Brendan's car has failed its MOT (WOF equivalent), and it's not worth fixing, so we've decided to scrap it. I've kept the licence plates, however - apparently the Netherlands are the only other country where the licence plates can be yellow instead of white.
It's a bit sad, but Brendan says he's not as attached to it as he was to the Fiesta, which died last year. I still felt sad as I watched Brendan drive it around the corner and onto the car ramp. A couple of photos to come!
On the other hand, I now have the sole car as Brendan's going to carpool with his friends. I forsee a lot more shopping trips in my future!
The mechanics at the car yard were a father-son team. I'd bought a car stereo for my Renault there a few months before. We talked about our travels and about NZ to them - where LOTR was shot (South Island), what the weather is like (just like Britain but without the snow that fell in Basingstoke - which is apparently extremely unusual), what we like about the UK (how old it is!) and the best places to go in America on a once-in-a-lifetime trip (LA or Florida).
A lot of British people think NZ is hot, which makes sense I guess given that it is next to Australia, Fiji and other tropical/dry/hot places. The father ate chips out of a paper packet balanced on his lap while he talked to us, with black, greasy hands.
