The cats had escaped again, going out by the window in the kitchen that we had forgotten to close last night. The blind had been pulled right down so it was touching the window sill, but they must have nudged it up and escaped... we couldn't believe it! I was surprised they didn't break the various little urns we have on the window sill, but they had dislodged an old Gin bottle that we use as a little lantern in the winter.
Sophie was angry again even though Keith had asked her last night if all the windows were closed. It was nobody's fault, but it was just more bad luck. We sat in the kitchen drinking coffee but by 9am, it was obvious Gomez wasn't coming home. Mooney was about and readily returned when we called him, especially if we used the word "grubs" to lure him in! How can two cats from the same litter be so different?
I called the vet surgery and tentatively made another appointment for 4pm this afternoon, even though I knew deep down we wouldn't see him. I suggested going over to the Weston Favell Centre, getting Sophie's car washed, having breakfast and popping to Boots Opticians as I wanted to get a pair of glasses for driving. I also had a cheque to pay into my bank account for the Audi car tax... a huge amount of £8.75!
We trundled over and deposited ET at the carwash station where we were told it would be £22 for an interior and exterior clean. After doing our chores and arranging another eye test at Boots, we had coffee and toasted sandwiches at Costa.
Over our drinks, we talked about Sophie's next car and she decided to go to the VW dealership on Riverside. As a family, we have had three VW Passats, and now we drive the VW Golf SUV and they have always been good, reliable cars. We had a look at some of the used cars in the car park and then went into the lion's den to enquire...
I hate buying cars and have had some bad experiences in my time. We saw a young man who was very pleasant and chatty, and he suggested an electric car as Sophie really only goes to work, the gym and then home, and rarely drives any long distances. He had several ID3 cars available and they were in her price range and budget.
He showed us a Polo and then the ID3 which she much preferred. It was three years old and was in excellent condition. After a lot of chatting, he took us for a test drive and both of us were impressed. The dashboard looked like it was a NASA spaceship, and there was no gear stick - the settings were on the right-hand side of the steering wheel!
When we got back, the hard sell began. Sophie had a monthly budget in mind but when he went to see the manager about the trade-in price for ET and how much she would have to pay, the amount had jumped by over £60 a month. They had added £2000 worth of "extras" which were euphemisms for insurance, including Diamondbrite which I think is a con. They offered a fair price for ET, which was £500 below what we were hoping for, but this didn't really matter.
We politely told him to go back and see his manager and take off the extras. He duly went off and returned with £1500 of "extras". Again, we told him politely to go away, and the next time he returned he had just the monthly price and nothing else. He was lucky; another attempt and we would have walked out! I think he was trying to scare us as Sophie is buying the car on PCP (Personal Contract Purchase) and she would need to return the car in excellent condition, but there are good bodywork specialists we could use if needed! I'm not sure if he thought we were pushovers, but he soon found out we weren't!
The deal was done, she signed the agreement and Sophie gets the car on Monday! We drove down to Sophie's office to see if there were charging points in her car park, but there weren't any. We will need to get someone to install a charging point on our driveway, but Sophie will save by not having to buy petrol every week!
Back home, there was no sign of Gomez, but Mooney met us. We spent the afternoon catching up with jobs and I paid a 40% deposit towards a trip back to Normandy next January to celebrate my birthday. In a moment of madness on Saturday night, we had enquired about booking the house we'd stayed in again and the owner had contacted me to book with her directly. We can't wait!
I had to call the vet surgery again to cancel the afternoon appointment and I booked another for next Wednesday. I also contacted a tradesman to fit a catflap into the back door to let the cats in and out whenever they want!
It's been another hot day but tomorrow we have a weather warning for thunderstorms. Bring it on!
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