Well, my car finally broke down a week or two ago.  It would probably not have passed the annual checkup anyhow, but still, it's strangely emotional when this thing that has served you very well for over 10 years finally kicks the bucket.

There had been all kinds of small niggles lately.  There had been a constant whirring for a couple of yeras.  Brake fluid slowly leaking the last 6 months, requiring regular refills.  Corrosion on structural parts had set in.

But all of a sudden the changing gears became more difficult, and just one day later I could hardly use the transmission at all, with the clutch not functioning properly, not being able to change into neutral to keep the car still.  I was very happy to arrive home, the last few kilometers had been very tense and I was drenched as if I had been sporting for 2 hours.

Anyhow, since we can't survive on only one car, we had to buy a second hand one fast.  As this thread can testify, I've been wanting to get a new car for a very, very long time.  But since the few models I was truely interested in were in short supply on the second hand market and were still selling for little under the new value I divised a cunning plan.  I asked the missus how she'd feel about me getting a Mini.  This is her dream car.  Any other brand, and we'd be off for an endless argument about the pro's and cons, resulting in us not actually buying another car for at least 3 more months.  Now everything was settled in a weeks time.    2 more weeks untill we can actually pick it up though.