Monday 27th Broken cars and body at Cosgrove

The day started like any other day, only difference was we were due to travel to Eastbourne to see my dad. Our car had been left on our son Colin's driveway for several months but she started okay so we brought her down to Cosgrove to where our boat was moored. We left at 9.15am and after checking tyre pressures and filling up with petrol at the local garage, set of on our 3 hour journey. Then an hour into the journey all went very wrong. Ian suddenly felt a shuddering from the tyres. He pulled over onto the hard shoulder of the M1 and as he stopped clouds of smoke came pouring out from the front wheels. So big dilemma. Do we proceed slowly along the hard shoulder to Junction 9 where we could safely get away from the speeding cars, or do we stay put and risk getting run into? We decided on the former and with smoke billowing in all directions made it off the motorway and into a farmers track. Okay. Phone the green flag to come out to us. No problem.Said he would be with us at 11.30am. As we had driven forward onto the track we decided that it would be easier for the repairs to happen if the front wheels were toward the road. The brakes had cooled down by now so Ian did a three point turn and positioned the car so it faced the road. Anyway sure enough the nice man from the Green Flag arrived when he said he would and after a quick look at the front wheels came to the conclusion that the brakes were binding and not much could be done at the side of the road. So he said he could tow us to Hemel Hempsted and take us to Quick Fit where they could do a brake check. We agreed. Then as he walked round the car he suddenly said " Did you know the rear tyre was going flat?" We couldn't believe it. On turning the vehicle round we had punctured the tyre with a large screw. It was still embedded in the wheel! Good job we were going to Quick Fit! On arrival they said they would fix the puncture there and then but couldn't do the brake check until 2.30pm. The town center was only half a mile away so we left them to it and went for a look round Hemel. We duly arrived back at the allotted time only to be told our brake caliper had cracked and that was the reason for our troubles. Ian being Ian and knowing quite a lot about cars told him in no uncertain terms that he was talking rubbish and that they were not going to force us into paying some exorbitant price for no reason at all. He told them to put the wheels back on the car and he would drive it back home and sort it out there. Okay. Now for the scary bit. As Ian drove the car from the forecourt he suddenly said that the brakes didn't feel right. I got out of the car to be met by some sort of fluid pouring from beneath the car. Brake fluid!!!!! So straight back to the garage and back onto the ramp. We both jumped to conclusion that the mechanic had done something wrong, but when Ian inspected it with him, found the brake pipe had corroded where the clip held it to the car. This could have gone at any time. Someone was looking out for us because if we had to have braked suddenly while travelling at speed along the motorway we just wouldn't have stopped and our number would have been up!!! Well we had no option but to let them fix the pipe. Only trouble was it was a Chrysler part and they didn't have it. As luck would have it next door was a Chrysler dealer, so with no brakes other then the hand break, Ian drove it next door. Guess what. They didn't have the part either so we had to leave the car in Hemel Hempsted and take the train back to Milton Keynes. A quick phone call to Colin and an assurance that he would collect us from the station. Now you would think that as our day had been so bad nothing more could happen. Wrong. When Colin pulled into Gosgrove carpark we found it to be full of Police cars. Wondering if a boat had been broken into I went up to one of the policeman and asked that question. He didn't say much just said there had been "an incident". We started to walk toward our boat when he stopped us and asked where we were going. We told him our boat was moored just below the lock and that as we lived on board we were going home. He stopped us again and told us we could not return to the boat until the "incident" had been dealt with. It all fell into place then. I asked him if it was a body in the canal and he confirmed my suspicion. So all we could do was to go to the pub and wait for the all clear from the coppers. Everyone was talking about what had happened. From what I can gather,it was a man who had been missing off his boat since Friday. He moored about half a mile from Cosgrove Lock. I don't suppose we will ever no what really happened to him but on the Monday morning a boat exiting the lock suddenly stalled and no amount of turning the engine would get it going. Then the lady at the tiller realised that something was round the prop and to her horror found it to be the body. How she must have felt is beyond me. It is something I have always dreaded happening and so far thankfully it never has. The body had been in the canal for a length of time and was pretty mangled so no wonder the policeman wouldn't let us back to our boat. I really feel for his family. Just goes to show that you can never be to careful when boating. We were eventually allowed back to the boat at 8.30pm where we reflected on a pretty dismal day all round. Our trip to Eastbourne had to be cancelled and we have no idea when our car will be ready to collect.