Good day Bad day- we discover a gas trick and then have a crash.

We're spending a few days on Herbie in the marina, jut to get away from it all and before we leave to prepare her for the winter cold. This morning there was a knock on the roof and it was Trevor Whitling, our BSS examiner, back to test the gas after we had someone try to find and fix the leak which caused us to fail recently. Actually no particular leak could be found but all the fittings had been tightened up. Trevor fitted his electronic manometer to the test point, we filled the system with gas and then turned off at the bottle. The idea then is that the pressure should hold steady for five minutes. It didn't.

The problem is that the pressure drop was outside the allowed tolerance, but still very small. How the hell were we supposed to find where it might be leaking? Then Trevor had an idea. The boat had been warm and cosy when he arrived, but in going in and out to the gas locker he had left the front door open and the temperature had dropped quickly. We closed the door for a few minutes then tried again. The pressure held for six minutes and we passed! So the tiny pressure drop had been caused by the gas cooling and contracting in the pipework. Hooray, Herbie is now certificated safe for the next four years.

I would recommend Trevor to anyone who wants a survey or a BSS. He is likeable, very experienced, diligent and reasonable. Living as he does in Crick, he does a lot of pre purchase survey work at Braunston, ABNB and Whilton.

So that was our start to the day, so far, so good.

This afternoon we drove over to Milton Keynes to visit Kath's sister, then on to IKEA to get a few bits and bobs. We always seem to end up spending far more there than we planned. Not on furniture but on bits of this and that. Ooh look that's nice and only three quid. Ooh look that's useful and only four quid. By the time e get to the till it's "how the hell did we spend sixty quid?"

Anyway we set off in the murk back towards Crick and half way back on a roundabout on the A5 we had a coming together with a Stagcoach bus. I was a bit confused about which exit I needed on the roundabout, and making a dash for the required exit at the last minute we and the bus crossed paths. Nobody hurt, and the damage is resticted to a crumpled rear wheel arch on our car. I don't think the bus got more than a scratch. I'll phone our insurers in the morning. I suppose I ought to have the wheel checked for alignment too as it might have taken some of the blow. Even though we have no-claims protection I bet my premium goes up next year.

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