The all new Mini Moose goes to university and other calamities thread

[Nick]

THW chats to her brothers on Skype, sometimes she also talks to her mother.
She has never asked to speak to me 

Still Skype to Skype calls are free so who am I to complain? .... The only communication with me is third party requests to send her munny.

It felt really odd talking and seeing someone on the internet, live like.

Believe it or not, I actually feeling nervous and was tung tied!

No calls for muny here ....YET!

Just trying to decode what to do with her (my) car now, as it's just sitting here, expensively insured and not being used.
I want to sell it, cancel her 6 month old  insurance (that I had to pay for) and get some of me muny's back, but am getting strong resisitance from the Moosie combined.

The THW used to "borrow" her mother's car and I too paid the additional and eye-watering insurance.
She (THW) had designs on taking it to uni but we said no. We did let her borrow it to go on holiday. She managed to blow it up in Staines. I replaced Woodstock's motor but did not put THW on the insurance. You should have heard the ruck over that! But I'm buggered if I am paying out over £1000 for her to drive her mother's car for no more than 4 weeks a year. She has no real need for a car in (Outer) London. In fact most people I know who live in London don't bother to own a car and even those that do (Like Pastis) only really use it occasionally.
As I recall Lancaster Uni (like most) has a policy of no first year students being allowed cars on campus so where can she keep it there? That said Lancaster Uni Campus is fvcking miles from civilisation so perhaps in second and third years she will have a use for it.... meanwhile she will certainly want it at Christmas to drive round and see all her old school friends.
Tough call as to what to do about it but fortunately the THW solved the problem for me by blowing up the Corsa. 

Too many jokes 

[GROWLER]

Good and valid points made there^^^ (NOT Nicks...as usual...do you ever give up ey? )

I noticed last Saturday a few signs up in the lickle village before the uni., staing garages to rent for stewdents.

In fairness, she hasn't actually asked to take the car up there, but the answer had been already decided upon in readiness.

I'm now thinking of changing The  Mrs Olwd Mooses car to a group 1 or 2 insurance rated MONSTER  and transferring her name onto the MM's policy as a user to maintain the NCD that she's currently earning. Be such a waste binning the policy after 6 months of no claim driving.

So many permutations as to what to do.
Thought about putting the MM's Saxo into the Festa's nest until crimbo....oh I don't know, but as you rightly say, she'll be wanting to get around come crimbo, easter and next summer, espcially for travelling back to the Zoo too. Either that or Dads Free Taxi's will be having to swing back into action again.

[Snoopy]

THW chats to her brothers on Skype, sometimes she also talks to her mother.
She has never asked to speak to me 

Still Skype to Skype calls are free so who am I to complain? .... The only communication with me is third party requests to send her munny.

It felt really odd talking and seeing someone on the internet, live like.

Believe it or not, I actually feeling nervous and was tung tied!

No calls for muny here ....YET!

Just trying to decode what to do with her (my) car now, as it's just sitting here, expensively insured and not being used.
I want to sell it, cancel her 6 month old  insurance (that I had to pay for) and get some of me muny's back, but am getting strong resisitance from the Moosie combined.

The THW used to "borrow" her mother's car and I too paid the additional and eye-watering insurance.
She (THW) had designs on taking it to uni but we said no. We did let her borrow it to go on holiday. She managed to blow it up in Staines. I replaced Woodstock's motor but did not put THW on the insurance. You should have heard the ruck over that! But I'm buggered if I am paying out over £1000 for her to drive her mother's car for no more than 4 weeks a year. She has no real need for a car in (Outer) London. In fact most people I know who live in London don't bother to own a car and even those that do (Like Pastis) only really use it occasionally.
As I recall Lancaster Uni (like most) has a policy of no first year students being allowed cars on campus so where can she keep it there? That said Lancaster Uni Campus is fvcking miles from civilisation so perhaps in second and third years she will have a use for it.... meanwhile she will certainly want it at Christmas to drive round and see all her old school friends.
Tough call as to what to do about it but fortunately the THW solved the problem for me by blowing up the Corsa. 

Too many jokes 

Indeed Nick but when there is a very loud bang from the cylinder block, clouds of black smoke and flames I'm afraid blown up is the only way to describe it ...... And it was in Tesco car-park in Staines upon Thames ... as the local council renamed it on 20th May 2012 .... fvck knows what they paid out to have all the signs changed but that's for the local residents to complain about.

[GROWLER]

Digital fear again? Mind you it is a bit Star Trekky 

Apparently, it is this digi crap thing, so it'll problee go all tits up.

My 'phone won't do this skype thing anyway apparently, and you have to be near a 'mother' puter anyway so I'm told.
I thought I could let her proudly watch me 'LIVE'...or deading meself....in my attempt to cycle up Snowdon in 3 weeks time too.
Seemingly not.

[GROWLER]

What caused the engine to blow up Snoopy?

Anything to do with the quite common wummanly aversion towards actually lifting the bonnet occassionaly to check the levels by chance?

[Snoopy]

What caused the engine to blow up Snoopy?

Anything to do with the quite common wummanly aversion towards actually lifting the bonnet occassionaly to check the levels by chance?

Yep!

