Brighton and back

On Saturday got up at 6am to go to visit my mates in Brighton. It was their 2 years olds birthday. Anyway didnt manange to leave home till 8:30! got to Pease Pottage services at about 11am having done a slight detour to Daventry for deisel. Anyway M decides he needs a break so we stop to swap drivers. He had driven all the way till then. As we start to go down slip road off motorway the car went all jerky. Then we go to the turning into the service area and the car just stopped! There was a whole chapter of hells angels right behind us too!. Mind you they would most likely have helped us to push the car if we had needed help. Luckily car eventually started with much revving which seems to have done the engine no good but more of that later. At this point we are about 25 miles from our mates! We have not seen them in 4 years and on top of all that we went in Ms car which never breaks down! Well till now anyway. Car eventually starts and M charges and swerves into nearest empty space. Car stops. Wont start. He opens bonnet and I turn it over. Deisle squirts all over him. Must admit it was a bit funny tho he was not happy. Phoned up K in brighton who says to keep him informed and if necessary he can pick us up since just up the road. Trouble is only 2 hours free parking like all motroways service stations. Anyway we fiddle with car for next 20 minutes or so, M getting much sprayed with deisel. He tried fixing with sellotape. Not surprising didnt work. Then chopped up one of my hair ties to try to make a gasket. By now we know its an injector pipe leaking. He keeps trying to tighten and then it breaks completely. The end just sheers off! Now we are really in it! Have several options tho. 1) call AA but they might not be able to fix and we could end up on wagon taken back home. 2) call mate K but only have 2 hours. Decided to check out cost of parking. Turns out it is £8 for 24 hours. Not cheap but do-able. So we buy a ticket ( comes with token for BOBOF coffee too!) and then call mate K. Great choice. Get to spend day in Brighton. Went to beach, ate dinner, visit a pub. Catch up with good old frined we have not seen for ages. Generally a very good day. Later mate K takes us back to car. Funny tho cos he ended up doing 120 mile round trip at this point we have only done 122 miles. Well back at car finally call AA man. Go and get our BOGOF coffee. Not very nice coffee but we need it by then. WE wait an hour and a half and then AA man arrives. Wonderful man. Have been driving over 25 years. Have used AA and RAC several times ( sadly) and never before has anyone made a piece for my car to get me going. Usually they just call a wagon and stick my car on back and it takes me about 6 hours to get home. This amazing bloke only makes a replacement injector for the car from a piece of copper tubing. And it works and gets us home. Amazing! Much impressed with the AA right now. Ms car doesnt sound too healthy after all this tho so not all good. Does prove tho that you shouldnt let a small problem get in the way of you seeing your very old mates who you care for and havent seen for ages. Once you decide to go for it nothing should stop you! In the end we had a great day out.