Weekend 'up north'

It used to irritate me when people would say that Derby / Nottingham was in the north - it blatantly isn't. It's the middle of the country - literally. Thus it's the midlands. Now that I live in London though, I find myself calling it the north. I think Londoners* consider anything north of the M25** to be in the north.

That was my tangent leading up to - I was in Derby this weekend. I had hoped to leave work when school finished at 3:30, but I couldn't get away until 4:30. Not 5 minutes on the road and the radio announced the Motorway*** I use was down to one lane int he roadworks because of an accident. Sooo I decided to go to a colleague's leaving do at the local.**** (This was slightly ironic for me because I was heading to Derby because my friend, Jo, is moving and was having a leaving do. I ended up staying behind and going to my colleague, Jo, leaving do.)
Feeling guilty^ that I didn't head to Derby I called Derby Jo to see if she wanted me to head up (This was around 8pm). She said yes, so in my car I got. And drove. I got to Derby around 11:30 - not bad going. I called to say I was in town and Jo asked me to run to the shop and get some stuff. By the time I got to Jo's house (12:30) some people had left and the others were leaving, and Jo fell asleep. Bit of a bum evening - but I was also tired so it was okay.

Saturday morning I left to get my car sorted. It's been playing up lately. Sometimes I get in it and it's like I have a dead battery, but all the lights and radio work. Sometimes it's fine. A few guys (in my mind all guys know car stuff) said it could be my battery is low, and as it's been cold lately the car is struggling. So off to Halifords I went. I told the guy behind the counter something was wrong with the car - didn't know what but someone said it might be the battery. Outside we went with the battery testing equipment. Battery needs replacing says he. Battery replaced, car started fine, £80 paid. I then went across the car park to do a bit of shopping. Shopping done I walk back to car. Car doesn't start. Irritated I am. I went back to the store to give em h-e-double hockey sticks, but then changed my minding thinking the battery could have been part of the problem. Of to a car mechanic that I know. He listens to problem and says it's the immobiliser, but he doesn't fix those and no one who did would be open on a Saturday. Just don't immobilise^^^ the car and I'll be fine. Cutting this lengthening story shorter. I went back to Halifords and had them put my old battery back in and got my £80 back. When they showed me my old battery - the tester showed it was running at 83% capacity and a 'good battery'. I was sorta cross they took it out and replaced it.
After car trauma took up most of day, I went to a Chinese restaurant with 2 friends and we saw Run fat boy Run after. After movies the friend who I was staying with and I watched a dvd (which one fails me at the moment) and then headed to bed.

Sunday morning was church and then a drive back to London. Got home around 4:30 and lounged around for the evening. And then it was Monday again.

There you have it - you're all caught up with my weekend. Oh yea, I forgot to take any pictures - so it's just a boring long post with no pics. Sorry.

*Not that I class myself as one of those
**The M25 is the ring road around Greater London
***Motorway = freeway ... seriously you Americans need to learn my language - there's far to many of the side notes building up! :)
****Local Pub
^ A mate of mine was meant to be visiting London and staying with me. I asked them to postpone the trip because Jo wanted me to go to Derby. My friend postponed. I felt even more guilty for making them cancel for no reason
^^Halifords is a supermarket type place for car accessories and bikes and bits and bobs like that.
^^^I have a key with a button that locks and unlocks the car. There is not a key hole in my door to unlock the car. When I press the button to lock the car, the car is also immobilised; likewise unlocking it turns the immobiliser off. To lock the car and not put the immobiliser on I have to lock the car inside and unlock it from the passenger side door - what a bother!!!