Page 20 - June Beep Beep

Our Mother’s Day Club Outing a sad tale of a day out from David Collins
Jan and I were looking forward to the arranged lunch at Black Ant Café on Mother’s Day.
The preparations started on Wednesday afternoon when I filled both fuel tanks of our beautiful Jaguar XJ6. Returning to home, I decided to give it a really good “once over”, wipe the interior and clean the glass.
It was then that I noticed a bit of weeping of coolant around the header tank. I phoned my next-door neighbour, a panel beater, to see if there was any gooey stuff on the market that would seal my tank. He told me that there was and that he had some in his shed at home!
I immediately pulled the header tank out and gave it a good clean, all the time looking for a crack in it. Found it!
Unfortunately, I didn’t see my neighbour that day. On Thursday, my neighbour arrived home about 6 that evening, came over and advised me that he did not have the gooey stuff he thought he had. He offered to take my tank and repair it at his workshop the next day. What a great neighbour to have!
He turned up early Saturday morning with my repaired tank and joined us for breakfast. There was scrambled eggs, bacon, grilled small-vine tomatoes, toast, apple juice and coffee. My mind was in the shed.
As soon as he finished his meal, we ambled to my shed to install the tank. This I did, in about half an hour, recharged the coolant (5 litres) and started the car. We were both poised with torches, looking for any sign of a leak. None! My neighbour suggested a test drive and I handed him the keys. All fixed.
Sunday morning was sunny and brilliant. I got our Jaguar from the shed and parked outside the front door. A couple of hours later, we set off for Kin Kin. Tentatively monitoring all gauges, my confidence grew with every passing kilometre. Fuel – Full, Volts 13 and steady, Oil Pressure – 40 psi and steady, Water Temp – 80. I kept calling out the numbers to Jan but I don’t think she wrote them down or anything.
Then, 2 kms past Cedar Pocket Hall at 11.20, the engine stopped! What! We pulled over on a stretch of the road that was flat and straight. I immediately opened the bonnet and, using my mechanic knowledge, checked the battery and the lead going into the coil. They seemed
OK. Having exhausted my mechanical knowledge, I called RACQ. How lucky to get mobile coverage!
That’s when the car club arrived, to observe my predicament. They offered a lift, anything we can do?, etc. Wistfully, we watched them depart for their Mother’s Day lunch, knowing what a great bunch of people we have in our club.
At 1.00 pm, I called RACQ to find our how our tow truck was going, as the allocated time had passed. Another 30 minutes to an hour, was her reply. All the while, I attempted to start the car every half hour to no avail.
Jan and I chatted about all sorts of things. To be quite honest, it was becoming a great Mother’s Day. A bottle of water and a sandwich would have capped it off.
At 2.30 our tow truck arrived. We had been sitting there for over 3 hours and we were both pleased to see him.
Arriving a bit after 3.30, my next-door neighbour came over, concerned that the header tank had let go. By now the car was off the tow truck and I explained to him that the engine just stopped. To demonstrate, I reached in through the window and turned the key.
Vroom! It started! I immediately turned it off, saying to the towie, that it wouldn’t run.
After he left, I parked the Jaguar in its garage, closed the door, bid farewell to my neighbour and joined Jan inside the house to be greeted with a toasted ham, cheese and tomato sandwich and a can of soft drink. I thought that life couldn’t get better.
That was until our neighbour’s daughter arrived with a bunch a chrysanthemums for Jan. Having heard of our day, she slipped down to the shops and bought them.
Jan agreed that it was the best Mother’s Day. Our cup runneth over.
David Collins
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