nice bits done. Let’s get cracking on the shite bits. Before I begin, let’s just say I spent a lot of the day doing Ruprecht impressions.

Charlie the Moodle went to the vet to get his teeth cleaned at vast expense. They called me while he was under anaesthetic to say he also had three loose teeth that needed to be removed. Really.

My ex flew to Melbourne unexpectedly, so I had to drive to his place to collect the youngest because she reckoned she had too much stuff to catch the bus. Really.

Good thing I got that rental car, as I also had to drive her to skipping practice last night.

The Renault people didn’t answer my calls or emails, so I called Fair Trading for some advice, then decided to turn up at the dealership in person. Everyone was really nice and gave me the number to call Renault Australia to lodge a formal complaint.

I was running a bit early for my ENT appointment, so I called Renault from the park across the road and lost it when the woman kept – slightly obstinately – asking me what I thought they should do about it. I DON’T KNOW – I WANT YOU TO TELL ME WHAT YOU’RE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

FFS. Really.

Eventually I took a shot in the dark and said I wanted them to buy the car back. She said they wouldn’t be buying the car back. Alrighty then. I asked what they would be doing and things went round in circles from there. She eventually said she’d talk to the service centre and get back to me.

While I was waiting at the ENT’s office, the service centre called to say I had a broken coolant system in the car. As a result, all the fluid had leaked out and the engine had literally cooked. It’s totally cactus and needs to be replaced. Bottom line: around $1000 for a new coolant system and god knows how much a new engine will cost, they were too scared to tell me. Really.

That will require another – hopefully less combative – call to Renault Australia about rights and responsibilities.

Then the ENT looked in my ear and confirmed that it was also cactus. Really. He cleaned and swabbed it yet again. Now we have to wait and see what’s growing there this time. It’s itchy, sore and there’s a constant buzzing noise, which means I still can’t go swimming. Waaaaaaahhhhhhhhh.

After I picked the youngest up from skipping, I was about to cook dinner when I discovered the salmon was over expiry. I contemplated making a late dash to the supermarket for more, but decided I couldn’t be arsed and ordered a pizza delivery instead.

I figured I deserved a stiff drink after all that. I made it a double Plantation pineapple rum, lime and soda.

Cheers.

Song of the day: Neil Finn (and, bugger me, Sinead O’Connor, who knew?) “She goes on”