everything will be ok in the end...

After a fairly optimistic start hurtling down the motorway to Dover, reveling in how organized I was and how easy the car was to drive how effortless. Posted a letter, got petrol, bought the ferry ticket through passport control when I noticed with horror that my temperature light was flashing on danger levels. So gingerly crawling to my allotted queue I leapt out and asked a boy wearing a fluorescent jacket where is the nearest place to get water & can I use Evian? He didn't know but pointed to WH smith. I told him that my car was about to blow up, he observed 'well there's no smoke it just smells hot'.I was still feeling optimistic at the point - optimistic but horrified. On the way back I accumulated a few men & kept glancing in the general vicinity of my car for tendrils of smoke or a fireball - to come and peer in my bonnet who all came up with varying hypothesis. Leaky radiator loose bolts. A mechanic who was parked next to me sniffed at the diagnosis of a 'ferryman'. What does he know? I'm a mechanic. Anyway through the general confusion it dawned on me that I'd have to use my breakdown Barclays cover. So I parked in a safe place and waited. First for an RAC man to establish it had nothing to do with the thermostat or radiator but my car needed the equivalent of major heart surgery. My own heart plummeted I seriously contemplated how I could afford to fix it & whether I still had a job! So first breakdown ever - in bosses car. First use of breakdown cover & first trip in a tow truck back up north. The ferrymen who had seen me wandering around all day said 'so you're having a good day then ?' My friends could hardly control their mirth. My brother asked 'so can you blow a head gasket with terrible driving?'.