There's nothing like a problem to bring the family together working happily on a solution trying to get through it with humour, wit and general fun. How I wish we were that family. We've spent days trying to work out how to sort out Penny's sickness. (If you're not reading Sim's blog, I would urge you to for the full gory technical details) Penny hasn't been well you see, she's really happy to pootle round at 25mph, but any more and she starts to lose power and stop. (I've only got a year off work, so to be honest - 25mph is not going to get us much further than West Croatia.) It won't surprise you to hear that I know nothing about cars. I appear to have been extremely lucky in driving a 104 mile round trip to Swindon for 5 years and never having had a problem, apart from the morning when I had a flat tyre. I couldn't even pump that up and had to get a friend's husband to do it (thanks Barney). So as we drove around a completely shut Italian city (Alessandria) Sim tried to diagnose the fault and I helpfully threw in suggestions desperately trying to remember phrases I'd heard when forced to watch Top Gear. He thought it was a cylinder that had gone. 'Do we have others?' I asked. I was heartened to hear we had another 3, but that apparently we couldn't keep driving without all four. What about a gasket? We had done a mammoth trip up the Alps the day before, Penny wasn't terribly happy about that and got all hot and bothered. Could she quite literally have blown a gasket? 'Could be', he replied. We decided we shouldn't risk the planned drive to Genova so stumbled on one of Alessandria's 4 hotels. It was a plush 4 star with high speed internet and a mini bar. The girls had their own room, and bless them - they were as excited as they are on Christmas morning. (To be fair the man on reception became less excited about trying out his English on us soon tiring of Edie constantly calling him to be asked to put through to our room) The next day Sim, after being told 'no' by several garages, found a VW garage. Later that day they called to say it was the turbo that had gone. He put the phone down and looked at me. 'Turbo?' I said questioningly. He nodded slowly and reassuringly explained it WAS as bad as it sounded. I won't go into the details of our quest to find a new turbo, read his blog for that, but my thoughts have been centred on how we cope with situations that look impossible.
Another friend of ours waved us off with the cheery phrase 'Just remember - always think 'what's the worst that can happen?''. (Mark you don't know how often I have quoted that to myself over the last few days - it's the most helpful piece of advice I've been given, thank you) Sitting in a 4* hotel isn't the worst thing, neither is being stuck in an Italian city with your family. Alright, it's putting a huge dent in our finances, we'll have to change the plans, look at the route again, but this is what the trip was always going to be about. Sim had kept explaining to the girls before we left that we don't have a year at home with nothing going wrong, so he was sure this coming year wouldn't be any different.
I've surprised myself with my constant ability to positively spin situations we've found ourselves in (and no - before you ask - I haven't raided the over-stocked medicine bag. Actually slight tangent while I think of it - you remember the blog about how well prepared I was with medication? Some might even describe me as smug. Well the smile was wiped off my face pretty quickly when we had to go to the pharmacy to get treatment for a verucca on Edie's foot. If you've got verucca treatment in your medicine cabinet, consider yourself practically a doctor)
Anyway, in recent years I've not been the best at being positive. Glass half empty, always considering what could go wrong, rather than going with the flow and not worrying until it actually happens. But now I do at least try. 'At least we weren't in the desert in Turkey when it happened' 'You girls get a nice comfy bed for a night' 'Great news - you can all do school work tomorrow morning while we've got the wifi' (They weren't best pleased with the last one, but I was delighted)
Planning the trip has been a lesson in spinning and constantly re-assessing and changing plans. And mainly I've coped OK. When the tenants pulled out the first time, I was fine. Even when the second lot pulled out - still OK. It's amazing how you can surprise yourself. But isn't it funny how the small things can send you over the edge? I'd gone over a year without freaking out at setbacks, but it took a piano to send me over the edge. Our first set of tenants wanted our piano, but I'd already promised it to our friends' boys Harri and Morgan months before. When Sim phoned me to tell me he'd told them they couldn't have it, I started to shake. Then get upset. Then cry. I actually had to stop the car because I was crying so much. Over a piano? Turned out Sim thought they were having it as a favour to us, not because they actually wanted it. Lack of communication blamed. So a few hours later, we struggled down the middle of the road with the piano on two skateboards and the kids playing jolly tunes to the waiting cars. Harri and Morgan were happy, I was back to normal. As it turned out, the tenants pulled out a few days later. And I'm reliably assured, it was nothing to do with the piano.
