Car

My parents might be bailing out on paying for the car already. It all depends on just how sick it is at the moment. I've been to the garage with it already today because the noise the clutch was making was so horrendous. It turns out that is part of its ongoing problem with the clutch and so can just be ignored until either the clutch stops working or until the noise becomes unbearable. Personally I'm not bothered about the noise the clutch makes at low noises as long as it's not damaging the car in any way.

While he was test driving it he also noted that one of the bearings at the front has gone. Great. Plus it's well and truly time the rear brakes were sorted - they're completely screwed. I couldn't get the handbrake to disengage when I wanted to go to the garage this morning.

So it's going back on Monday to have a quick check over to decide whether it's worth keeping it on the road or just selling it and cutting the losses because, as I said, my parents aren't keen on the idea of paying insurance on a car that is making unpleasant noises. If the car is going to be road-worthy for another year then it'll be fine. If not I think it'll just have to be sold off. Then I don't know what I'll do. The trains are a rip-off, slow, unreliable, run at stupid times, packed, uncomfortable and generally full of screaming kids.

CS353

There have been problems with this module. I managed to register for it without having taken the pre-requisite module. Dave Price has to agree that I can continue to sit the module, and I didn't expect him to do that as he's never particularly reasonable about these things. I mentioned this to John Nelson (my boss from last year) and he said He'd send Dave Price a reference for me. Splendid. I also mentioned it to Adrian Shaw when I saw him this morning to discuss my major project. Adrian said He'd also have words if necessary.

Surprisingly I received an email from Dave this morning (along with the other 5 who registered without having sat the pre-requisite) saying that we can all stay on the module, but we have to agree that we won't appeal if we perform crap in the module. Back-covering, basically. I suspect Fred Labrosse who also teaches the module had words with him.

Head-Hunted

I've been asked by Wendy Shaw, who I worked with last year, if I'd be interested in doing some demonstrating work for one of their modules. It's all basic spread-sheet stuff as far as I can tell. It looks like I may be able to do all 3 hours for them too, which would mean a nice healthy income of £33 a week for doing next to nothing. I like those figures! Anyway it's not confirmed yet or anything, so I should bear in mind all that stuff about counting chickens and hatching eggs. However, it's looking promising.