bare bad luck

over a 24 hour period, the following happened to my mate mike and i.

the original plan was for me to drive up to nottingham on monday morning, pick mike from nottingham, go to alton towers, go to edale (peak district). fishing on tuesday/wednesday then back home for dinner in oxford on wednesday night.

i left oxford at 7am on monday.

i'd just got onto the M1 and was in the outside lane doing about 80. all of a sudden my shit car starts slowing down and i can't stop it. changing gear/revving make no difference. had to wack the hazards on and cross 3 lanes of motorway to the hard shoulder. tried starting it a few times but it wouldn't, so called the AA. put the phone down, tried one more time and it worked. thought i'd gamble so called the AA and cancelled, carried on to nottingham.

got to nottingham at 9.40am, picked mike up but about 1 minute into the journey the car breaks down again and wont start. call the AA who arrive 40mins later when the car still won't go. towed to a garage and told i might be able to get a free rental car for a day. got a brand new polo and we're back on the road.

arrived at alton towers at 2.30pm (had planned for 10.30am at the latest). left the booking reference in the car so got off the monorail and sprinted for it. just as i got back to the monorail station with the printout, the train leaves.

just as we get into alton towers, hear a bloke behind us go "i just found this on the floor". its an alton towers employee who is handing the 2 security guards mike's 1/8th of weed. it's half of our entire stash for the trip.

left alton and arrived in edale but had a little trouble finding the hostel. went down a little lane, but it was the wrong way. tried a u-turn but got the car stuck on some grass that appeared stable enough initially. had to push it out.

got to the hostel and went to get some dinner. had well rank meatballs with chips, small portions. am charged £7.50 for that meal and a bottle of becks. query the change but find out the meal alone was £4.80. i'd have paid £1 tops.

then i locked the room keys in our room. had to get a member of staff to open up reception and give us the spares.

mike put his beer resting in the window to chill it. tried to put mine in too but knocked his out of the window onto the window below. luckily nothing broke but we lost 1 of 2 beers.

went to sleep with a skylight open. it rained during the night and my bag and all of its contents (clothes, camera, books) soaked.

:evil: cursed, i tell thee