smallclanger into the world without one. Indeed, it was rather convenient for bringing him home from the hospital and for many other purposes since then — including going to Scotland twice this month without having to attempt to keep smallclanger in once place on a train for seven hours at a time. I don't regret having got it… but… it hasn't half been a millstone around my neck, financially speaking. What with the rocketing cost of motor insurance, annual services, tax, MoT, fixing things that break and, of course, petrol (over 350 gallons of the stuff during the last two years) it's no wonder my credit card feels like a bottomless pit.This morning, as readers may well be aware via other channels, I discovered that some lowlife scum doused our car in paint stripper overnight.
Our house doesn't have parking available directly outside it, as we live on a pedestrianised bit (with a nice strip of grass for the kids to play on). The road is only about ten yards from our front gate, though, and we park on there. Regardless of where the car is parked, it sometimes seems to pick up scratches from as-yet unidentified people passing by with sharp objects. A few weeks ago one of the side indicator lamps somehow became detached from the car body — I suspect it had been kicked.
Sometimes the only available space is in front of someone else's house, and such was the case last night. None of the other cars in the street was attacked, so I'd say that circumstantial evidence points toward the occupants of the house. There won't ever be any proof, of course. The thing is, if they didn't like us parking there then why didn't they leave a note or something? The message (if any) isn't very likely to get through if we have no idea what the message means or who it was from, is it? I guess this proves one thing, though: parking the car on the street within sight of the house is no safer than parking it round the side (which we usually avoid because there often seem to be abandoned half-dismantled cars and/or piles of glass there, though that seems to have become less frequent of late).
Anyway, this is the bit where I ask for a bit of advice. When we wash the car there are no doubt going to be large stripes and patches of bare metal (mostly on the front and roof, and some on the passenger side), which will rust if left untreated. A full respray will probably involve a huge sum of money (anyone know?) which will end up costing me the £250 policy excess and my entire no-claims discount. Is it worth just buying some paint from Halfords and having a go ourselves (i.e., will it still go rusty)? Or will that just add to the damage?
This would happen just as it's coming up to insurance renewal time and MOT-and-annual-service time. Now I don't know whether to mention the paintwork or not when I book it in…