I owe a lot of thanks for this collection caper, as I usually do to be fair. It’s lovely when folk help out a poor, confused man with his strange, rather baffling dreams.

Firstly, the previous owner of the car. He’d owned it from new effectively, as it was his company car in 1997. He liked it so much that he bought it at the end of the lease term, which means a continuous history of nearly 20 years – albeit it didn’t move much for the last two. Adrian was hugely helpful with logistics, providing the history of the car (verbally as well as a huge stack of invoices) and getting it ready to depart. He even polished the headlamps before I left to ensure they weren’t an MOT issue!

Changing of the guard (of the keys)

Thanks Adrian, for allowing such a scruffy oik to take on your Omega. (look, I was planning to have to do work. I’m saving my Executive suit for another occasion).

Next, I need to thank my taxi driver, Jasper, for taking me right from my door all the way to Bristol. Far nicer to have someone to chat to on a long journey!

Jasper is in there somewhere.

Next, Steve, or User1979 on Autoshite. A pleasure to buy a Bluebird from five years ago, and a great Help to the Caper. There should be a badge for it really. He came to ensure there were no problems driving the Omega away, led me across the confusing roads of Bristol to an MOT station that could squeeze us in at zero notice, and guided me towards a supermarket for the purchasing of lunch. He also put up with me calling for advice, rang around diesel specialists and did his best to find someone to work on the car. On a Friday afternoon. In that, we were not successful, but the effort was certainly appreciated.

Next, Ashley at Mermaid Vehicle Services. Frankly, if you drive into a yard, and it looks like this, you know you’re on to a winner.

A yard of win – Mermaid Vehicle Services

Ashley is a hugely busy one man band, so I was frankly astonished that he managed to squeeze the Omega into his afternoon, diagnosing the diesel leak location and fitting the new rear spring. He also let me poke and prod my way around the underside of the car, so I know where I need to attack with the wire brush and Vactan…

Oh let’s have another photo!

See? My new car isn’t so big.

I know he was desperate to try and fix the diesel leak (who doesn’t love trying to access the inaccessible while being sprayed with diesel?), but we couldn’t acquire the necessary seal – it by now being quite late on a Friday afternoon. I was left wondering what on Earth to do, when a silver XM smoothly cruised into view. It contained Stephen Doel. As he offered me such tempting things as warmth and food, I was amused to get a similar request from his better half on Facebook! I could hardly refuse. We had a lovely evening, and I got to wake up to this view.

A good morning.

I’m also thankful to all those who followed this Caper, whether on social media or various forums. When you’re at your wits’ end after one disaster or another, it’s nice to run into a bank of suggestions. It’s also nice to be steered away from just setting the sodding thing on fire. Every project has its dark moments, and The Internet can be a refuge when you’ve just had enough.

I told myself I wasn’t going to cry, so I’ll stop there and leave you pondering what will happen next. I think that’s enough for Project OMG for now though. I’d better remember that I own some other vehicles too. Like the Nippa that’s due an MOT soon and needs a service, or the 2CV that still has plenty of jobs left to complete, or the Honda that really could do with another gearbox flush…