Paying for a new car

My little Corsa had to go up for its MOT. It's 19 years old, and I'm not the best with car maintenance, so anything could happen. It served me well for 7 years and it doesn't owe me anything! This time, there was good news and bad news. The good news was: it had just passed. The bad news was: there was a lot in the pipeline that probably would need addressing by the next MOT check. It looks like by then, it will need new brake discs, a new tyre and new axle swivel pins and bushes (whatever they are). And, most importantly: the body structure has started corroding. The garage told me that last year, I had a little hole in it. This year, it was a bigger hole. They said the structural integrity was still ok, but by next year, it would probably need work. And that would get expensive. 

I figured I needed to buy another car before it came to the next MOT. I had come to terms with that I would have to let go of it in the not too distant future. This message from the garage told me about what time scales that would involve. 

Given that I live in North Wales and that public transport isn't all that here, and not everything is doable by bike, I need a car. Going to see Neil, which by car costs half an hour, costs at least two hours without one. So I decided to start looking.

Neil had an idea. His elderly neighbour had just given up driving, and wanted to get rid of his car. Maybe that was an option? But by the time he inquired, the neighbour had already sold it.

I had been saying for years that my next car should be electric. I figured I should take the jump. I feel guilty every time I see my fuel meter crawl towards lower values. I am burning fossil fuels there and then! And second-hand electric vehicles are currently a lot more expensive than the older end of used petrol/diesel cars, but one should put one’s money where one’s mouth is.

It didn't look like in my area, there were loads of used and affordable EVs. I spotted two Nissan Leafs (I don't think it should be Nissan Leaves) on Anglesey; one from 2012 at £3000, and one from 2016 at £5000. Everything else was a lot more expensive. And if you are willing to go very far away, I am sure you can find more choice, but then you also have the problem of having to go and check out the car very far away, and getting it home.

I figured that the car from 2016 would be a better bet. A 10 year-old battery sounds old enough as it is! And I decided to pursue this. If this wasn't the sort of car I wanted, what was it? What would the better offer even look like? So on Saturday, I decided to drive to Anglesey, and check out this Nissan.

I checked the opening times of the garage online: at 10 am it would open. So shortly after 10 I was there. Standing by a closed gate. By coincidence, the Nissan was the car closest to the gate, so at least I got a good view on the outside. It looked fine.

Soon some bloke appeared who was similarly puzzled. I decided to give the garage a ring. A man answered, and he said he would be there at 11. You can't always believe what you read online.

I decided to do my food shopping while waiting for him. I knew Llangefni, where I was, has at least one supermarket. I popped to the nearest one. They had what I needed, except my Saturday paper. The next supermarket didn't either. I decided to head for a corner shop on the High Street. That worked! And by then, it was time to check if the garage was open now. And it was.

I told the garage holder I was interested in the Leaf. And what I wanted first was a view on the battery capacity. You would expect it to be somewhere between 80 and 90% by now. That would be good. But of course it could be worse. The man had no idea how to check this, but I googled it. He gave me the keys and let me work it out. I dived into the car and had a good look at the instruction manual. I don't have much experience with electric cars! Only the shared car of my town. The car seemed to still have 80% of its battery power. Enough for me. The cable and the charging point looked fine to my untrained eyes. 

I asked the garage holder if we could take it for a spin, and he complied. It worked fine! But it only had 21 miles left to go on the remaining battery charge. Oh dear.

I said I needed to think about it I would go home. If I wanted to buy it, I couldn't do it over my phone anyway. So I had to get home and make a decision.

At home I also did what I should have done before: check the MOT status of the car. It would run out in about a week and a half. That's not good! You don't want to buy a car and need to have to go through the faff of having it get an MOT test, only to potentially end up with a bill for things that might be wrong with it. I mulled it over for a bit and I decided to ask the seller if he would be OK with me buying it on the condition he would get it MOT’d. He agreed. And that was it! I had committed to buying a new car. The most expensive one ever for me.

I transferred the money to the garage's bank account and hoped for him to sort out the MOT. I also asked for him to make sure there would be at least enough charge to get me home. I hoped that would be sorted quickly.

A week went by and it wasn't. When I phoned the man he said he struggled to charge it. There was a charging station at one of the nearby supermarkets, but he couldn't get the app to work. That was also charging at nearby M-Sparc, but these were rapid chargers, and if you charge a battery too aggressively it won't last. Modern Teslas are built for it, but 2016 Leafs aren’t. And I could check the MOT status online; that didn't change.

It's a bit frustrating! I have paid thousands of pounds for a car but I can't use it, and I have no control over what happens to it. I regret I paid the full amount. I should have paid only half, only to pay the second half upon pick-up. But that's Captain Hindsight talking. 

I hope it will all turn out ok. I want to try out my new car! And sell the old one. I know it is the 19-year-old piece of rust, but I bet there are people who are interested in buying a quite reliable piece of rust if it's cheap and it has 11 months of MOT left. I'm in limbo! Keep your fingers crossed that this will turn out ok in the near future…

Holyhead Breakwater race 2026

I was excited about the Breakwater race. I had really enjoyed it last year, and not just because I did well and came third. I liked running on the breakwater. And the atmosphere was good.

