Sandra Ashenford reflects on the ups and downs of her week

THE travellers were flying high after their return from Australia last week but soon came down to earth with a bump when they discovered their car had pined away in their absence.

It had tried to tell them it was sick – remember the warning light that came on en route to Cornwall – and the first time they took it out when they got home it just gave up the ghost.

After a great deal of discussion and totting up of figures, they realised that buying a brand new car would cost about the same annually as trying to keep an old banger on the road, but would hopefully be far less stressful.

This may prove to be the case but buying it certainly hasn’t been the enjoyable experience it should have been.

As my son-in-law had to go away on a residential trip, spouse, who knows a bit about cars, accompanied daughter number three to the car showroom, clutching the special offer advert from that morning’s newspaper.

Ah, said the salesman, I’m afraid you can’t have that very cheap offer, even though it has been advertised on this very day.

Or something along those lines.

After a lot of negotiating, and possibly some crying, a deal was finally reached.

My daughter paid a premium deposit to secure the colour she had set her heart on, and everyone went their separate ways to await a delivery date.

Two days later, the salesman rang my daughter to say she could not, after all, have the colour she wanted.

At this point my daughter saw red, which was a colour she could have, but did not want, and the air may have been a little blue, which was another colour she could have but did not want.

I’m not sure how it will all turn out but I think it was rather foolish of the salesman to make a promise he couldn’t keep.

My daughters are all small in stature but rather fiery in nature and it’s not a good idea to cross them.

Meanwhile, spouse and I are back to being a taxi service, because living in the middle of nowhere makes catching buses difficult, especially if you work shifts with early starts or late finishes.

Perhaps we should persuade her to saddle up instead; I wonder if her workplace would have a parking space for a pony?

lFind more of Sandra's columns at stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk.