Blimey.....

....it really has been a long time since I've blogged. So long, in fact, that I can't remember what it was that was so exciting that I felt the need to mention it, without mentioning it.....if you see what I mean.

It was probably something to do with the major fund-raising effort we had for Greyhound Gap. One of our foster dogs, walking along quite happily, suddenly collapsed with a broken leg. That sort of thing doesn't really happen very often and an anxious few hours were spent waiting for the vet's opinion. Luckily, the vet deemed it repairable and £2,500 squids later we have a dog back in one piece, thanks to 17 pins and staples. We launched the fundraising appeal and within days people had pledged what was needed. Everyone pulled out all the stops and faith in human nature was well and truly restored and overflowing.

The only downside was that, as Treasurer, I was deluged everyday with sacks of envelopes containing cheques and my e-mail nearly exploded with the amount of Paypal notifications....and they're still coming in!!

On the bad news front, my car is broken. Some would say that I broke my car by letting the oil run low but I would refute that. Not only because it's such a silly, girlie thing to do and, one thing I'm not, is a silly girlie, but also because it hadn't actually run out of oil. True, it was at the "Add oil now or your car will break" line but it wasn't below it. Anyhow, the upshot was that the Turbo thingie whatsit broke. So whilst the car still goes, it sounds like a jet engine whenever I put my foot on the accelerator. As it's an old car, repairing it simply not financially viable....it would cost more than the car is worth. Sooooo....this meant I had to go and find a new car.

Whilst being quite excited at the prospect of buying a new car, the whole process actually fills me with dread. What to get? Where to get it from? What colour shall it be? And all those important things. People who sell cars seem to have this in-built radar which spots a woman at 300 paces and automatically assume they have "mug" stamped across their foreheads. I've spent hours on Autotrader trying to find something I might like, and find lots of things I liked I did but a 3 litre engine is not entirely economic for London driving. My only requirements were something big enough to take The Lurchers and all their gear (so an estate or an MPV) and air conditioning.

I got myself all geared up for a weekend spent car-hunting when I found a really lovely salesman who works from home, not a couple of miles from me. And he had a lovely shiny 5 year old Peugeot 406 estate with the required air con. Actually, it has climate control, which is just a tad swankier than air con. It also has a CD player and lots of other flashing thing that I need to figure out what they do. I have just emptied my piggy bank of all it's pennies and shall be picking up said shiny car this evening.

I'm terribly excited....again!