Sundown this evening marks the start of Tisha B'Av which falls August 1 this year, that is tonight and tomorrow!!!! Tisha B'Av is the day when both Jewish Temples were destroyed, first by the Babylonians, then the 2nd Temple by the Romans. This also marks the end of "The Three Weeks", so hopefully things will ease up after tomorrow, especially by the joyous festival of Tu B'Av next Monday on the Full Moon.
Meanwhile this past weekend, the last weekend of The Three Weeks, indeed the weekend during the Nine Days of Av, was a horror weekend of high anxiety. We Virgos are such anxious creatures to begin with, indeed anxiety is hard wired into our DNA, nevertheless, this was the weekend I almost didn't survive.
It all started on Friday night when I was on my way to church. I suddenly noticed the temperature gauge in the car rise to critical for a few seconds before the emergency backup system kicked in and the temp dropped down again to normal. This few seconds however basically wrecked the rest of my evening as it brought back horrific memories of December last year when I had all this trouble with the cooling system in the midst of moving house, throwing my plans into chaos, and having to spend over $1000 to basically replace the whole system!!
So as I sat in church all I can think of is the car and what in Hell's name could be going on with the cooling system!!! Ironically, as if the universe was trying to tell me something, that evening's message was about anxiety and how NOT to be anxious!!!! However I said in my mind, don't you know it's in the DNA of Virgos to be anxious!!!!
Now I try to think rationally, another Virgoan trait, a better one!!!! The radiator, thermostat, head gasket, pretty well all of the major components of the cooling system were all replaced just last December, only 7 months ago!!!! So if anything went wrong with those it ought to be covered by warranty, at least for the parts if not the labour. The other possibility was that one of the hoses has sprung a leak, or a leak elsewhere.
Several things however were weighing on my mind. First the Cancun trip now only two months away. The last thing I needed was to have to spend money on the car, that would take away from money set aside for my Cancun trip since I am basically saving all my spare cash after spending on the essentials - rent, bills and food. And even if the components were under warranty, other things will cost me money, such as probably the labour which is usually not covered under warranty when it comes to car repairs. So I was thinking how could I make my car last for two months until at least my Cancun trip?? Maybe just not use the car until then??
Then there's the other thing. My need to empty out my storage unit, currently an ongoing job which is likely to take me until the end of this year due to my bower bird wife collecting and hoarding items, furniture I don't need, etc. Clearing out my storage unit will save my hundreds of dollars in rental, indeed a few month's rental would be enough to pay for the air tickets to Peru for 2018. And I NEED my car to complete the job of clearing out my storage unit. If necessary I could live without a car AFTER finishing clearing out the storage unit, but meanwhile I NEED my car. If for any reason I find myself without a car, such as, repair job being too expensive, then I be left with my storage unit forever with no means to clean it out.
Now if it is a leak, then where is the leak? How bad is the leak? If it is only a small leak then I could just keep it topped up and hope it lasts until I finish clearing out my storage unit. But if a major leak then it is going to need repairs, which would not happen until AFTER my Cancun trip, and seems destined to throw into chaos my plans to clear out my storage unit.
So as we Virgos would do, all these scenarios and then some continued to rush through my head!!! We Virgos tends to think of all scenarios, including those in parallel universe, and dwell on the worst of these!!!!
My plan for the next morning, after the engine have cooled down, to check the water level in the radiator before I go for my walk. And so after a sleepless night I got up, and after getting ready for my walk, I checked the water level and indeed found it was very low!!!! The system has lost water - or coolant as the case may be!!!! Fortunately I had a bottle of water in the trunk just for such a moment, and it needed nearly THREE litres!!!! That's a lot of water to be lost!!!!
OK it is true that I hadn't checked the water level since December last year. So that is seven months since last checking the water level. So it was possible that the three litres were lost over a period of seven months. But then my Virgoan mind thinks of the other scenario, that is, the leak was more recent, meaning a bad leak, and it lost three litres over a much shorter time.
Well after filling up the radiator, I drove to the Post Office to collect my mail then went for my walk, and there was no evidence of overheating, the temp gauge behaved itself exactly!!! I kept an eagle eye on the gauge, being an anxious Virgo that I am!!!
After getting back from my walk, and driving back home, I would wait for the engine to cool, and before going to the convenience store in the evening, I will check the water level again.
So when I checked again before going to the convenience store, I found I needed to put more water into it!!! Not as much, indeed a little over a litre, nevertheless, it seemed it has lost MORE water!!!!! OMG!!!! It has sprung a leak more recently!!!! Now it is possible that since originally the water level was so low in the radiator, it would have been also low inside the engine. And when I filled up the radiator the first time, it filled up only the radiator and not inside the engine. It would be only when the car was being used again, when I went to the Post Office, that the water inside the engine became filled, hence needed the extra water in the radiator. And when I went to the convenience store, I parked undercover where it was well lit and dry, and when I looked under the car I could not see any water dripping out. And when I drove back out from the parking lot, I did not see any puddle of water in the vicinity of where my car was parked. This tended to support this hypothesis. However being a Virgo I was still worried and anxious!!!!!
So another very anxious night worrying about the car....... until Sunday when I was due to embark on my shopping expedition. With much trepidation I checked the water level again before I went to the shops, and much to my surprise, I found there was virtually no drop in the water level !!!!!! Oh the relief I felt was palpable!!!!!!!
As I usually do when grocery shopping I went to several different shops, and each time I checked for water dripping and puddles under the car, and each time there was no evidence of either. So by the time I finished my grocery shopping I was feeling a lot better.
And then today when I checked the water level again, there was virtually no water loss evident. So it seems all is fine.
The verdict....... if there is indeed a leak, it is only a very small leak that becomes evident only when not checking the water level for seven months!!!!! On a day to day basis there is virtually no leak. So just have to check the water level a wee bit more often than seven months!!!!!!!
Thank my Goddesses for that!!!!!!!!!!!
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