wheeling and dealing

the driftwood family needs a new car

we have known for a while that this was coming but we are specialists at leaving everything to the last minute........

last weekend driving over the North York Moors was quite an experience........ hiccuppy hiccuppy hiccupy, judder judder judder, goes the little car as I try to coax it up the hills, squeaky squeaky go the brakes as we navigate down the hair pin bends and the severe gradients........

this week the MOT ran out, and after one fail the garage managed to limp it through on a retest, but then said "you really need to replace this you know", and handed me a list of jobs that really really need doing, and another list of jobs that really really really need doing - you get the idea.........oh and they also said they felt happy for us to drive it around town but don't go on the motorway............ not easy when the in-laws live 100 miles up the motorway, and are in need of an urgent visit.......

Each member of the driftwood family has an opinion on what to do

Miss K went to the most expensive car on the website I was looking at and said

"I think we should buy this one.

It has an intelligent key."

we don't know what that does, but we like the sound of it. perhaps it will do homework.

Miss K is also very keen on satellite navigation. I think the number of times that I get lost when driving have traumatised her somewhat. I think the coffee lady could understand this.......

E has designed us a car. No showroom cars will provide the features that he thinks are essential. I especially like the trampoline option.



Mr Driftwood seems to favour the biggest vehicle ever. When we went for a test drive yesterday I felt like I was driving an armoured tank.



On a positive note the children were so in awe of it they didn't make a peep the whole journey.

I decide I will only choose a pink car, but I think Mr Driftwood knows I am just being difficult.

so we chose the type of car, and then we just have to find one we can afford. we go to a showroom that is part off a big chain, so we have lots of choice.

the salesman in his shiny suit (Alice is well used to salesmen although perhaps socks have a different grade of commission) offers a list of options, some a bit older, some with less mileage, all different prices and all different options of complexity - one has sat nav, but none have a trampoline........

my head is spinning with figures and decisions, but that could be the really syrupy cup of coffee they provided.

we choose the car we want, the shiny suit checks on the computer, and someone at another garage has just bought it.

we decide on another car.

by now the children have finished their hot chocolates, and are bored by football focus which is the only program showing on the showroom tv, and are so hungry they are threatening to eat the chairs. we have been here so long I feel like we have moved in.

Mr Driftwood goes to pay a deposit and that car has been sold too.

I have lost the will to live.
I want to go home.
so do the children.
Mr Driftwood wants to sort this out as he is going away to a conference in the States soon, and does not want to leave us with a car that is liable to break down at any moment, or actually just liable not to pull off at a junction when there is a huge wagon thundering towards you.....
The shiny suit finds another car on the computer. I take the children to listen to a story tape in our car, and leave Mr Driftwood to sort it out. meanwhile the price changes. and not for the better....... I wake up at 6am this morning, and can't get back to sleep because I convince myself we have made the wrong choice........... at the end of the week we can go for a test drive again, and then we'll see.

tomorrow I shall show lots of lovely photos of fossils we found on holiday, and block out the trauma of the car buying fiasco.......