Diary entry for Sunday 3rd July 2011
Hello Everyone,
This week has been awful, and its one of those weeks where I could have easily hidden under a rock and not come out, luckily or unluckily whichever way you choose to look at it the animals never let you do that.
SO on with the diary.
Monday
After having written to you good people in the morning, the afternoon was pretty boring. The plan was to pop down to Murfatlar in our now working car, to pick up some shopping we needed that wouldn't wait till Wednesday. So I grab the keys and jump in the car while Woody opens the gate, I put the keys in the ignition and turn them................. Nothing................... I try again nothing??? I look down and realise that I had been very stupid yesterday afternoon, I had left my lights on and the battery was totally flat (please feel free to laugh). So while I make the trip to Murfatlar on the bus, Woody digs out the battery charger to try and charge the battery, the search didn't go well and by the time we had located it, (with a friend who had borrowed it a few months ago) there was no point trying to start charging the battery so we decide to leave it till tomorrow, and get on with the evening jobs. Easier said than done!!!! We go to sort animal food and water out and we have no water!!! Now usually for us this would be no problem as we have containers constantly filled up as we are used to this happening but............. we have been slowly emptying the large green barrel so it can be relocated and there was not much left in there and the barrels we use for the house water, well we had stupidly been lazy last night and used them, so everyone was on water rations which is not a good thing and the poor greenhouse didn't see any water.
Tuesday
A late start this morning and it was another hot day and the first order of the morning was to put the car battery on charge. We check for water and we still didn't even have a dribble, if it didn't come back soon we would have to think of taking a trip to the village well but at the moment we didn't like the idea especially having no car to transport water home, so rations still apply it very rarely affects the animals, it is usually just us that takes the brunt of it. After this we got on with the routine jobs of the morning as best we could and then started mucking out. Lunch time came and went and still no water and still no car that would start, although we did now have very faint lights on the dash board. 6pm snuck up on us after finishing mucking out and pottering in the garden and still no water and still the car wouldn't start, we were giving up hope on both. I went to look at the greenhouse and its looking very sorry for itself, and we decide tomorrow will have to be a trip to the well, car or no car. By 8pm we had given up on water and on the car, we rang a friend of our to see if they could jump start us and it was arranged for tomorrow after lunch. At 8:50pm I have another call on my mobile this time the accountant. It was an emergency and she needed me in the office at 9:30 tomorrow morning, or I could face a fine but she did assure me this paperwork would ' Make my life easier' and 'it would only take five minutes' I would ask you all to remember these statement as we move on with the diary! So after all the animals were put to bed we have a quick dinner and head to bed ourselves ready for an early start.
Wednesday
A very early start, we were up and had the animals on the lucerne by 5:30am and up there till 7:30am leaving them happy and in less of a mood to go back in for a while and giving us time for a quick tea before we head off to catch the 8:30am bus. The plan was for me to go to the accountant and Woody do a very small amount of shopping, dinner for us dogs and cats tonight, so we could do the shopping late tonight. So when in Constanta we go our separate ways and by 10:30 Woody had finished the shopping and was wondering where I was, he gave up and came looking for me and it wasn't until 11:30 that we finally managed to make our way back to the bus, it turned out it wasn't a five minute job, grrrr. So on the bus home and we should make it back just in time for the jump start from our friend. We had two phone calls on the the journey home, the first one our friend saying they wouldn't be able to make it today as something had come up at work, would tomorrow or Friday be ok, yes that would be fine good job we had planned shopping this morning. The second phone call, was the accountant, 'I need you back at the office at 3:30pm today and you must bring this paperwork' I was not happy to say the least but I had no choice but to agree! So we get home I swallow a tea, while locating the paperwork and get on the next bus, leaving Woody with the animals. I get to the office and there is nothing straight forward about the trip. After signing some paper work I then had to make my way half way across town to a new office which I had no clue where it was to hand this paperwork in and get more back, So armed with paperwork, a bus number and the worst map anyone could ever draw I was off. I didn't get back on the bus home till 7pm and even then it was without the paper work as I had to wait 4 days before I could collect it, and I am told after I have collected it there is 3 more offices I have to visit. So one tired very grumpy Sian arrives back at just before 8pm to a very wet Siminoc it had been raining hard with thunderstorms since about 4pm. With the weather showing no signs of stopping we decide to close down for the night and shut the world out. On the plus side of the day we had water back and Woody made it his first job to water the greenhouse in the hope the plants would pick back up, it started raining about 5 mins after he had finished.