Closer to this year's race I realised this race boosted my ego in more ways than just giving me a third prize. I had accidentally set the course record for women over 40. And that at 49.6 years old! I don't think that record will stand very long; there are some women in their 30s that are a heck of a lot faster than me, and they won't stay in their 30s forever. But it is my first course record I am aware of, and I am proud of it! Unfortunately, the course record for women over 50 is considerably faster than the record I just set for women in their 40s. So not much of a chance I'll ever manage to touch that.

 

Proud to be on that list! 

Anyway. The 2026 edition was coming. This time, Neil was going to support me. We drove to Holyhead together. Obviously, there were a lot of people there I knew. And I saw Anna, an Eryri star runner, was back. She had had a child only 2 months earlier. Husband and kid were there too, to support (or be quite oblivious to what all of it meant, in the case of the baby). I also managed to squeeze in a toilet visit and a brief warmup.

It would soon be clear that this year would be different from last. There was more wind, and with that there were bigger waves. And these were crashing over the breakwater, especially towards its end. And it has a barrier on the outside, but if you get caught by a wave coming from that direction it might wash you off the other side where there is no such thing. So the organisation had decided to only make us go to the last bend in the structure. They would position a marshal there, that we would have to run around. This would make it a 4 mile race rather than a 5 mile specimen. 

The Breakwater on the day

We lined up for the start, and off we were. I trundled off in my standard fashion. No need to exhaust oneself at the start. But after a while I realised I was not too far from Emma. Last year, she won it. Being close to her surely meant I was doing well! I also saw Tony unusually close. 

The startline

When we got to the breakwater I was still slowly gaining on them. I noticed my speed was very high. I was doing 15 km/h, which is Race the Train speed. But it felt ok, so I didn't slow myself down. 

By that time, the first runners had reached the turnaround point and were coming back the other way. Anna was the woman in the lead! Amazing. She is back with a vengeance. And then I saw a girl I did not recognise. And then there was only Emma. I was in 4th position! If I am, I always try to wrestle my way to the podium. I overtook Tony, and then I overtook Emma. What was going on?

I made the turnaround myself and then got the wind in my face. That explained my speed on the way out. My run back surely would be slower. And I noticed Emma was close behind me. I would have to watch her! She might very well just hang back for a bit and then overtake me at any stage before the finish.

Beside Emma I had another worry: the waves. On the way out I had stayed dry. It looked like on the way back I would not be so lucky. And indeed, I got hit by spray twice. It wasn't dangerous, but it does mean getting a face full of saltwater. Not ideal!

By the time I came off the breakwater, Emma was a reasonable distance behind me. Then in front of me was some bloke. If I would just keep a reasonable speed up now, I would come third. So I tried to do that, and it looked like it was working. Emma didn't approach.

On Beach Road

Almost at the finish

I stormed over the finish and got my medal from Louise's daughter. And I really needed to catch my breath. I was tired! Neil found me quickly and was very proud. I quickly reached for the water bottle I knew he had in the outside compartment of his bag. I had another one of those instances like I had in Deganwy, where I felt like I might throw up if I wouldn't quickly get some water into my system. So I emptied the bottle but then I was fine. Neil was distracted by a very handsome dog. 

I cheered on some runners coming in behind me, and then I went to get my recovery drink. Runners were coming in thick and fast, and we wouldn't have to wait very long for the presentation. They had the same trophies as last year. I like them. They gave the first three men their trophies and then took a picture of all three of them. I hoped they would do the same with the women. Unfortunately, Anna, who had indeed won, had felt the need to go home with the baby. So it was only a picture of silver and bronze lady. A pity! And silver lady was running in the under 18 category. If she wants to keep this going, can you imagine how good she will be in her 20s!

Bronze and silver female and a representative of the sponsor 

It turned out there also was a team prize, for the fastest two men and two women from a club. And Eryri won, with Josh Keogh, Ian Edwards, Anna and me doing the job. We won a box of beer. Anna and Josh don’t drink, so it was all for Ian and me. 

Three quarters of the winning team 

After the race presentation there was the regional presentation. I got a gold medal for being the fastest F50+. And then we could all go home. 

I had done it in 25:50, which made it my fastest race ever, after Race the Train, at 14.4 km/h. Wow! There is still progress in these old legs!

Something happening with the collapsed wall

Readers with a good memory might remember that in February 2022, my neighbours’ wall collapsed. That was a pity! I suppose the big draw of that house was that it had generous decking right above the river. In summer, you can sit there and have a drink while taking in the amazing view. However; without a wall to hold up the decking, that is not a good idea. The decking was cut back to minimalist proportions. 

The neighbours had to have a wrangle with the insurance about who would pay for this. And then they needed to find someone who would actually do something about it. If you do that work, you have to do it right on the riverbank. There is no path going there. 

One day I noticed a cement mixer and some tonne bags by Alan’s (the neighbour) house. I was a bit surprised; would he really have such a big project on? But the day after I saw Gwawr, the other neighbour. She said she finally had found someone to do the work. It had started! That explained the equipment. She hoped the work wouldn’t cause disturbance for me. I had faith it wouldn’t. 

I later had a look and the work is showing progress! I’m glad something is finally being done. I have faith it will soon be as good as it was, or better. It’s not actually anything to do with me but I am clearly emotionally involved! 

Progress!