Friday’s Foster Care Blog
In the business of this Christmas week – both for family and Charlie’s job – we decided that Charlie needed a new car. His car was written off last year when two youths careered into it in a stolen car. In a rush to replace it he ended up with something that was not suitable at all. For the last year, we have been meaning to sort it out. The crunch came last month when I had the ‘pleasure’ of driving his car. I was going out for the day. I had to leave the big family car with Charlie so he could take the girls out. I was left wth Charlie’s car. I have been driving for twenty years and am a pretty confident driver. However, I realised how awful the car was when I got behind the wheel. I suddenly turned from confident to nervy. I was a wreck by the time I reached my destination. “That’s it, it has got to go!” were the first words I said upon my return. Charlie looked delighted!
Well that was over a month ago, but Charlie has had Jury Service and a chest infection in between. Not wanting to leave it any longer, today was the day! We checked out a car at the local car dealer last week when the girls were at school, and today, if he is happy he can go part-exchange his car and get another one. I have been really hoping he goes for it. It will be a newer, bigger and safer car.
One thing that concerned me about his other car, other than the safety aspect was that it simply wasn’t big enough for us to all fit in. We realised back in October when my car was stolen that it would be a struggle to get Alice in the back of the car in her special needs car seat with the other two in the back at the same time. We also found that the only way of getting the wheelchair in the boot was to dismantle it – which wasn’t practical! Whilst we have the Motability Car – I have always had a feeling of – “what if one day we don’t qualify for it” or “what if Alice wasn’t here”. For my own peace of mind I want a family car that we own, that is safe and big enough for us all.
The good news is Charlie is more than happy with the car! In fact, he is delighted and has signed the paperwork and the car will be with us tomorrow. It will easily suit our purposes and seems perfect. The only issue? It is a little bit more expensive that we anticipated, but we decide that it can be an early Christmas present for Charlie, and the money is well spent. The girls want to wrap the car up in wrapping paper for Charlie, but I manage to talk them out of it! At least that is one thing off our minds going into the new year!
A Less Ordinary Family Fostering Blog
