yeah , since yesterday my 6th sense has been telling me that i need to update my bitcoin client.. it must be calculating the default fee amount based on old numbers ( if indeed that how it works )..
Anyhow I have updated the client now.
Also I used the recommended fee, i never changed any amounts with the fee.
The default fee estimation needs to have Bitcoin Core be running for a few hours before it can accurately estimate fees. You need to start up Bitcoin Core and let it run for a while (long enough for a few blocks) before its fee estimate will be accurate. Otherwise you need to set the fee manually.