A birthday surprise...
Aug. 5th, 2004 08:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fleetfootmikeMany thanks for the birthday wishes.
I had an ... interesting.... birthday surprise on the way home tonight.
After a very pleasant day at the Oval cricket ground, watching Surrey and Worcestershire play, in the company of my colleague Jeff and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bedlamhouse, I have to drive home, since Anne needs to be out at 7pm, so I have to retrieve James from her place of work.
It's 5.35 when I leave Jeff's, which is pushing it. I do most of the A1 at a highly illegal 90mph, barring the bits with speed cameras, take the Peterborough turnoff onto Frank Perkins Parkway, round the east side of town to come off at Boongate. So. I reach the slip road (off ramp, you American folks) at Boongate, drop the clutch to change down, and....
There is an odd clunk and the clutch vanishes from under my foot.
To say I am a touch alarmed would be an understatement. I'm in a Fiat Ulysse MPV, it's doing around 80 and slowing, and I am stuck in fifth with the clutch a) engaged and b) not disengageable. Many words that should not pass my lips were my son in the car are uttered.
For the record, it is a real pig to get the Ulysse's gearbox out of gear with no clutch. I figure second is a good point to aim for, since a) the Ulysse will idle along with no feet on the pedals in second, b) it gets me lots of engine braking and c) it gets me 40mph top speed in an emergency. Much juggling of brake and accelerator later, I get the engine revs and road speed to match enough to get the beast OUT of fifth and then into second. To find I have about 40 yards to the Boongate roundabout.
Two choices: stop, stall it and wait for assistance, or take the roundabout, and head off down Boongate, where at least I'm not right by a main junction. There's no traffic coming, so I take the second option, and roar (literally) down Boongate at 30 in second.
Ok. So far so good. Lets assess the options. Once I stop, I can't start again until I have a clutch. Anne's work is about 1000 yards away (here's a map - Anne's work is at the arrow). Coming up is the Boongate/St. John's Road/Eastfield Road roundabout, which I need to get across and down Crawthorne Road. Provided there's nothing coming down Eastfield Road when I need to go around the roundabout, I'm fine - and fortunately, the view of the roundabout from this direction is great. Nothing coming, round we go, and down Crawthorne Road.
Only three problems left to negotiate. The pedestrian crossing halfway down Crawthorne Road, the lights at the junction of Crawthorne Road and Broadway, and the left turn at the mini-roundabout at the junction of Park Road and Burleigh Square. The pedestrian lights are green for me, but the junction lights are red, and there are two cars waiting. Fortunately, I drive down here often enough to know roughly how long the cycle is for the lights, and lift off the accelerator to coast up behind the waiting cars.
In a detached sort of way, I feel rather pleased with myself, as the lights go green just before I'd have to apply the brake, and a tap on the gas takes me through the lights. So far, so good. The mini-roundabout will be fine provided no-one wants to turn into Park Road from Burleigh Street, or the other bit of Park Road: I'm in luck, although the bloke in front nearly ruins it by not paying attention to oncoming traffic, or rather the lack of it, and hits the brakes when he didn't need to.
Ok. Left turn into Park Road (it's a one way street my way, this bit), down to the corner with Church Walk, round to the right and...
Bugger. Someone has my usual space in Anne's car park. Ok. Lift off, scan - there's another two spaces side by side three cars along. I only get one shot at this. Lift off, turn, clut... ah. No clutch, remember, and the car park is VERY slightly uphill. Ok. This is going to be an ungainly stop unless I can get it OUT of gear in the last five feet.
I almost managed it: I got it out of gear, but I actually managed to cross the gate into first, and stalled it about two feet short of where I'd LIKE to be parked.
It's 7.05. And almost *exactly* as I stop, the phone rings., It's Anne. "Where the hell are you?"
"In the car park." Which I thought was amazingly restrained, considering
I explain, briefly, and hop out, to discover that I do actually still have a clutch pedal, but apparently something in the linkage went over top-dead-centre when it 'vanished', and it's sort of flat against the floor. A swift tug restores it to where God and Fiat intended it to be, and a brief reverse-and-forward suggests it's working, and parks the 'bus properly into the bargain.
I shall get it looked at tomorrow., I think. Just in case.
The moral of this story: you can get a hell of a long way in second gear without stopping IF you plan ahead.
