Missing 6 Hours

 

The case of the missing 6 hours! I loaned my pickup out on Sunday, and then today while on my way to work, the engine started missing. Initially I thought it was dirt in the petrol as it felt very similar to when it was dirt in the fuel. Arriving at work, all electrical power disappeared. I opened the bonnet, and found this. The battery was off its cradle and hanging by only the negative cable. Even the clamps were loose. Strange.

After reconnecting all the terminals, and it was then that I noticed that the clock had lost 6 hours which means the battery had been disconnected for 6 hours. Curiouser and curiouser!

Moving Offices

One of my pet hates is moving, and today we are moving offices which is a bit okay as we hired a small moving company. Jacob, the owners brother arrived this morning with 2 pickups, a trailer, 3 labourers, and his wife or girlfriend carrying a baby.

Oh well keep it in the family and start training the young ones early.

The Pickup

It has been just under a year since my Ford pickup caught on fire and while it was away being repaired the alarm system was stolen. Only now is the alarm being replaced. It has taken Discovery Insure just under a year to pull finger and replace the alarm system that went missing on their watch.

To orchestrate the logistics of getting my pickup to the alarm installer and then get to work, I devised an ingenious plan to put my Vespa at the back of the pickup, off load at the installer and then ride the rest of the way to work. 

Mystery Story

How about a mystery story today? Yesterday when my pickup was returned I discovered that the alarm, immobiliser,  and central locking was not working. Thinking that perhaps it was just a wiring connection that was forgotten I drove my pickup back to the panel beater.

While in the waiting room, waiting for the workshop manager as one does in a panel beater's waiting room, I saw a few woman magazines and this book titled "15 Mystery Short Stories". My first thought was, surely I hope I won't be that long to actually read a short story. Never in a thousand years did I think that I was about to enter an actual mystery.

It wasn't a too long of a wait, and the workshop manager arrived. I told him my story and he asked me to pull my pickup into the workshop while he went to fetch the auto-electrician who worked on my car. When the auto-electrician arrived, and I told him that my alarm does not work. He answered that there never was an alarm in the pickup when it arrived. WHAT!!!

In my hand was the pickup keys with the alarm remote. The auto electrician also thought it was odd as all the alarm wiring, siren, and anti-hijack system was in place BUT no alarm control box. He showed myself and the workshop foreman a bunch of wires that he explained that these wires go into the control box and look how they have been neatly bridged. He explained if it wasn't bridged and the alarm control box had been just yanked out it wouldn't start. The workshop foreman took some photos to cover themselves I suppose but where is my alarm?

The mystery deepens as I  phone my insurance company. Who stole my alarm? It is such an old pickup and the alarm system is old too. I don't think that they make that type any more. Anyways from what I recall. When my pickup caught on fire on Thursday 1 February it had an alarm system. My insurance company got a towing company to collect pickup and take it to their yard for the assessor to come inspect. But somehow they lost my pickup and it was only found a week later on the following Friday 9 February. I was told that when the towing company arrived to drop my pickup off, the yard was full and they took it to a yard next door. That is what I was told by my insurance broker when they finally found my pickup.

I got a call from an assessor not long after that asking me if my battery was flat. I answered no and that was the last I heard until I got an email from the insurance company that my claim was approved and that they are sending my pickup to the panel beater.

Over a month since the fire, I got my pickup back minus a alarm system. It is up to the insurance company to solve the mystery and rectify. I'll go back to reading some mystery novels. 

An Eventful Journey

There is an old sailing saying that goes something like it is a bad omen if the weather is calm at the beginning of the voyage. Matthew and a few friends had booked a bungalow at Rocky Bay for their end of Matric getaway and when Matthew’s lift fell through, I offered to take him down instead of him going by public transport. Most of the friends flew down but 2 came with me along with all their food for the next 10 days.

I have this blessing that I give all my friends to fly out to Europe, Americas, or Asia, may you have an un-eventful flight, as events in a flight is not what anyone wants. So began my eventful journey as no-one blessed our journey.

I left home at 08H30, stopped at the nearest garage, filled up with fuel, checked my tyres. Thank God I did as my spare tyre was flat. I asked them to check water and oil too, but the serviceman must have forgotten, as I paid and drove off. A few kilometres down the road I realise that my bonnet was still open, and it was then that it dawned on me that the oil and water was not checked. So I stopped at the next service station to check water and oil. Oil was fine but engine coolant was below low. Then it was onto the highway to Benoni to pick up the 2 boys and all the food. We left Benoni at at 10:30 and it was not long into the journey, like 30mins when we hit this 5km backup. At the end of the backup was a police roadblock. Sigh!

