We head to Waitrose and buy a new car

Our new car

Today, we bought a car. We hadn't intended to. Indeed, we had set off  for Sudbury just to get some shopping from Waitrose and walk the dogs, but Ann had read that Suffolk Trade Centre had a VW Tiguan newly in, and wanted to see what it looked like. 

My own car had been damaged before I went into hospital. I have no recollection of scraping it, but it had a graze across the front wing so we took it to our local guru, Terry, for assessment of the repair. He came out laughing, "here again?" Yes, I have used his services several times, but this time I have no memory of damaging it. He agreed, someone else may have done it in the car park. Very common, he said. He assessed it as 3 days work, but said he'd better add a couple of days in case there was extra work by the time we brought it in. As we left, he said he ought to book a week aside every month to allow me to come in regularly. But he did offer a good price, probably discounted for repeat orders. 

We walked round  the Tiguan and it looked clean enough and of a right size, so we said we'd just get the keys and look at the inside. Nice leather seats, automatic and, though much smaller than the Jag, room enough for two dogs in the boot. Duncan, whom we've known for many years, came over and said, why didn't we take it for a spin? So we thought, why not? I am banned from driving for 4 weeks following my operation, so Ann drove. It is certainly smooth, and holds the road well. Importantly, it is much higher than the Jag, so much easier to get in or out of. These days, I sink down in the low Jag seat, and my weak legs struggle to get out again, but with the Tiguan I can just slide out. 

Being unable to drive for the four weeks, I had been intending to get the car tarted up by Terry and get a quote from We Buy Any Car to get the money quickly and give us time to look for a new car. But we thought, there's no harm in getting Duncan to give us a quote. So he did, and it matched the top end of what we thought we might get, and he said he'd take it as it was, scratches and dog hair included! Such is his despair to obtain new stock in this rare time of second-hand car famine, he even ignored the scuffed alloy wheel and the scratches over the boot back where the dogs scramble for purchase when they jump in. We shook hands on it, and we can pick it up on Monday. It was then too late for Waitrose, and Ann didn't want to drive it any further anyway in case it acquired a new scratch. So we simply went home having bought a new car.

I have started to prepare canvases for my new portraits. They are primed with gesso, ready to sketch the outlines. I used my new full-size easel. It is very thin and rickety, but it managed to support the large canvases enough to prepare them.

Today also, our friends Rae and Malcolm came for morning coffee and cake. Yesterday, Ann cooked the four Christmas cakes. She does four because it has become a tradition to do one for us and three for others such as Mary-Anne and the boys. Later, I will marzipan and ice them, but we let each recipient do their own final decorations. There was cake mixture left over, so Ann made a small loaf cake, and that is what we sampled. Her Christmas cake mix is one of the richest it is possible to bake; any more fruit and it would be a fruit pudding. Also, she soaks it in as much brandy as it will absorb, so the coffee and cake morning was a great delight.