M Reg Ford Fiesta, anyone?

My car insurance runs out pretty soon. Like, at some point next week soon.

I have been thinking about getting rid of it for some time. Because, quite frankly, it's a bit shit.
I love my car. It's a little diesel Fiesta, with no power-steering, no anti-lock brakes and 148,000+ miles on the clock. Part of the trim on the side is peeling away, and there is some rather odd-coloured welding on the front wheel arches. It never starts the first time and it is one of the loudest vehicles I have ever travelled in, and that includes my dad's massive pick-up truck.

But I still love it. I can park it anywhere, it has never actually broken down and despite increasing fears of it happening, not once have all four wheels fallen off while I've been travelling in it.

I say all this touching a large plank of finest pine, by the way.

However, it's dying a slow and gentle death. I can't afford to actually service it, just give it MOTs and take it to the nice men round the corner when it starts making stranger sounds/smells than normal. It's cost me a bleeding fortune over the years and the last time I got it MOTed the man told me I would have a car for a year. And then it would go to the big scrapyard in the sky.

For all the above reasons, I thought the end of my annual insurance would be a good time to say goodbye to little Loki (god of mischief, see). So I asked one of my colleague's husbands if he might want it for parts.

They came round to look at it. It was snowing at the time. I offered tea, but they just wanted to look at the car. I was completely honest with them, didn't go for much of a sales pitch, I just wanted to save the scrapping fee. He asked me how much I wanted for it, but I just told him to tell me what he thought.

His offer?

£30.

Hmmmph. Not going to go very far towards the Mini convertible I had my eye on.

More on that story later.