In which the Brighton Pensioner does a silly thing

Yesterday was Friday . . .  Of course, you know that.  On the other hand, there is no "of course" about it as it may well be that you are reading this on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or the day that little green men land on earth, whatever day that is.  But as I write, yesterday was Friday.  That being the case, the normal routine kicked in and I drove the Old Bat over to Southwick for her weekly session in the diving bell.  While she was busy reading and inhaling pure oxygen under pressure, I trotted off to Sainsbury's to do the usual Friday supermarket run.  Somehow I managed to get round rather more quickly than usual, partly because the shopping list was shorter than usual and partly because there seemed to be fewer people blocking the aisles as they stood chattering.  What this meant was that by the time I had paid and loaded the car, I still had at least an hour before the OB would be ready.  That was what led to me doing a silly thing.

The trip from Sainsbury's to the MS treatment centre is only about three miles and it needs only a short detour to take in the several car dealerships along Victoria Road.  One of those dealerships has the Volkwagen franchise, and that was where I headed.  My present car is and the one before was a VW, both being Passat estates.  I have had this car five years now, which is quite a long time for me.  It has 65,000 miles on the clock and, being a diesel, should be good for plenty more.  But I'm getting bored with it and would like a change. 

I long ago stopped buying new cars as they depreciate by thousands of pounds as one drives off the forecourt.  What I look for are cars about one year old that have been used as demonstrators.  They have the advantage of having been looked after properly, with any minor teething problems sorted, and have already depreciated to a reasonable extent while having a low mileage.

As luck would have it, there on the forecourt was just what I would be looking for.  A Passat estate, exactly one year old with just 9,000 miles on the clock.  Diesel-engined with a manual gearbox, cruise control . . .

I shouldn't have looked.

~~~~~

I have been blethering on about clock towers in Brighton and said, in passing, that I could not think of any church in the town that had a clock in the tower.  I had completely forgotten St George's church, Kemp Town.  This was opened in 1826 and, according to Wikipedia, "Queen Adelaide, the consort of King William IV, made the church very popular. The queen consort was popular with the British people and often spent time in Brighton. When in the town, she worshipped at St George's."  Hence the Royal coat of arms above the door.