My shiny new car

Hoorah, hoorah, I have a new car! After trying four yesterday (no. 1 a rust bucket which was curiously a different colour at the back than the front; no. 2 a rust bucket the size of a thimble and colour of radioactive sick; nos. 3 & 4 nice enough cars but being sold by a secret dealer so over budget) then being told that the the first four cars I called about this morning had been sold (one ten minutes earlier) I was feeling rather despondent, and seriously considering a friend's offer of a loan of her scooter. Then I came across this gem and fate was sealed.

We did have venture out of Rutland into East Northamptonshire, but it was fine as the village was gorgeous and the cottage the car lived at even prettier than ours. The chap selling the car is moving to Zanzibar to run a beach hotel - a genuine reason to sell if ever there was one. I played a hard negotiating game with the owner as I test drove the car, along the lines of "I'm desparate, I want to buy it now". We then continued this fierce battle over a cup of coffee in the lovely garden, while Annie tussled with the owner's black lab, and the owner for no apparent reason other than he had the hangover from hell, knocked £100 off the price. Presumably he wanted to get rid of us quickly so he could have a lie down.

Anyway, about the car. It's a top of the range Mondeo and has everything you could possible want - leather seats and electric absolutely everything. Comparing this car to what I saw yesterday is like comparing Annie with Anne Widdicombe. There are a couple of tiny rust patches which I hope to T-cut (when I learn what that is), a tiny tear in the leather cover on the passenger door which superglue will fix, the rear view mirror needs to be stuck back on and the CD autochanger doesn't work for reason not known. Other than these minor faults, it's absolutely perfect.

So now we're officially a two Mondeo family.