driving me round the bend !!!!

my difficulty is not being able to drive round the bend- or up up a hill or anywhere. this has been a week of transport disasters( which were not really that bad) recoveries (temporary till the next problem) and faulty communication( my italian is cosi cosi but my technical language in relation to cars is negligible)

i can say " i fixed it with string" but that s about it.

i bought a dear little 3 wheeler car about 2 months ago and was assured over coffee in the kitchen of the vendor that it would only cost me 30 euros for the libretto( log book i think) and then id be on the road.

i cant believe i did it again. i think part of me knew, its italy, it cant possibly be that straight forward but it was such a cute colour and it was called an amica ( which means friend) and it had two proper seats and i could still get my art stuff in the back and it was an automatic ( am not too good with gears) and it didnt cost much . huh!!!!

i realise that stuff like this happens in britain too but its more scary and disconcerting when you dont understand the enormous amount of legislation, documentation, etc etc and are obliged to rely on peoples honesty as half the time you dont understand the language and the other half you dont know the rules.

so all this week and part of last i have been paying for this and for that and the next thing. some times i understood, sometimes i just said yes and hoped for the best and eventually my little car went off on the back of a truck to get sort of mot d. it failed.

so now the guy who was going out of his way big style to help us with no payment for himself, has handed me and my car over to be someone elses problem and so it goes on.

i should have known it would not be that easy.

when we went to get our id cards renewed we were prepared for it to take a few weeks and several trips here and there to get other documents . actually what happened was someone stamped a new date on them and that was it. that was a big surprise!

i went to renew my scooter licence last night. so i had a medical.( lasted 3 mins), signed at least six forms( so much for not signing anything without reading it first!), had to go to the tabbachie to get a tax stamp, then get photo taken and i have to go back on monday to sign another form and then i think, wait 20 days for my new licence. we ll see.

most people here have been very kind and have gone out of their way to be helpful. far more than i would have expected.

both mechanics i have dealt with have done some stuff for nothing and tried to explain (over and over until i finally got it) what they were doing. my driving may not have made their job easier but i am extremely grateful for all their help.

so am trying not to get to excited about maybe driving my own little car next year.( fingers crossed) maybe i will go further afield, maybe i will like it so much i will learn to drive a real car and then travel the world - or at least improve my chances of getting a job! and to conclude my little car is called a machinucha in italian. cute or what. if it ever gets on the road i will paint it so having to put a photo up for now.