borrowing the car

    Now, you may think our present car ill fated, what with the loss of £5k in an internet scam in trying to buy it, and the difficult discovery by Alex, Giles and the girls that it had no airconditioning during the maiden voyage across europe a few years ago. But, actually, it's been pretty good, getting 50 miles per gallon (really!) and seating seven on lots of occasions. It's been great to drive and very comfortable with tea trays, cubby holes, vanity mirrors, and courtesy lights all over the place. But, it's still a car. A machine. It's far more reliable than your average person, it even gives fair warning before a nervous breakdown; but this time was a combination of bad timing and bad luck.

    Alex lured her head-of-house from school days for an overnight visit through facebook. On the morning of their train departure, Thomasina ran in saying she couldn't open the boot. Dead battery. Two days before, we'd driven to the coast and back with a full load, then to Lake Trasimeno the previous day and now, suddenly, nothing. 

    My battery charger snapped its fuse as soon as I touched the terminals, and in disbelief, I snapped two more replacement fuses before I believed I had a problem. Hijacking a neighbors car, I took the battery to the mechanics down the hill. They received it, saying they'd check it and then went on vacation for a week. In the meantime, I found a circuit in the car that was also blowing it's fuses. Coincidentally, we also filled the house with four (yes) workaway volunteers all requiring food and trips to the train station.

   At last count, we've now used four different neighbors for transportation and shopping. 

   In the latest twist, our helpful mechanic, unable to find the faulty component, has taken it to another auto-electric specialist. There we are told the alternator is bad and a new one will cost £500 installed, a price the original mechanic can't stomach; so an intrigue is beginning where the estimate is rejected, we retrieve the car, and pay the original mechanic to find a used/reconditioned alternator. But, of course, it's summer and these mechanics need another week at the beach. It all began on the evening of the 13th.

Post Script:   On the 8th August the car was returned to us. Our favorite mechanics, who freely admit to being mechanics and not electricians, saved us $120. I was called upon one Saturday to help retrieve the car from the specialist elletrauto. Nico drove us in to Chiusi, he had a long chat with the specialist, paid $40, put me in the driver's seat and I followed him home, running on the battery with the alternator bits sitting on the passenger seat. A few days later Nico's father returned the car to us at supper time with a new alternator installed $120 cheaper than the specialist. That's how things work here. Sometimes.

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