Oil and water DO mix!

Oil and water DO mix. In fact, if you add two litres of water to the OIL tank above the motor of your car, and then drive it for 400kms, it will closely resemble an iced coffee milkshake when drained from the motor.

It will most likely cause massive engine damage, possibly requiring you to replace your car engine. Unless you are my 18 year-old son, affectionately nicknamed "Crash Bash" because of his tendency to act now, think later.

Fortunately, said son has the luck of the Irish ... and we're not even Irish. When this catastrophe occurred a week ago, we expected the worst. Without looking at the car, our motor mechanic's prediction was dire. A destroyed head gasket at best was the prognosis and the worst case scenario? A new motor. We might get out of this for $800 or it could cost as much as $2000.

Darling son has only part-time work because he's playing sport at an elite level so we (foolishly?) agreed to let him focus on his sport this year in the hope he can take it to the next level. We'll know by the end of this year how that aspiration is going to pan out, but in the meantime, he's living on a tight budget. A budget that does not allow for a car repair bill in the thousands of dollars!

Our mechanic had not had time to look at the car until yesterday. That gave us a week ... to worry. We need not have. The mechanic's verdict was "tell your son to buy a Tattslotto ticket because he's the luckiest kid I've come across. There's no damage to the motor .. at all! I've never seen anything like it". Phew.

Well, he might not have seen anything like it, but I have. This is one lucky boy. He does no homework in Year 12, but still gets a higher score than most of his mates, making a mockery of my year-long nagging about how he needs to study more.

He lands on his feet - something I'm inordinately proud of, but also regularly frustrated by. This episode with the car should have been a valuable lesson about the need to be patient, take time to ask questions, LISTEN! And it was, to some extent.

But at the end of the day, my week of chastising about his foolish behavior in not first asking where the oil went before he just went ahead and poured water into the engine, has now been dismissed as Mum "nagging" ... yet again. As he pointed out: "See Mum? You were carrying on about nothing". His bill for the car damage? Less than $100. Crash Bash escapes once again.