I was driving into work today and was about a mile away when the Octavia made this funny gasping noise. It kept driving so I wasn't concerned, but I didn't know what was going on, it seemed to be running fine. Then I noticed that the battery light was flashing on and off, which isn't good when the car is driving. I made it to work and left the car for the day, I did try it during morning break but it was doing the same thing so I decided to leave it.
The trip home was uneventful and I made it all the way without any problems, although the battery light was still flashing. Reading the mannual on the driveway I found that the reason the battery light was on was due to the "ribbed belt" slipping. This made sense as I could actually hear the belt squeaking as I was driving along.
Looks as though I will have to drive the Fiesta for a few days.