The last road trip

I had to make a quick trip to tidy up mum and dad's place before they get back from overseas. Mick was lovely and agreed to drive me there.

Unfortunately he had a mishap at the service station before we set off. He dropped a little plastic bottle of some sort of additive into the fuel tank.
Cue much swearing followed by some determined MacGyvering.
I was certain my duct-tape-on-the-end-of-a-stick would work, but no.
Ditto the stab-it-with-a-screwdriver approach.

We eventually gave up and I forgot all about it.

The drive into Sydney just keeps getting uglier – the Upper North Shore is looking more like Zetland every day. These vignettes whizzed by and summed it up perfectly:

As for the visit, it was a hit-and-run affair.
The return trip started off on an amusing note in Crows Nest:

... but it soured as soon as we hit the freeway:

In all, the car broke down four times, the last time within walking distance of home. The NRMA man who came to our assistance, when told of the errant plastic bottle trapped in the fuel tank, was kind enough not to laugh.

Mick has vowed never to drive me to Sydney again.