Glimmer

So just when it all seemed doom and gloom I suggested Darren ring the management at Chopperdoc to check whether there was anything they could do about our car problem.

"There's nothing they'll be able to do" he said. "It's not their problem if I can't get to work".

"No" I replied, "but this isn't the NHS. It isn't even the Australian public health system, it's a charity, and since I've been working for a charity myself, I've realised they have ways and means; options you wouldn't think possible in the NHS"

So he rang them up and within five minutes they'd sorted him out with a car; an old Mitsubishi something-or-other left behind by a previous overseas doctor. Provided he covers the running costs (about $150 a month), he can borrow it until January and we can keep it right up until we leave, which is handy because we'll obviously have to sell the Honda.

Anyway, he rang the garage back and told them to hold their horses on the Toyota, though the horses had already bolted and they were busy fiddling their hooves under the chassis to the tune of $150. "Let's just write that off" he said as I set off ranting about yet another bill for nothing, though in the event they had the compassion not to charge us at all, thus restoring some glimmer of faith in the Sydneysiders, just a glimmer you understand. Just a smidge.

The upshot of this is we don't have to fork out the $2000, though we do have a car with a large hole in the underneath, it's MOT certificate due to expire on September 1st. If we can get someone to fix it, we'll sell it. If not, perhaps we'll get a few hundred dollars for it, which is a terrible shame as even I'll admit it's otherwise a great little car and yes, it will probably run for another five years. Would it have been more cost effective to fix it than lease a car for five months? I don't know, and frankly, I haven't the heart to sit and work it out because the alternative, spending $2000 from our savings (money I've earnt working at the university) just depresses me.

I'd rather spend it on handbags and cocktails, wouldn't you?