About 100km before Harrismith, I started hearing a noise from the front right hand side. It sounded like bearings, but it can’t be as I had the car serviced a month ago, they did my brakes, replaced my front wheel bearings and the front wheel hubs. So it simply can’t be but it was getting loader and loader. On top of that I started getting automated calls from my bank stating that there is a possibility of fraudulent activity on one of my bank cards. By the time I got to Harrismith, I was a wreck with worry.

We had a bite to eat at the fuelling stop at Harrismith because the boys were hungry. I tried to eat but couldn’t even eat with all the worries. I phoned my insurance about getting a hired car but they informed me that they can only give me a hired car if I was involved in a crash or hijacking. Bugger that, where is the nearest wall that I can drive into.

I slowly drove to the car hire place in Harrismith, booked a car, and asked directions to the nearest, reliable, and reasonable mechanic. Yes it is my wheel bearings which means that my wheel bearings have been replaced 3 times this year alone. Something is not right. The last service with the brakes, hubs, and bearings cost me a little over R2000, this mechanic saw me coming a mile off because he managed to replace the bearings but at a whopping cost of R1280. But good news 2 hours later we were back on the road and didn’t need the hired car.

By the time we got to Mooiriver, it was raining and cold. In the rain somewhere near Howick, my one globe popped. Now I had 1 light in dims, and brights only. Because of the 2 hour delay at Harrismith and the rain we started driving slower, by the time we got to Pietermaritzburg it was dark. And the rain got harder, and the driving conditions got progressively worse that I only got to Park Rynie at 21:50. With the boys dropped off at Rocky Bay, I was now traveling back to Durban to were I am staying for the weekend. I ended my eventful journey at 22:38, that is 14 hours later.

Guardian Angel

Today my guardian angel worked overtime. To start my story let me start 2 weeks back when I first drove my pickup. I left after work on that Friday 2 weeks ago and rushed over to Benoni to pick up Matthew. As a surprise to Matthew, I had arranged to pick up his cousin Jean-Jurie in Pretoria and drove the long road home late in the evening with 2 boys in the back unbeknown to me that my guardian angel was protecting me in overtime mode.

I arrived home quite late and parked my pickup only to get back in it this morning 2 weeks later as I had to pick up Matthew for my birthday weekend and father’s day. On my usual pre-inspection before setting out to work, I noticed that the pickup’s left front tyre was flat. Expecting that I must have picked up a nail or something those 2 weeks earlier and now have a leak I slowly drove my pickup to the nearest service station and pumped up the tyre. It was on 0.4 bar of pressure but worse was that my brakes were spongy, I must have somehow gotten air into the brake system which was very strange. I carefully drove to work in rush hour traffic.

The first gap I got, I decided to take it in to the closest tyre place to where I was working. The tyre was taken off and checked for any leaks but, this is the next strange park, no leak was found. No nail or leaking valve, nada, nothing. Someone must have let my tyre down. Not thinking that it could have been my guardian angel, as my first obvious person would be the plumber contractor that I had working on my property but things between us had soured. When the tyre was put back, the fitter discovered that my entire hub was lose, hanging on by the last thread of the centre wheel nut, the brake line, and the CV joint.

Oh my word, I was in shock. The entire wheel was about to come off. If I was driving on the highway to fetch Matthew, I could have had a serious accident. Or even worse it could have come off that night when I had the 2 boys in my pickup. Who could have loosened the centre nut? It dawned on me that my guardian angel must have let my tyre down this morning to warn me of the impending danger.

In conclusion to this story is that after the centre nut was retightened and locked into place, the tyre was put back and strangely the brakes were back to normal. My guardian angel must be working overtime protecting me and my family, thank you.

Autoboys

Last year I got a stone chip in my windscreen of my pickup. My insurance at the time got PG Glass to replaced it but I had to pay a huge excess higher than the cost of the actual glass. Since I didn’t use the pickup often it was parked in the garage and the next time I used it I noticed another crack this time in a place that a stone could not simply hit. I took it back to PG Glass but they said that a stone caused it and would not replace it at their cost. To cut a long story short, I was angry and changed insurance company just because of the access and PG Glass’ attitude.

The new insurance arranged the Autoboys to come and see to my new windscreen. Here is Andries and Joseph finishing off on the installation. I asked them for their expert advice about the crack in the windscreen which looked like a stone chip but without any marks on the surface on both sides. After inspecting the old windscreen, they showed me the point on the edge of the glass where the glass first got damaged. This was in the ceramic portion under the rubber; no way could a stone have done that. I feel vindicated, that it wasn’t my fault but the PG Glass’ installers.

Broken Monday

Oh what a Monday!

My day started with the drain being blocked outside the kitchen, so called the plumber to come out today. I then had the mobile windscreen fitters, Autoboys, coming through at 11:30 but needed to slip out quickly to get Lynda’s licence disk of her car renewed before the plumber or the Autoboys arrive.

