Thistle's Mission

I lost 4 1/2 lbs according to the SW scales, but I don't think it's an accurate reflection as last week I went at night right after dinner and this time I went in the morning before I'd had breakfast. There was a lot of waiting around - 45 mins while everyone got weighed and then the lady went around the circle berating the people who hadn't lost anything or gained and overly praising those who did lose something, unless it was under 1lb and then she wanted to know why it wasn't more.

The people there seem quite nice and I am going to give it a good go until after Xmas but I don't honestly know if it's for me. The diet is fine, but there is so much time wasting in the group. Unfortunately there are no other groups in our town, so I don't know if another leader would be different. Maybe being held accountable is worth it alone - time will tell. I certainly don't want to be berated by the leader, she reminds me very much of Marjorie from Fat Fighters on Little Britain. There were plenty of people there who had lost over 4 stone so the group obviously works.

Just having a late breakfast and coffee before I start on my hair...

I'm off on my guitar weekend - two whole days of not having to be responsible for anyone else! :j

Just had an extremely disappointing phone call.

We were given a car early this year by my FIL as they were upgrading. It's a 10 yr old car that has been taken care of, they have had it since new and always had all the recommended work done. It's a lovely car to drive and we have been thrilled with it.

It was due for its MOT which we all expected it to sail through. I just had a phone call from the mechanic and it needs a minimum of £600 to pass the MOT, but also will need a few more things fixing in the near future. It's one of those what do you do situations... Is it worth spending what will be close to £1,000 on a 10 yr old car? We've done it before with other cars thinking 'it will be good now for a long time' but bits keep needed doing and they became very expensive pieces of junk that were given away or sold to the scrap people. I'm sure my DH will want another quote but the mechanic is a trusted one, I do not think for a moment he is trying it on.

We had set aside £200 'just in case' it needed some minor work but do not have £600 plus to get it repaired. I am totally gutted and have no idea what to do for the best.

Thanks Smolly! At the moment my heart is so heavy I don't know where to turn - it seems as soon as things start looking up, something happens to put us behind again. The extra money I earn from ebay, gigs, cd sales (yes they are my own CDs ) busking etc all goes towards basic living expenses. We have already cut these down to the bone. I fear my dresser fund is going to pay for more electricity within the next hour and I am cursing myself for donating clothes last week that could have been sold.

We use the car 4-5 times a week, without it my husband will have much less work and I will not be able to play any gigs, both which contribute greatly to our weekly income. We live in a small rural town and the public transport basically stops running at 6:00pm, so while we could get where we need to be, we couldn't get home again. We moved here as a fresh start and are now too far for family to help out with driving. We do not have any friends we could ask to ferry us places.

The places we need to be are too far to cycle safely in the dark, or safely at all in the winter. I sold my bike trailer but would not have been able to carry my PA system and guitar on it anyway, nor cycle the 25 miles and back again to get to my regular pub gigs. With my health problems, I am often not well enough to get on the bike at all.

What might happen is that we sell our car for parts on ebay and use that money plus the £200 and money from anything else we can find to sell to buy a junk car with 12 months MOT, the kind that will likely not pass again without work next year, meaning you buy another junker with 12 months MOT rather than fix the one you have. It's a cycle we thought we were out of once we had been given our FIL's car and were truly not expecting to be back in.

We can live without a car, we have done it many many times before, when the kids were younger and we were in a larger town. The lack of extra income would hit us very hard though, so we are trying to find a solution that keeps us safely on the road. I don't know if it can be done this time.

Thank you again, Smolly. I really appreciate your support.

Now that I've had some time for it to sink in, I can see that even if we can't manage another car, it's certainly not the end of the world. Life may be a bit more difficult, but we have always found a way to manage and we will again. There are plenty of things to be very grateful for and I must concentrate on them rather than a temporary lack of transportation.