Yesterday was our 1 week mark here in Cambridge. We celebrated it by looking for a new car. :) Many of you know that we bought a car here back in March, when we were here for a few weeks. We thought we'd be back in May, but that didn't work out. Anyway just before we were due to return to the US we were about 20 minutes away from Cambridge and we had a radiator hose burst. We made it back home, but the collateral damage from that caused the engine to run very rough. We couldn't have it looked at until we got back. Well, the news isn't good for poor Megan- new head gasket, at basically $1600. In addition, someone stole our good key, left us the one that didn't work, and since Megan has an immobiliser we need a new key. $250. Also needs new front brakes and drums. $420. And as if all of that wasn't enough, the catalytic converter has gone bad and needs to be replaced or it won't pass the emissions test here. $1000. Ouch. So while Megan was a good car while she ran, we're in the market for a newer vehicle. I had seriously considered just fixing it myself- I've always wanted to do brakes and exhaust systems in particular because I've never done repairs on that part of a car before. I still haven't ruled that out as a side hobby. :)
We would like a vehicle that has 4 doors, and at least a 2.0 Liter engine. You laugh, but most engines here fall in the 1.2-1.6 Liter range. 2.0 is even a higher tax rate. We want to be able to drive around a lot on trips, within England and up to Scotland, and also to drive more than 2 people in the car. Our rental car is up tomorrow, so we need to find one, well, today. :)
In other news, we've now found out that staying in the company rented flat for too long means we have to pay taxes on the rent amount since it counts as a "benefit." Benefits are taxed here. So if our references and stuff don't go through by Friday we'll be sleeping with Nelly at the cattery. :) We'll have to find somewhere else to stay. So PR for us that the paperwork will be ready for us to sign Friday.
All of our luggage and misc has finally arrived- today my photo printer arrived. That makes 15 suitcases, and the printer. With the size of the cars here I'm estimating it'll take 15 trips. :D Actually we can probably fit 4 suitcases in our rental car, including the trunk and backseat. It's smaller than our Ford Aspire- think like a Geo Metro in size. So that means we're looking at 5 or 6 trips out to get everything.
I'm now sleeping on the floor. :D The room we're staying in only has a twin bed, and although they brought in a spare bed, said spare bed has slats which keep the mattress on, and these slats have taken to falling out while I'm sleeping. So last night I'd had it, and decided to forget the bed, pulled out my sleeping bag and put the mattress on the floor. If I knew which of our 15 bags my Thermarest pad was in I could have skipped the mattress. Anyway I slept better than I have all week. So the mattress is staying on the floor. :) The other bed isn't all that comfortable either. So George graciously let me sleep on the floor although his bed isn't that great.
Last but not least for yesterday, I had a load of laundry get washed 4 times. The flat has what they call a "combi" which is a dual purpose washer and dryer. It has the added benefit that it locks the door when it's running. Or thinks its running. Or might possibly run at some point in the future. You get the idea. Well it's just about impossible to turn the dryer feature of this thing on. It simply won't turn on! I tried 4 times to turn on the dryer to dry some already cleaned but still a bit damp clothes. I tried 3 times, and every time the washer turned on. Needless to say those particular clothes are very very clean now. :) At some point during the day, when I wasn't looking, the dryer turned itself on. Too bad it didn't actually dry the clothes, but they were a little dryer. My favorite thing about the washer is that it doesn't fill up with water. It's supposed to be conserving water I think. Instead, it just sprays the clothes until they're a little damp, and then rotates around, fwaping the clothes around the drum. For like an hour all you hear is "fwap, fwap-fwap, fwap." I wish I could include a sound clip of that, and also the spin cycle, where the washer turns into an engine from the space shuttle and prepares for lift off. It just about reaches lift off too. We shut the door to the kitchen where the washer lives, and go into another room because it is so loud you can't hear the other person talking.
Now back to searching for cars on autotrader. :)
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