I think I'd like a large Scotch about now.
I had an ... interesting.... birthday surprise on the way home tonight.
After a very pleasant day at the Oval cricket ground, watching Surrey and Worcestershire play, in the company of my colleague Jeff and
bedlamhouse, I have to drive home, since Anne needs to be out at 7pm, so I have to retrieve James from her place of work.It's 5.35 when I leave Jeff's, which is pushing it. I do most of the A1 at a highly illegal 90mph, barring the bits with speed cameras, take the Peterborough turnoff onto Frank Perkins Parkway, round the east side of town to come off at Boongate. So. I reach the slip road (off ramp, you American folks) at Boongate, drop the clutch to change down, and....
There is an odd clunk and the clutch vanishes from under my foot.
To say I am a touch alarmed would be an understatement. I'm in a Fiat Ulysse MPV, it's doing around 80 and slowing, and I am stuck in fifth with the clutch a) engaged and b) not disengageable. Many words that should not pass my lips were my son in the car are uttered.
For the record, it is a real pig to get the Ulysse's gearbox out of gear with no clutch. I figure second is a good point to aim for, since a) the Ulysse will idle along with no feet on the pedals in second, b) it gets me lots of engine braking and c) it gets me 40mph top speed in an emergency. Much juggling of brake and accelerator later, I get the engine revs and road speed to match enough to get the beast OUT of fifth and then into second. To find I have about 40 yards to the Boongate roundabout.
Two choices: stop, stall it and wait for assistance, or take the roundabout, and head off down Boongate, where at least I'm not right by a main junction. There's no traffic coming, so I take the second option, and roar (literally) down Boongate at 30 in second.
Ok. So far so good. Lets assess the options. Once I stop, I can't start again until I have a clutch. Anne's work is about 1000 yards away (here's a map - Anne's work is at the arrow). Coming up is the Boongate/St. John's Road/Eastfield Road roundabout, which I need to get across and down Crawthorne Road. Provided there's nothing coming down Eastfield Road when I need to go around the roundabout, I'm fine - and fortunately, the view of the roundabout from this direction is great. Nothing coming, round we go, and down Crawthorne Road.
Only three problems left to negotiate. The pedestrian crossing halfway down Crawthorne Road, the lights at the junction of Crawthorne Road and Broadway, and the left turn at the mini-roundabout at the junction of Park Road and Burleigh Square. The pedestrian lights are green for me, but the junction lights are red, and there are two cars waiting. Fortunately, I drive down here often enough to know roughly how long the cycle is for the lights, and lift off the accelerator to coast up behind the waiting cars.
In a detached sort of way, I feel rather pleased with myself, as the lights go green just before I'd have to apply the brake, and a tap on the gas takes me through the lights. So far, so good. The mini-roundabout will be fine provided no-one wants to turn into Park Road from Burleigh Street, or the other bit of Park Road: I'm in luck, although the bloke in front nearly ruins it by not paying attention to oncoming traffic, or rather the lack of it, and hits the brakes when he didn't need to.
Ok. Left turn into Park Road (it's a one way street my way, this bit), down to the corner with Church Walk, round to the right and...
Bugger. Someone has my usual space in Anne's car park. Ok. Lift off, scan - there's another two spaces side by side three cars along. I only get one shot at this. Lift off, turn, clut... ah. No clutch, remember, and the car park is VERY slightly uphill. Ok. This is going to be an ungainly stop unless I can get it OUT of gear in the last five feet.
I almost managed it: I got it out of gear, but I actually managed to cross the gate into first, and stalled it about two feet short of where I'd LIKE to be parked.
It's 7.05. And almost *exactly* as I stop, the phone rings., It's Anne. "Where the hell are you?"
"In the car park." Which I thought was amazingly restrained, considering
I explain, briefly, and hop out, to discover that I do actually still have a clutch pedal, but apparently something in the linkage went over top-dead-centre when it 'vanished', and it's sort of flat against the floor. A swift tug restores it to where God and Fiat intended it to be, and a brief reverse-and-forward suggests it's working, and parks the 'bus properly into the bargain.
I shall get it looked at tomorrow., I think. Just in case.
The moral of this story: you can get a hell of a long way in second gear without stopping IF you plan ahead.
I think I'd like a large Scotch about now.
