Vex-all Nova

I was driving back to Belfast today. Bringing my mum's old car for my last month so that I could take all my stuff back that I brought over in my car. I was advised not to labour the car too hard because it's quite old. So, I went for the ferry from Hollyhead to Dublin which breaks the journey up into two roughly equal stints as opposed to an incredibly long drive to Stranraer followed by a gentle stroll in Belfast.

There was a bit of traffic on the way which slowed me down but it didn't matter too much because the last 20 miles or so were dual-carriageway and if I could hold an average of 60mph I'd be alright. With about 5 miles to go (which equals 5 minutes, as I'm sure you're aware) the oil light came on, then the engine started making a noise and it completely lost power.

The RAC man was able to start it but said it wouldn't be any good to drive from Dublin to Belfast. He said the best would probably be to order a recovery truck and go home. I asked whether a recovery truck could take me from Dublin to Belfast, - he'd established that the car could probably manage the trip onto and off the ferry but no further - he wasn't sure. It turned out it was possible but would cost 350 Euros. I decided against that one.

Another option (suggested by egregious, lascivious, McAvoy) was to find someone on the ferry
who was driving on to Belfast. I did ask a few punters who were sat waiting for the ferry but the nearest I found was someone going to Enniskillen. The Recovery truck arrived before I could interrogate them all. So, now I'm back at home and I'm supposed to be at work tomorrow. Looking for cheap flights at short notice...

I was only bringing the car in the first place because some swine stole mine and burnt it!
~fv##!

Still, looking on the bright side, I saw some nice Welsh scenery en route to Hollyhead and the recovery driver brought me back through Llanfairpwllgwngll-(gogerychwnddrobwillllantysiliogogogogh) so I can - in a fashion - say I've been there too.

* I swapped the verbs 'bring' and 'take' around in the first paragraph to avoid giving away the end of the story, please forgive me for so misleading you. I hope the suspense you felt as you read the story was worth it.