Saturday 16 December 2017

Oh no...


My personal head of Janus looks back at 2017 with 11 months of optimism, but is looking forward with its hands half covering its eyes.

Prices for absolutely everything are set to go up due to a perfect economical storm brought about through bad management, greed, insecurity and a couple of popular votes, and incomes  - for most - are set to go down. Sharply down.

I am utterly skint and set to become skinter, and every time I go into Waitrose I am actually shocked by the rise in prices. They must have whole teams of people working at night, changing the labels on all the products.

I do admit, though, that I was extremely lucky with that car-crash of a couple of weeks ago. I really feel like going into a church and lighting a candle for those less fortunate than I.

For a start, nobody was the slightest bit hurt in the head-on collision (well, my elbows still ache a little, but that is nothing).

Secondly, during the journey in the run-up to the crash, I was actually considering scrapping the car because I thought it was going to cost too much to get it through an MOT test.

After I got over the shock of the impact, I panicked about when the MOT certificate ran out. In this country, you are warned about every other renewal needed to keep a car on the road, but not an MOT. Without a valid and current MOT certificate, you are technically uninsured.

So, thirdly, I checked and discovered that my MOT certificate was set to expire on the coming Thursday - a few days after the accident.

Fourthly, I did not realise that I was entitled to a courtesy car, so when they gave me one I felt even more fortunate, especially since the considerable cost of it is many times more than the old car was worth, and is being shouldered by the van-driver's insurance (I hope - because it isn't going to be me).

When I was gingerly helping another van driver to squeeze past my parked courtesy car without doing any damage to it yesterday, I noticed the scraped paintwork to the rear end which must have been done the previous day when I was nowhere near it.

I am considering getting it re-sprayed myself, because the £250 excess which I must have on some insurance - either mine or theirs - coupled with the loss of no-claims bonus and hike in future premiums, will amount to many times more than the old Volvo was worth in any case.

Happy New Year...

13 comments:

  1. I would buy a spray can of paint and do it myself and see what it looks like after you have sprayed it before I would pay somebody.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hmm... I don't want it to look the the feeble attempt at hiding it that it would be if I used a spray can...

      Delete
  2. Try T-Cut .... it's brilliant ...... and a cuddle !!! XXXX

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good idea. Get it done and say nothing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a bugger, I think your solution could be the best. Alternatively, chuck a bucket full of mud over it before you return it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh no, I'm sorry.
    I have a box with 48 colouring felt pens which I use for hiding bleach marks on clothes, scratches on furniture or walls, etc. but I don't think this works on cars though :)
    Greetings Maria x

    ReplyDelete
  6. I've had luck on my mind a good deal of late. So have you, it seems. As for our downfall, consider we're all in it together and it will be a mighty roar at the uprising.

    ReplyDelete
  7. When my Corsa was about a fortnight old I parked it and when I returned somebody had scraped the front mudguard. I arranged to have it seen to and in the meantime went to the car wash so that I could see just how bad the scrape was. The car wash chap rubbed it with something and the marks completely disappeared as if by magic.
    PS Thanks for Rupert - love him.

    ReplyDelete