Ally

Lots to blog about then eh?!  I’ll go through in order of the title I think….

Pancake day Tuesday, instead of faffing and making them I brought them from Tesco and heated them up – it was not successful.  I didn’t like the sweet taste of the pre-made ones but Carl did.  Isn’t it odd how people have different pancake traditions though?  My mum’s always had pancakes as a pudding, and used things like golden syrup, chocolate spread, squirty cream, and of course, orange, lemon and sugar.  Me and my brother used to have a variety of different fillings, and I thought everyone would be the same… Carl however sticks to the orange juice and sugar method, and his mum would usually just make pancakes for tea – nothing else.  Another odd thing is that Carl doesn’t fold his pancakes (or perhaps I’m odd for folding mine?)  he had three at once and spread two on his plate and then had to get a little side plate for the third… BONKERS!

Colin is the oddest rabbit!  You know he’s being cheeky when it all goes quiet and as me and Carl were both in the kitchen the little monkey was unsupervised… I creep in only to discover him having a drink… out of my glass that was on the coffee table! Isn’t that the cutest?!  What on earth was going through his mind when he was being cheeky on the table (his new thing at the moment) and decided to stick his head in my glass.

Ringo is my new beetle, as you will know from the previous post.  I’d been thinking about the beetles for a while and was really getting ready for a new car.  I’d had the 206 for almost 3 years (the longest id kept a car) and was seriously fed up with it.  Me and Carl had a talk and it sempt like I good time to get a new car. I’d need a small loan to help finance it, and after 6 months in the house we were comfortable with our bills and I’d been saving since we moved in, which proved I could afford a loan-repayment.  Out mortgage is fixed for 3 years and so with 2 ½ years remaining there was no better time.  In another couple of years, interest rates might rise, and the mortgage go up so we will need to put more of our wages into the house… if this happens.. The loan will be almost paid off (or paid in full if I manage to over-pay some months).

So the search began… Hammering Auto Trader online sempt the best option, most local garages stocked beetles but we WAY over my budget, £8500 at some places and I think the lowest I saw was £7000.  I was looking for an older car for about £5500.  Auto Trader came up with a couple and I rang a few places to see what was in – all the cheapest beetles were selling quick, and the ones that weren’t had really high mileage on them.  Then I saw an advert for a garage in Kirkby that had a grey beetle in. There we no pictures and no other information but I rang anyway… the beetle was coming in later on in the week and I was going to go up that evening and check it out.  I’d gone up to VW the weekend before and sat in one so I knew what they were like inside and stuff.  The one at the garage was LUSH!  I’d said over the phone that I wanted to part-x my car and was looking for £1500 (optimistic I know) anyway, the car had only just come in before id got there, and they’d only had chance to Hoover it out for me… I took it out and loved it!  Got back to the garage and the bloke got someone to value my car… he went on about how it was modified and would cost someone more to insure blah blah blah but in the end said I could have £1500 for it… SOLD! When the bloke went to get the paper work me and Carl were couldn’t stop giggling.. my car… £1500! Ok so there was nothing mechanically wrong with it, in the 3 years I’ve had it I haven’t spent any money on it, but it was an old car, and not the nicest to drive (and a couple of different colours).  The beetle needed an MOT in a few weeks which they would do early for me and it was going to be valleted for me picking it up – with me having to get finances in place he said a week’s time for collection (which was yesterday).

This week’s been a nightmare then to be honest, the bloke at the garage was going to ring me Monday to let me know how the car had got on with the MOT and standard vehicle check but he never did. I called him Tuesday and he was a complete arse with me.  He asked what id rung for which completely threw me off course “to know when I can collect my car!” I said.  He said he would check with the garage and get it cleaned ASAP, and call me later than night with more idea of when I could collect it.  When he did call me back he said there was a problem, that it hadn’t got the 6 disk changer he thought but it wasn’t a problem as the 206 had my old one in and we could swap it round… he was chattering on about it taking 2 days to do it at the garage or Carl could do it for me.. on and on he went and I felt like I was being talked into something I didn’t want to be… so I said id speak to Carl and call him back.  When Carl got home he ended up ringing him and saying it was not on. He’d promised a CD player and that’s what we were getting – he would have to order me one in!  The bloke tried saying at first that he’d never said it had got one, but we’d all discussed it in the car, then he told Carl that he was dealing with me! Carl just coolly said “not anymore” haha and in the end agreed to order a CD player in, and that we would pick the car up last night at 4.00 with or without it, and Carl would go back and fetch the CD player and fit it himself! Yay!

I was initially quite pleased that I was buying from a garage, it would have a little but of warranty which is always nice, and it will come all clean and shiny, but the bloke I dealt with was awful. He’d asked me to ring him a couple of times, and each time he acted like I was bugging him, and had no right to call…. I actually think I’m going to put in a complaint as it was almost as soon as he’d got the sale he didn’t care!  Carl actually knows someone else who dealt with him and said the same.

Anyway. Who cares! I have my beetle and I LOVE it!!!