Life getting in the way

The long and the short of it: Tom has shingles, which are horrible, now compounded by a chest infection. Then I crashed the car, properly this time, into the back of someone. Tea and sympathy are nice but not to the point. These lapses of attention are a worry, and I need to think very hard about how best to avoid them.

So we have been a sorry pair. But, as a friend who should know said, bad days are often followed by good, and luck may be on the turn. The car, battered old BX, is a write-off, but the insurance will give us 800 euros for it. The repairs were around the 2000 euro mark, a bit less with second hand parts, so we initially thought about repairing it anyway, if they'd let us, since we thought we probably couldn't replace it for the money. But then I had this vision, quite spontaneously. Of a little green Citroen Saxo.

I started looking at one or two secondhand car sites, not many Saxos round here, quite a few Renault Twingos, wasn't sure if I'd be able to persuade Tom to be seen dead in one of those, but they seemed a possibility, I think their total lack of cool means you can find them quite cheap. But one of the problems, which shouldn't be a problem but it is, is the right hand/left hand drive. I have never driven left hand drive. I should learn, I know, but frankly, with the knock to my confidence and Tom's worries, which are not sexist or patronising or unreasonable at all but based on experience and observation, about my driving lapses, now is not the time.

Then the idea occurred that some friends had found a RHD car through Anglo-Info, an expat's website. They hadn't been especially looking for RHD but had found a very good deal because of it. The 40 odd pages of small ads on the site were not in any particular order and without a search facility, so I had to scroll through sundry offers of tractor trailers, camper vans, motor bikes, battered old BXs to be broken up for spares, but at about ten o'clock last night on about the 19th page, I found a little green Saxo. Right-hand drive, French reg but English owned, about 12 years old, so not precious or bijou but still considerably younger than the BX, being passed on because a generous relative had donated another car, new tyres and a brand new Controle Technique (MOT equivalent, runs for two years), for about 1300 euros, at Loudeac, about ten miles from here. I e-mailed last night and heard back this morning that it is still available.

If the BX had died of natural causes, we wouldn't have cleared 800 euros on it. With the situation being as pressing as it is, and with other worries, and Tom really preoccupied with just getting well again, we won't spend a lot of time sentimentalising and grieving over the BX, which is only natural, as it's been with us for all our married life and we've had some wonderful times with it. I've ordered a book on safe defensive driving techniques and one on mindfulness in every day situations such as driving (though, as Tom said, one does have to remember to put them into action...). I even spoke to our doctor about the attention slips, fearing, since my father suffered from late onset petit mal epilepsy, that perhaps there was something going on. He listened and asked questions and took me seriously, advised vigilance and about warning signs, but said encephalograms were probably not yet called for.

I've not had much heart for blogging, things to be dealt with have just been worriesome, and at spare moments all I've wanted to do was curl up with a book, preferably one about the 12th century. My apologies about not being around are more for not visiting than not posting, but I hope the tide is turning now. I'm twiddling my thumbs now until it's a reasonable time to make phone calls, to a friend I hope will come with me to Loudeac to see the Saxo, to the seller, to our insurance agent, the lovely, gracious and ever-reassuring Simone who, by her virtues and proximity, ensures we probably pay a little over the odds for our insurance but its worth every penny to have her there, to say not to bother about finding out about fixing the BX, and to the garagist who will probably be relieved he no longer has to labour to keep that car on the road.

I'll let you know how I get on.