Car decision

So as mentioned (if I recall), our Volvo decided to die a sudden death. Not all of it, mind you - just the important part - the engine. The garage still cannot explain why it died, and have sent off the engine oil to Castrol for analysis. Meanwhile we had to make a decision about whether to replace the engine and keep our steed, or see what we could get for the Fred Flintstone car..
As it happens, Volvo made me a really disappointing offer on the body, so I elected to pop a replacement engine in and keep on truckin'.
I suppose we'll sell the car later this year and get something a little bigger and better suited to our needs.

For eg - we now - as of Sunday - have a kiddie bicycle trailer that may need schlepping (along with our bikes) down to the Greifensee. It won't fit in our current vehicle, so short of cycling it down and back up our hill, we'll need a larger car.

After buying the trailer (got it from an expat returning to Canada), we went for a walk on the frozen Greifensee... Quite an experience walking on 12cm of ice, knowing that if it should break, you'll be plunged into the middle [literally] of a large body of really really cold water 10s or 100s of metres from the shore. How many out there can say they've walked on water? ;-)
It was a pretty nice atmosphere - many 100s of people, stalls on the shores selling carnival-type stuff, hot foods, glühwein, etc...

Snowing again at the moment ... looking forward to our vacation in Cape Town in 2 weeks time. Haven't had a holiday since .. umm... about May last year... Worked through end of year too.