15 year old Corsa ~ Done 65K and she drove it to Holland, did about 1000 miles in a week and wondered why smoke was billowing out of the exhaust. Root problem was that the head gasket had gone but she just kept on driving it. "Did you check water and oil?" I asked "Did you think to contact the extremely expensive Continental Breakdown & Recovery to UK Cover I had arranged for your week on holiday?"
Answer to both was "No" because .................... "We hadn't actually broken down and anyway neither of us knew the Dutch for Oil and Water so we didn't like to try."
The fact that everyone over the age of 4 in Holland speaks English didn't seem to have occurred to her or her gormless boyfriend 

Anyway they got back to Egham and then decided to go to Tesco to do some shopping, still with smoke now seeping out from under the bonnet. 'Phoned me from Tesco car park for help when one of the security guys suggested she had a problem. What am I supposed to do sitting 230 miles away? I called out a local (Staines) garage who took one look and called me to say "Forget it mate".

Now anything can be mended if you are prepared to throw enough money at it BUT let's not forget that the car's insurers had already written it off as "Beyond economic repair" some 4 years ago when some arse in a white van drove into the rear nearside in a car park in Conwy. The insurers had offered me £850 to scrap the vehicle or £730 cash and I could keep the car and get it "unwritten off" by putting it through a £30 inspection by the DVLA or whichever department does such things. Natch I had grabbed the money and at small inconvenience had it re-registered as "Not a write off".

So, thinking quickly, I asked the Staines garage man for the name and/or number of a local (to them) scrappy which he obligingly supplied. I called them to uplift the car from the uni car park, told THW to nurse it back to there ('bout 3 miles at most) remove the tax disc and wait until the scrappy arrived. This he did a couple of hours later and looked at the car. Tried to start it and got an almighty BANG! and clouds of smoke. "It's fvcked" was all he said. She called me via her mobile and handed it to him "Tell me Dad".
He told me the same story as the garage bloke. "Head gasket gone, Cylinder head cracked, Fvck knows what it'll be like once we've got under the head which looks like it will have to be drilled out. Looking at least £450 to repair, probably more ~ scrap it".

I gave him the okay to take it, THW had all the documents with her as she had to carry them on the Continent, including a letter of consent to drive it signed by the owner (Me) so he was happy enough to lift it onto his truck and take it away. He even handed the THW £30 for scrap value. A week later, through the post, I got the Certificate to say it had been scrapped .

[Snoopy]

PS ......  ..... I never did see that £30 

[GROWLER]

PS ......  ..... I never did see that £30 

Only £30!?

Don't know how long ago this was, presumably not too far back, but even though I'm not in the scrap business, I was under the impression that scrap cars were fetching £1-200 approx now, and have been for years.
Correct me if I'm wrong.

Meanwhile, bloody wimmin ey?
Mini Moose never checked the oil level, the excuse being that she didn't know how to.
I was under the impression that this was part of the basic driving test now too.
Even had to fill the ruddy washer bottle up for her
Accompanied her to the local garage to make sure she knew how to put petrol in it though mind.

The Owld Mrs Moose is just as bad though in all fairness even after driving for 30 years +.
Absolutely 100% useless clueless and thouroughly dis-interested when it comes to cars.

[Snoopy]

PS ......  ..... I never did see that £30 

Only £30!?

Don't know how long ago this was, presumably not too far back, but even though I'm not in the scrap business, I was under the impression that scrap cars were fetching £1-200 approx now, and have been for years.
Correct me if I'm wrong.

Meanwhile, bloody wimmin ey?
Mini Moose never checked the oil level, the excuse being that she didn't know how to.
I was under the impression that this was part of the basic driving test now too.
Even had to fill the ruddy washer bottle up for her
Accompanied her to the local garage to make sure she knew how to put petrol in it though mind.

The Owld Mrs Moose is just as bad though in all fairness even after driving for 30 years +.
Absolutely 100% useless clueless and thouroughly dis-interested when it comes to cars.

Book value in "Mint" was only a couple of hundred quid and don't forget I'd already been paid for the car by the insurers years ago.

[Snoopy]

PS .... TBF to the guy he had told me when I asked him to pick it up that he could only give me £30 to £40 for it and he did turn out at 8pm on a Saturday night to pick it up.

This was last June ~ Strangely there are times when "London Prices" work the other way round.

[GROWLER]

Meanwhile, fresh from the MM hotline, she's just informed me that she's going for trials at the sailing club, footie, and ..........rugby!
I can actually see her playing Rugby tbh. Always had a facination for mincing around in the mud, rough and tumble style.
She should have been the lad in the family, and G jnr the gerly.

Fully expect lude suggestive sexist comments from Nick now

Oh. She's joined the Harry Potter Society too apparently.

[Nick]

It all sounds expensive 

[Snoopy]

The THW joined the Lacrosse Team and the Ladies Cricket Club as well as a number of other weird societies.
Given that she was always too lazy to get out of her pit before 12 noon at the earliest we were amazed.

And I have to say the thought of the THW, all 5'10'' & 12.5 stone of her, thundering across the grass waving an oversized shrimp net in anger frankly frightens me ~ so fvck knows what it does to the delicate young ladies of other colleges. Small 'n' delicate she ain't!

They do tend to sign up for stuff and drop them again in year 2 .... when the werk load gets harder.

[Nick]

I signed up for horse riding 

Never again 

[GROWLER]

It all sounds expensive 

Not'arf as expensive as the proposed trip to NY early next year that I've just been informed of apparently.

She better get herself a job up there, that's all I can say, 'cus the Growling Snarling and extremely unfriendly Bank of Dad will be seeking guarantees of a repayment plan to be put in place first.

Werser than piggin' private schoohelling this is.