Week 3: 29/08 - 05/09

Phew!
Am I glad its the weekend!
If the stress levels are going to increase like this every week I'm not gonna have anything left by the end!

We have had more car issues than you can shake a stick at...over three days we had four separate issues - I'm sure you'd like to hear all about it...
1) We've had v.squeaky brakes since recieving the car so this week we contacted the company and asked them to come have a look so that if the brake pads were too worn we couldn't be held responsible for any damage.

Of course this issue by itself would have been fine, however...

2) On the way home from placement on Tuesday we were sat in traffic moving at snails-pace when a fellow Citi Golf shunted us from behind. Nothing major, no one else involved, driver v.apologetic, damage rather minor - but we took details anyway seeing as its a hire car and we want to avoid extra costs!
Lots and lots of stares from fellow south african drivers as said exchange took place!

Again, not really a problem, just one of those things....

3) We stopped to get gas/fuel/petrol/LRP (delete as appropriate..) on Tuesday - and is fairly standard practice at South African garages/forecourts/petrol stations we asked the guy who filled up the tank to check our oil and water...the responsible hire car drivers that we are....

Side note for readers from other countries....in SA people fill your petrol tank for you, a job born out of a need for employment and a certain laziness on the car drivers side too I'm sure.
The typical tip for a pump attendant upon completion of fuelling = 2-3 rand...more if they have checked oil or water etc.
Oh, and in my experience you might occansionally recieve a mud brown coloured mug with your change if the attendant likes the look of you :P

Moving on, the pump attendant said we needed some more oil so we bought some more oil, he poured it in and off we trundled.
All fine until steam/smoke starts rising from under the bonnet/hood.
So we check the engine when we get home and find some sticky brown stuff smoking nicely.
Decision is made to clean it up tomorrow morning before we leave as its too hot at that moment.

So Weds morning rolls around we clean off the visible oil as much as possible, check the oil cap is on properly and keep a old rag in the car, just in case....
Fastforward about 15 minutes into our morning journey and we're looking worriedly at yet more smoke coming out.
Being girls with no particular interest in the details of a car engine...or most types of engine for that matter we pull over at a petrol station...open the bonnet and find more oil in the engine - and what appears to be a dribble from the oil cap.
So we clean it up again - as much as we can, fiddle with the oil cap for a while, no problem or solution is found so we close up again and carry on

By the time we get to school the smoke is bad, Kat and Gail have been gassed with oil fumes and anxiety levels are high (at what point does oil get hot enough to combust?!?)

(Side note for those who are now worried about oil leaks...we have since been told that oil doesn't combust v.easily without a spark - but caution is advised because it is an engine and there are spark plugs in there..more on those later unfortunately..)

So we phone the car rental company - who were planning to come look at the brakes anyway and inform them of the current situation, they tell us that they'll let us know when they're on the way.

By mid-afternoon we're antsy and so call them again - they're too busy with other cars to come to where we are - can we drive to the offices where there is always a mechanic or two on site?
Not having much of a choice we left school an hour early and made our way nervously across the suburbs

Just under half way through the journey we stop again because the fumes are bad and we're stressed. Man comes to help, said help is suspiciously regarded and held at arms length but he helps anyway.
We are informed that the seal on the oil cap is missing hence the constant smoke and oil in engine, brilliant!

Pressing on we finally make it to the car hire company, very nice people, fix the oil cap quickly, offer the passenger a beer, knock the sand out of the brake system so they will stop squeaking, take the details of the shunt incident the day before (yes, it felt like a long time ago by then to us too...) and we thanked them and went on our merry way home.

Well I say merry, it was rush hour and I got cut up by like a million taxis (who have their own rules of the road...i/e. no rules..) and had to cut up one driver myself..needless to say we're avoiding that stretch of road in rush hour again.

Car saga over!?


No, unfortunately not...
That evening we went for a meal out with our two housemates and fellow student from the school (C) - as a belated birthday gift for our South African housemate (J) - really nice food (I mentioned this trip is actually all about the culinary delights of SA right!? :P)
But when we drove C home we found we had NO acceleration, interesting - we hadn't noticed that issue earlier!

This problem persisted the next morning on the way to work and even with the petal on the metal we were dead slow and stop.

So once again we phoned the company (with whom we are now on first name terms with now...!) and reported the latest installment of the saga.

This time they were able to come out to our house in the evening...and not just one mechanic either but FIVE!
I tried to make jokes about how many mechanics it might take to fix a car - but this Brits lame attempt at humour/sarcasm got blank stares and 'can we have the keys?'

So I curiously/awkwardly hovered at the edge of the action while things were prodded, pulled out, put back in, changed and checked.
Further attempts at conversation and 'I don't know if this makes any difference but' were met with more stares and occansional Afrikaans muttering; so I just shut up as I didn't have Gail there to translate or feel stupid with...

Not long after the problem was identified as a 'dead' spark plug which means the engine had been firing at half-capacity (two cylinders rather than four I think...) and therefore a 1.4l engine was reduced to somewhere in the 0.something catergory
Hardly the nippy acceleration we've become used to!

You'll be pleased to know that this is the end of the car saga and we hope that it will be the end of it for a substansial amount of time to come!

I now know more about a car engine, will be dealing with my own oil and water levels in the future and will most definitely just keep my big mouth shut the next time a group of men are discussing/dealing with their beloved metal on wheels....

OK, other things that happened during the week....we had a fun planning and facilitating our very own life orientation lesson with one of the classes - which went well
but inevitably has some room for improvement

I didn't get to go to the disability home because of transport issues...this week we're taking our car so that I don't have to make that embarassing phone call
all over again

We went to a drama workshop in the drug rehabilitation centre which was a lot of fun and thought provoking...we'll get to see/use some of those skills over our time
at the rehab centre

Dealt with yet more office politics and got v.frustrated (not helped by the levels of general stress from the car or own expectations etc)
Things will be better this week...we've had a very good weekend to help us relax...

Saturday - Zumba class in the morning, chilled out day at home, then S, our housemate cousin, her school friends and I went out to Long St for a night of partying.
I had never experienced Long St before and really enjoyed the laidback atmosphere and music. Was glad to find a relaxed dress code aswell :)
A few drinks and ances later S and I came home - leaving the younger ones to party the night away (literally!)

Sunday mornning came round too fast but a friend of a friend of S (we're all about the random connections on this trip) came and took us out for the day.
By 10.30AM (!) we were sunbathing and sipping champagne and wine at a vineyard in the shadow of Table Mt - bliss!

Then off to Cape Point for lunch and exploration -- and I actually saw Cape Point this time! Last time the actual point itself was completely shrouded in rain and cloud!
Also saw a whale from a long way off - so exciting...I also managed to spot a whales tail disappearing into the sea on our drive home - but it happened too
quicly for everyone else to look..
Finally we stopped near Boulders Bay (the penguin sanctuary) and took a few photos but didn't pay to go into the sanctuary because we were all pretty tired by
that point.

So we were dropped off home, Gail and I had a nap and some food then went to church-on-main where we had a great evening - met the waiter who had served us wine
in the morning (seriously, what are the chances!?), drank free hot chocolate (the perks of being a visitor :P), met a teacher from the school where our housemate
S is working and generally had a fun time!

This week (although I am well aware that I could very easily write the first half of the next post already...sorry...when you go out on Sunday and mess up your
routine things get a bit hectic on the blogging front...)
- Get more involved with drug rehab/actually find out whats going on
- Go to the disability home and grovel for not being there last week
- Be less stressed (i.e. have less car trouble!!)

I love Table Mt!
Peace out x