Some positive news, I bought a new wireless keyboard and mouse and the case for the new PC today. Very happy with my purchases. The keyboard and mouse combo was a bargain and more than I expected to get functions-wise and the case came with a 350 watt PSU for only €35! We also got the C.V.s sent off at the weekend and the pins for the credit cards arrived today. Darren also informed me this evening that the parts ordered at Komplett have been shipped and are on their way in the next few days. Our very lovely manager fished out her driver theory test CD ROM for us too and we’ve been playing around with it this evening.

Unfortunately my excitement that these phases of the plans are resolving themselves has been somewhat overshadowed by the car issue. And my ability to write in any captivating or interesting manner seems to have gone with it too. I’m glad I didn’t say much more on the subject last night as it happens. There’s a time and a place for such things and there’s a lot to be said for letting the dust settle before making up your mind on something that someone has done too.

That said I’m still in a rotten humour over it. I feel rather deflated. We were so excited about it, so relieved we didn’t have to wade through the uncharted swill of Buy & Sell and deal with all of the worry of making a bad decision etc. And now we have to start from scratch and get it all done very quickly, and it’s bloody scary. We don’t have a car to go looking at other people’s cars and we barely have the time. This week was supposed to be study for the theory test week, not crap yourself over the car week. Having said all of that there is a part of me, that very resilient optimistic part of me which I value dearly, that says ‘maybe you weren’t meant to have it’. I know that sounds like a bit of a cop out but I have seen enough examples in my life of things appearing to have happened for a reason for me not to completely discount it as a theory.

Also, quite frankly, nobody died. Sure, it’s a pain in the ass coming on top of all of the other stresses and worries that this adventure has involved, but it’s really not the end of the world, we’ll get something sorted. I have been so immensely lucky in so many aspects of my life that it seems stupidly ungrateful and shallow to have a tantrum over this minor thing going against us. Right, enough said.

One thing in particular to be grateful for, and I’ve only just noticed it in the past week: it’s bright again! It’s bright still at half five in the evening, it’s bright by half seven/eight in the morning. I am so happy I could do a little dance. Roll on spring.

I shall leave you with an image of a particularly uplifting and beautiful sunrise, caught on the wing of an Airbus on the way to St. Petersburg last October…