Friday 23 May 2014

Word of the Week - Carless

Posted by Rosie

Actually, the word I really wanted to describe this week is the one than summarises the week when the flippin' car broke done making everything very difficult to organise and leaving us having to make the decision as to whether we scrap the car or pay silly money to get it fixed.  Trouble is I couldn't find a single word for that so carless will have to suffice.

Driving back from Condé at the weekend the car was juddering intermittently coupled with the red STOP light coming on.  It got me home but died on the way to the garage.  It is quite possible that the parts needed to fix it will cost more than the value of the car so we are off to the garage this morning to discus options with the mechanic. 

Simon needs the 4x4 for work so it has meant a lot of shifting things around, asking other people to give me and the boys lifts, cancelling things, getting the boys to cycle/walk to and from the bus stop and Simon finishing early to collect Tom from his saxophone lesson.  Next week SImon is away for some of the time and both boys have school trips where we are supposed to get them places other than school before the bus. Luckily other parents have come to the rescue and I think we can get them to all the right places at the right times.


Small Mercies


Whilst having no car is an absolute pain in the whatsit I am grateful for 2 small mercies.  This is the same car that I was driving round England recently and I am only too grateful it didn't break down there.  This does not in any way compensate for the our current carless state but I am eternally grateful that when it did finally die it was just 100m from the garage and I was not stuck in the middle of Devon with a deceased car.  

Update - the mechanic turned out not to know what he was doing and after a lot of hassle and many euros down the drain we have now had to scrap the car.  Breaking down outside his garage was NOT a small mercy. More details are here and I would recommend you read this if ever you have a car whose injectors are not working.

Have you any car-related or small mercies stories you'd like to tell?  Please do share.



The Reading Residence


14 comments :

  1. I hope the mechanic realises it's just a teeny weeny cheap thing to fix and you get mobile again soon. (Yeah right!)

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    1. Not as expensive as we first thought but still a lot :(

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  2. What a mare and scary too I imagine? Good to look on the bright side though Rosie #WotW

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    1. It would have been scary had it happened in England but luckily being 100m from the garage with Simon to hand made it "better".

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  3. Fingers crossed it will soon be fixed and you can get back to normal! #WOTW

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    1. Waiting on parts from the UK (they are cheaper).

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  4. Oh, I do hope you get good news at the garage. I hate having problems with the car, tempered only by the fact that my dad owns a garage, so at least he sorts it all out for me - still a pain, though! And yes, better to breakdown where it did than in Devon! Thanks for sharing with #WotW

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    1. Hopefully parts will be fitted next week - being carless out here is such a pain.

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  5. Such a huge pain to be unexpectedly car-less! My sister and brother in law have been car-less for a while now as they can't afford to replace their broken down Golf. Fortunately for them they live in London so pretty much everything is accessible via public transport but there are times when the convenience of your own vehicle is so nice. They have also used a scheme whereby you hire a car paying by the hour. I thought I'd lost my keys briefly this week (with the boys locked inside!) which was a very worrying 15 minutes!! :-) #WotW

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    1. Glad you found your keys! we absolutely need a car out here in rural France - no local public transport but I have found lots of helpful friends and Mums.

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  6. I hope you got some good news at the garage!!

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    1. Not exactly good news but better than first thought.

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  7. At least it did the "decent" thing and waited til it got home! Hope it's good news...

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