Thursday
A day of torrential rain, it didn't break for anymore than 10 minutes at a time it was cold, gloomy and miserable and are moods were the same. We notice that we have a leak in the roof that will need fixing on the next dry day. All animals were miserable and all in all it was a rubbish day. We didn't think our friend would be up but somebody had to stay in just in case, but then neither of us wanted to venture too far in this weather anyway. I took the day to catch up on some personal craft work, Woody took the day to catch up on some of his favorite TV that he had missed. Apart from the evening feeding of the animals that was pretty much it for the day miserable and nothing interesting.
Friday
It was raining when we got up and it was on and off most off the day, the forecast had said showers but it was more like bath's, with half an hour gaps, it was miserable. During a break in the rain in the morning we made a couple of quick trips to the lucerne, but the animals soon ran when it started raining, but they weren't the only ones. We didn't think our friend would brave the weather, but not one to break a promise he arrived just as it started chucking it down with rain, and there were the three of us (well two actually, my job was inside the car) getting completely saturated trying to jump start a car in torrential rain. It didn't go very well, what with an old battery and dodgy jump leads it wasn't working so we called it a day and decided a new battery was our best bet, so off the two guys go to get a battery, it took longer than they thought as they had to go to Constanta, nowhere locally had them, making our friend late for work. On their return they fitted the battery and the car started, great we thought we have a car back, checking that everything was ok our friend found a wire that wasn't connected to where it looked like it should go, and the thought was it must have fallen off with the movement of the batteries so it was connected back up, now Woody and I have very little clue about cars, I am not quite as bad as the 'typical stereotype of a woman' I know where oil, water, diesel, brake fluid go and I have never done it but I think I could master the change of a spark plug, but after that I am usually stumped I just know when the car is not working properly, Woody has probably less knowledge than me, but wishes he had more. We leave the car running for a couple of minutes and our friend says we may need to take her to a garage as it doesn't sound quite right and I do agree, but a big Thank You and he was on his way. After drying off a little we decide to make a quick trip to Murfatlar for shopping until tomorrow when we would go to Constanta, so in the car we jump I pull her out the drive and before we even get to the end of the road (you can walk it in less than 2 minutes) I have decided to put her back in the drive. In that short distance she was kicking out lots of black smoke from the exhaust and juddering and spluttering so badly I didn't want to chance driving her anywhere and breaking down in the rain. The car would have to go back to the garage. Having spoken to Dad that night he thought by the sound of my very bad explanation that it might be a hot tip not working and suggested calling the Dacia assistance line, so that was planned for tomorrow morning.