Coming home from the local municipality offices, my pickup just lost power in the middle of a busy road. It seems to be either a fuel or electrical problem even though it had a full service last week so my only option was to call roadside assistance and get the pickup taken back to the mechanic.

My insurance company sent out Help 24 Towing to assist me and they arrived about an hour later. By that time I was frantic but luckily both the plumber and Autoboys were running late. Help 24 Towing took me and my pickup to the mechanic shop which was not far down the road. Sadly there were no drivers to drop me off at home because it was lunch time so I asked the towing company if they could assist and the driver said he needed authorisation first so he contacted his call centre which flatly denied my request. I wasn’t going to get my insurance involved but I was very upset as I was left with only options, either walk or ulber. Since I only lived about 4km away, I decided to walk in the hottest part of the African day without a hat.

I arrived home in an hour, angry, sweaty, and sunburnt. It was then that I saw the plumber had messaged me to let me know that he can only come round tomorrow and no news from the windscreen fitters, the Autoboys. I phoned them and was told that they are still waiting for stock. That was the last straw, I phoned my insurance company, Discovery Insure and let rip. Sorry but I had lost my cool by then. Not long afterwards, a lady from Autoboys phoned and apologised. It seems that before coming out to me, they discovered a problem with my new windscreen when loading it to come out to me. They had to order a new one and can they re-schedule for tomorrow.

Recalling my day of woes to Lynda this evening, she put a new spin on it for me. She said that it is a blessing that I didn’t take my pickup to Benoni on Saturday like I wanted to, to pick up Matthew and get him to drive back as he now has his Learners Licence and needs to practice driving. Yes I thank God that my pickup broke down close by to the mechanic and not somewhere on the other side of the city. I am still upset with Help 24 Towing though. The walk did me good but my bald head is sun burnt.

Outsurance Ripoff

I hardly use my pickup as I commute daily on my Vespa. Somewhere, somehow a stone must have chipped my windscreen and now with the cold weather I discovered a crack in the windscreen about 30cm long.

I pay nearly R1,400 to Outsurance every month to cover two vehicles and my Vespa for the last 5 years with not even 1 claim. Every year they have pushed my premiums higher even when the value of my vehicles and bike are dropping but it is up to me to chase them so that they can reassess the policy (place sad face here).

Now back to the windscreen, I phoned Outsurance and the lady who answered the phone after all the automated choices dutifully went everything with me and informed me that my access will be R1,120 plus that it will affect my no claim bonus. WHAT, I had to go back and look at the policy, and sure enough my accesses are very high and it is a black mark against my name but the worst is yet to come.

They didn’t give me any other choice so I had to pay the ridiculously high access and PG Glass in the form of Abiel (shown above) and Karel arrived this morning to change the windscreen. Afterwards I phoned PG Glass to inquire the price of the windscreen and to my horror I found out that the windscreen that was used for my pickup is on special for the last few months at only R990 fitted. WHAT!!! Now before Outsurance get their panties in a knot and say that was a special and cannot account for it, the normal price fitted is only R1,345. Yes you read correctly. Yes for all the money paid to Outsurance over the 5 years, they paid out a measly R225 and it has affected my no claim bonus.

Surely Outsurance should have my best interests at heart instead of trying to rip me off. Oh they have lost a once loyal client now.

Needs a Cleaning

With snow and rain on its way this afternoon, it just made perfect sense to wash may pick-up, don’t you think. Na, it is just that I have my mother coming up from Nelspruit towards the end of the week and well my pickup needs a cleaning.

No Rest

Thanks to my brother Anthony who came to my rescue by blessing me with the use of his big white Isuzu pickup as my Vespa is still in the shop getting repaired, and now my pickup is parked at his house while I go and try find a place to fix my tyres.

Sadly there is no tyre company open on a Sunday, Nada, niks, nothing but after intense searching I found one in Mayfair, an Indian suburb, whose residence are mostly Muslim and they are not interested in being closed on a perfectly good working day such as Sunday. Well they have cornered the marketplace on a Sunday. So I drove all the way down south to Mayfair, dogging the eTolls, highjackers, smash and grabbers, and of course the potholes only to find that my rims are too badly damaged and that I have to go to a Mag Repair centre which guess what, are all closed on a Sunday.

I know Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest but can’t the shops take turns in rest days. Oh well no rest for the wicked.

Freddy Springs and Shocks

Only in South Africa can we overload 15 people in the back of a half ton pickup plus 2 in the front for balance. I am not sure that the owner Freddy Springs & Shocks have put extra strong springs and shocks on this Nissian 1400 pickup, WKY347GP, as was rocking like a boat as it turned off the N14 highway. The small pickup steadied itself once it got into a straight line and made a dash past me at speed. I also don’t want to confront them on their very unsafe transport manner as they were all armed to the teeth with traditional weapons.