I had to go down to Southampton with the family to pick up a replacement car for the Jeep, and drive it back to Corby. It's a 3 hour journey each way.
The Jeep was the vehicle that I've been driving the girls around in. It feels a bit like driving a bus. It's long and wide and high from the ground. That sort of vehicle feels OK to drive in the USA. I had a large vehicle when I lived there, but in Britain, the land of narrow roads and small parking spaces, it seems ostentatious. It also uses a lot of petrol.
So my employers got me a smaller, more economical car. Well, that's what they said. it's a Toyota something and I wouldn't say it was smaller. It seems as long and as wide, but it is lower to the ground. It was easier to get into but I missed the height while driving. It's more economical, so that's OK.
It is has had one owner and was used in a part exchange deal with a car sales dealership. They have a guy there who sells the part exchange cars on ebay. They certainly cleaned it up nicely, but the problem was they used so many chemicals to clean the interior that opening the door I was hit by headache inducing fumes. So I decided to go home on the A roads rather than the motorway so I could drive with the windows open.
I had just set off from the petrol station where my employer had filled the tank, when I came across a Hobbycraft store and garden centre. I was not enjoying being in the car and was hungry so decided to stop and get something to eat in the garden centre before making the journey home. However I called into the Hobbycraft store to buy some supplies for the girl's education. Fortunately I had the education kitty with me.
I was very selective and put some things back on the shelves, but still spent £56, which was all I had in the purse. I'm going to introduce the stuff one at a time to get the best use out of the items. I found a lovely Easter story book with stickers so the girls can interact with the story. Also two stuffed animal kits - a bunny and a chick. A number jigsaw, some hammer beads and polystyrene eggs to decorate, and ribbon to decorate it with. It was 6 pm when I left the store, and the garden centre was closing to.
So I set off , having set the Sat Nav for home. I stopped for something to eat, for a coffee, some water and to relive myself a few times. Just after half way, the road was closed so I had to take a diversion of, many miles. I also passed a 24 hour grocery store, so called in to buy food because I was very low at home.
All windows were open all journey, with the heater on but the toxic smell was till there when I got home at 11:30 pm having left at noon. But I had my groceries and so didn't have to go out on Sunday.
