Shit happens (edited)

 Thanks for the supportive and sympathetic comments, at least some people care!  It does sometimes feel like we are continually taking 2 steps forward then THREE back, and I wonder who has got it in for us and feel like I must have been a Very Naughty Girl in a previous life and am now getting payback for it.  Of course I know we're no different to anyone else, shit happens to everyone.  I'm trying not to dwell on it, and just focus on the caravan instead.  It is disrupting my sleep - and my guts - again though.  Oh, and I didn't ring the GP about my knee, the knee problems have been superseded by the car stuff.  Anyway, my knee support thing came yesterday (at least that's a good thing, it was supposed to come today) so hopefully that will help, it does feel quite supportive.

Yesterday, I did what I always find helpful in times of stress.....more baking, that always takes my mind off things for a while.  I used the remaining sheet of puff pastry to make 6 bacon and cheese turnovers, and then another dozen muffin sized cakes - marmalade and cinnamon this time.  All bagged up and in the freezer for caravan lunches, whilst we're doing the work, joining the sausage plait slices and mini fruit cakes I made yesterday.  One less thing for me to do in the mornings before we leave home, I can just grab a couple of bags out of the freezer and take them with some fruit, job done.  The lunches are a bit carb heavy, but I'll counteract that by having berry and yogurt smoothies for breakfasts, and meat/fish and green veg dinners.

I know our car having problems is a first world problem, and we have so many advantages and blessings - and we're not at war!

But here where we live, there are NO amenities (like shops, doctor, post office, vet - essentials like that) of any kind within walking distance, and NO public transport.  So a working reliable car is a necessity.  Also, without said car, we cannot get to our beloved caravan.

We can't afford to pay out unknown large sums of money, and potentially ongoing at that, on a car which is possibly going to keep going wrong - at the moment it seems every other time we use it, another warning light comes on or it goes into limp mode again - drivers behind us when that happens tend to get very annoyed.  We're trying not to use it unless it's absolutely necessary right now.  Hence our decision to get shot of it once it's (hopefully, everything crossed) transported all of the necessary stuff to and from our caravan whilst we're doing the work.  

Buying another, newer and hopefully more reliable, car is going to take a big chunk of husband's windfall pension he got a year ago.  That windfall is going down quite quickly, and will certainly run out altogether way before I'm eligible to receive my State pension.  So that's another big worry.  Worry is affecting both of us - headaches, gut problems and sleepless nights for us both.