We've had another very busy day as we'd decided to go and look for a new car for Sophie and Keith to share, but there was just one hitch...it has to be an automatic!
We dropped Mike off at college and then popped to Tesco to get dinner for tonight and Wednesday. I also bought a box of biscuits for the guys at Majestic to say thanks for recommending the wine we had on Saturday night. From Tesco we drove down to the carwash near the train station and Keith paid £15 to have little Jim valeted properly. I can't remember the last time we washed the car and hoovered it out and it was badly in need of some TLC! When we got back in after it had been thoroughly washed it looked, and smelled, beautiful!
We popped into Majestic very briefly and then drove to the Hyundai dealership on Riverside. Sophie and I had already looked at the cars online and knew there was a good deal on buying a new car. We spoke to a salesman and the first thing we told him was that we needed an automatic. We sat down with him and he said that we could get a 17 plate i10 with hardly any miles on the clock for about £100 a month as he would take Jim in part exchange. Sophie was pleased about this as she could afford that amount every month, so he started to do the sums and we asked whether he could print out the details for us. Sophie then said to him, "this is for an automatic, isn't it?" and he went pale. He'd forgotten the most important part of our request, which was for an automatic car!
This meant that he could only get us a brand new 67 plate so he had to do the figures all over again and this time the monthly cost came out at about £130, a bit more than Sophie wanted to pay. However, with a bit of jigging about with deposits, she was happier. He then took us out for a drive and I was impressed with the car - it was very nippy and comfortable and felt really solid, not like a small car at all.
I think he wanted us to sign on the dotted line there and then but Keith was having none of it. We wanted time to think about it and also look at insurance so we took the amended details and drove home to have lunch. After I'd eaten I had a look at insurance and we were shocked to discover that Keith's insurance would go up to around £500 a year with Sophie as a learner driver but that it might go beyond £1000 a year once she'd passed her test! Keith called his insurance company and they quoted him an extra £884 on top of the £200 he currently pays for him and me but couldn't quote for Sophie once she'd thrown away her L plates! I honestly thought, that as Sophie is now 21, her insurance wouldn't be that high. How wrong am I!
In light of this we have decided to delay getting the new car until Sophie has passed her test. She's due to take it late in November and this is also a great time for buying a new car, as most people are not interested in shelling out then due to Christmas looming on the horizon. She wasn't at all disappointed and was, I think, as shocked by the insurance quote as I was.
I went to work and today a lot of the children were very naughty, for some reason. I have no idea why - maybe it was the wind or the fact that half term is getting nearer and they'd had enough of school! One boy had to be sent to the deputy headmaster's office and a few of the other children were rude and badly behaved. It was not the most enjoyable session!
I dashed home from work at 6pm and Keith, Sophie and I had a quick supper of pate and toast as we were off to the cinema to see Detroit. Mike disappeared to the village and didn't want anything to eat but came back just before we left at 7pm. Sophie was able to get the tickets for free because of her job and we went to the Lings Forum cinema, which only I had ever been to. It must have been refurbished recently as the chairs and carpet looked new and it was a very enjoyable evening.
The film was very interesting and starred Will Poulter who we had seen in London on my birthday (in the pub). His character wasn't very nice, I'm afraid (a lot different to the part he played in The Revenant) but although not a cheerful movie, it was fascinating to learn about the race riots and the murder of three young black men in Detroit in 1967.
It was also great to go out as a family with no alcohol involved!
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