It's time to say goodbye to Mist (or 58 Dolle Grieten Zonder Rijbewijs, as the license plate reads), our mist-grey Kia Pride. She's behaving more and more oddly these days. First there was a soft whining noise when driving, now it is really getting louder and annoying. The hand brake seems to do less and less. With some effort you can push the car 'through' it. And when we wanted to go to Zeist for the Knalbal and had to pick up someone from the train station we nearly decided not to go because the transmission kept slipping.

Today Matthijs took Mist to the garage to find out if repairs were worth it. They are not. We'll be a happy 1000 euro's along to get her reliable again (new transmission, 4 new tires, new shock absorbers, brake check) and that is not worth it when soon she'll be rusting away for real (we already have holes here and there) and the 'distributieriem' (timing belt?) needs replacement in a couple of kilometers, or next year. Even with the 1000 euro fix she won't pass the APK this spring.

So, after this check for 30 euro's we now know that the brake is always down... which explains why pulling up at a green light is sometimes difficult. This does not make for 'green' driving and it won't get any better all by itself. And the transmission can give out any moment, which means that the car will roll out and then never move again. We won't risk this. So, even though Mist is still parked in front of our house, we're practically car-less now. We do not want to drive any longer trips than within Amersfoort itself.

The garage had a car for sale. An Opel Astra 1.6-something for 850 euro's. Perhaps we'll go for a test drive tomorrow. I want to get this fixed before our first larp in April, but with some luck even before the EE weekend next week.