Saturday
It was a hot day no sun lots of clouds but definitely hot. After all the morning jobs were done we started looking for the number to call for Dacia assist, but had no luck, we did manage to find the number of the Dacia garage in Constanta though so decided to see if they could give us the number we needed. A nice young lady was able to help us and as her English was good she said she would take all the information and phone the request through for us, there was lots of info to be taken and a choice of two options we opted for repair at home if at all possible. We waited for the call to give the repair man directions and didn't have to wait that long it came within half an hour and it was decided it would be easier if we met them on the man road of the village at about 12 noon, so of we went, unfortunately the message had been muddled in communication and translation and they had sent the truck to collect the car. The truck wasn't able to get into the drive to pull the car out so we needed to push it on to the road which is easier said than done with the amount of mud we had due to rain. I decided that it would be a lot easier to reverse the car out carefully. While reversing the guy listened and when she was out of the drive asked what exactly the problem was, I explained and the bonnet was popped and he had a look, he laugh and goes and gets a screw driver. It turns out the wire that had been put back on yesterday should not be on it should stay off! We have no clue what this wire does but have now been informed never to put it on, after about 15 minutes the car was fixed and I was told to take it for a test drive, she was running like a dream again, a lot of thanks and a payment for the call out fee and the Dacia assist guy was on his way. We do a quick look at time round the goats up and shut them in for a while and making a hasty trip to the feed mill to collect animal food. We didn't have time to stop at a bank so we could only pick up enough to see us over the weekend. We still managed to come away from the feed mill with more than we had bargained for though. One of the cats had kittens and they were trying to get rid of them, well Woody fell in love with the runt of the litter and before I knew what was happening the kitten was in the car and I had paid 1Lei (approximately 20p) for a kitten. I can't moan too much Gizmo (the kittens name) is very cute. We stopped at a shop quickly on the way home to pick up lunch and some milk and food for Gizmo. We were on the way home coming up the hill into Siminoc, and I say to Woody I am losing power in the car again, 4th gear foot to the floor and I was struggling to do, 40kph. I just manage to get the car round a horrible bend and find a pull in when she starts overheating. So there we were sat at the side of the road wondering what to do now and waiting for the car to cool down. We had been there for about 20 minutes when Adi, 'the man with the van' came round the corner, he stopped to see if he could help, and him and his friend both agreed our radiator was knackered, they said the car should be cool enough to try and make it home but they would follow, within two minutes she was overheating again, and I had to pull over, Adi towed me home, which was nerve racking as this would be the first ever time I had been towed but all went well and the car got back into the drive with the advice that we need our radiator and fan fixed. Now today was not one of those days that I could have cried, I did cry, I was fed up with the car and fed up with breaking down, after a tea, the mischievousness of Gizmo and a cuddle I was feeling better and the evening jobs started, and Gizmo took his first trip to the lucerne. After a long and annoying day it was early to bed.
Sunday
It was an early start due to Gizmo wanting breakfast at 7:00am and on with the morning jobs, it didn't look like it was going to be a nice day and by 10am, it was raining and all the animals were back inside. We decided to take this opportunity, shut their door and head for Constanta on the bus to do some much needed shopping, while we were there Gizmo took his first trip to the vet as he had a small eye infection. Woody did the shopping while I went onto the vets, getting caught in torrential rain on the way there and back but Gizmo was sorted even though he didn't like the vets at all. By the time I got back to the shop I was soaked, luckily Woody was finished and we could head straight home. With the weather not improving I spent the afternoon, writing to you good people and the evening is hopefully going to be a quiet one ready for tomorrow when the fixing of the car will start yet again. It is truly miserable weather here and tomorrow looks to be the same, but we are hoping next week we will have nicer weather and better luck with the car fingers crossed.

The Cycle Challenge
I said last week that I would get some more details for you. Well the weather started out miserable and at the lymington ferry check point people were in coats, hats and gloves but luckily throughout the day the weather took a turn and brightened up, and many finishing riders had decided to find the nearest pub garden for a celebratory drink. In some places people experienced high winds which can't have been much fun. There were over 100 riders that took part ranging in age from 14yrs old to 80+, some even braved it on tandem bikes. I think the first finishers were at 14:30 in town quay after a 04:30 start at Hythe. All in all, from over here it looked to be a very good day, and it looks as though a good time was had by all. I would just like to say a big Thank You to each and every rider for battling through the weather and being brave enough to complete this amazing journey, allowing us to continue the work we do here in Romania, it benefits so many people and we really couldn't do it without your help. A thank you also to all the organizers and marshals on the day, you do a great job and we thank you for all your hard work.
WELL DONE EVERYONE, and we hope to see you all again next year, we are already trying to put an order in for the perfect weather for you.
I have included a few pictures on the diary if you want to see more feel free to hop over to the Growing Care Facebook page and browse the album.

So that is it for another week I am going to leave you and listen to the rain while I try and warm up with a nice old fashioned stew, so for now we will say
L8RZ peepz until next week.