A little Life in England – Island Life and a New Car Beckon

Chippy got us to the island, but is struggling with hills. Even little ones.

Chippy's Last Stand

Molly and I have just spent a week in the Piddle Valley (where my parents live) and I took the opportunity to test drive the car of our dreams. For the couple of days that I was considering the electric Hyundai Inster, Chippy started first time, every time.

It was almost as if he wanted to prove he was worth holding onto.

But he wasn’t. As I was loading the boot in the driveway of my parents' house, he slowly, but surely, rolled forward into the hedge.

Chippy's handbrake has gone. Knowing from the Dorchester Motors check over that his clutch is probably on the way out, this does not bode well. I emailed the Hyundai salesman to say we had a deal (I negotiated hard and got a discount big enough to shock my parents, plus three years to pay it off, interest free). Chippy will be traded in for a new Hyundai Inster (the only similarity between me and the model pictured is that I have ripped jeans. But I didn’t buy them that way.).

Now Chippy’s back to taking five or six goes to get started.

And I'm avoiding hills and parking him in gear.

Island Life for Me

A car isn't my preferred way of getting around when I'm not going far, which could be quite often. I can see myself spending more and more time on Portland without wanting to cross the causeway to the mainland (similar to how I loved being in Lyttelton and often didn't go through the tunnel to Christchurch for weeks on end). It helps that I have found somewhere to live, subject to contract. It’s not perfect, but it ticked everything off on my checklist:

Before the contract is signed there will be searches and a survey, and my fingers are crossed that any asbestos in the ceilings is the white asbestos used in Artex. The kind that doesn't bother you, as long as it's in good condition and you don't mess with it. (Artex was commonly used to add texture to walls and ceilings in the 70s and 80s. Because people back then liked that look. Weird.)

Yeah, asbestos wasn’t on my checklist.

Lyttelton Has the East and West Sides. Portland Has the Hills

My future little bungalow isn't far from my sister's place. Both are in the Tophill part of Portland, which includes Easton, Weston and Southwell. I loved Fortuneswell (in the Underhill part of Portland), but the houses are much more expensive, rarely have somewhere you can charge an electric car, and even more rarely have a garden to grow a few vegetables. So I will live a couple of miles and a big hill away from the arty part. I'll look for a second-hand electric bike, which will make it easy for Molly and me to transit between Tophill and Underhill.

Adventures await!

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Thank you for being one of the good humans.

Alex

P.S. Molly is not impressed with the lack of beach/swimming/ball play. When we visited Wareham market on Saturday, she made a beeline for the river, but was held back by her harness.

She does not like it.

She also disliked the TENS machine at first, but is getting used to it. I’m keeping the current low enough to avoid her twitching and now she falls asleep with it on.

And (what would have been bigger Molly news if it wasn’t for managing her sciatica pain) Molly met and we walked with a fluffy dog yesterday (Django, who was on a chain). And she didn’t attack him!

Not yet, anyway.

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You can read more about my previous little life in Lyttelton by picking up a copy of "A New Zealand Diary: Living in Lyttelton".

The ebook is now at Amazon and all other ebook retailers.

The print book is available where all good books are sold and in Christchurch Libraries (If you want your library to get a copy, ask them!). Leslie’s Bookshop in Lyttelton has a few in stock.

And if you like the book, please let people know on Goodreads or wherever you bought it. That is an enormous help to independent authors like me.

Book details, a sample chapter and more information are at alexhallatt.com/nzd

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