Cars

My ex had a look at my engine today. As he thought, the timing belt had not broken (I'd been assured it was new when I bought it in April) but had slipped because the water pump had broken - a common problem in Vauxhall Vectras, apparently. He checked the valves and only 4 appear to be damaged. He's of the opinion that they were only just knocked before the car cut out. This is what he'd always thought - that the noise could have been the water pump and not the valves, as it went on too long and the engine should have stopped long before it did if it was the valves. It still means a bit of work - either refurbishment of the valves, or of the head, or a replacement head, or a full replacement engine. He can't do any of this, but a friend has offered to instead. It'll still take some time before I'm back on the road while we source the parts without spending too much or being ripped off! The local (70 miles away) breakers didn't have any cylinders heads for my car, unfortunately...

Nothing to report on the knitting front!