Coming Home

My sister is coming home. She's decided (with her boyfriend) that they can't earn enough to marry and bring up a family over there at the moment, so they want to come back in time to get settled so they can keep up with her timetable for her life (kids by 30). The problem is that while she works year round in Gran Canaria, his work is seasonal, so if she's off work having babies, they won't have any income for half the year. Isn't it really scary when your little sister starts to talk about (a) children and (b) being 30. That's a sign of ageing if ever I saw one.

I'm really not sure where this leaves everything. My mum wasn't hugely keen to go out there at first, and kept threatening to come home for the first year or so. I'm sure that my sister being there has helped to keep her there for the past four years, but if we're both in the UK, particularly if my sister has kids, I suspect my mum will want to spend more time over here. And as for my dad, he's still only easing his way back into diving after the scare in Egypt. If my sister isn't there to take over, and he needs to employ someone to take over her job as well as his own, will the business still be viable? Would they want to stay?

But if they came back, what would they do? And where would they live? Could I afford to buy them out of my house or would they expect to live there with me? Everything just seems to up in the air at the moment, I wish I knew what would happen down the line.

Anyway, one thing's looking likely, which that I probably need to get myself a new car. When they first went out there I sold my car and used my mum's instead. She got the money from my car, but I didn't pay her anything extra, and there was always an unspoken understanding that when Annette came back the car would be passed on in a similar way (i.e. with not much money changing hands). Annette settled down over there for longer than I was expecting, and I had actually started to think about selling the car and buying a new one anyway, then she decides to come home and the original plan looks viable again.

I've got until October, I suspect that the six months I have will be needed to work out (a) what I want and (b) how I'm going to pay for it. I'm not one of these people who uses their car as a status symbol. The trainee, for example, plans to buy a BMW on qualification. I don't think she's quite thought about how much it will cost and how much she'll actually get paid (as opposed to how much she'll get paid in her dreams). No reason other than that she wants a swanky car. Me, I want something that will get me from A to B without breaking down or costing me too much.

Because I bought my original car so long ago, and then didn't pay anything for this one I'd kind of forgotten how expensive cars are. I don't have enough savings to buy one outright, and was looking at roughly how much the repayments on a loan would be, to give me an idea of what my budget might be. The monthly repayments looked bad enough, but when I thought about the insurance, tax, petrol and maintenance I'd be paying on top I have to admit that my first thought was whether I need a car at all! (OK, I already pay the extra stuff, but in terms of the total cost of car ownership, it all adds up). So it's probably a good thing I'm not looking for anything flashy, as I'm not sure that I'd be able to afford it even if I was. Well, I would be able to afford it, but not without cutting back in other areas.

As I'm on my being green kick I suppose small and economical is also good. I only need to carry me in it (and very occasionally a single passenger), and I don't need anything fancy like sat nav or a posh badge on the front. I think it's been 2 years since I had anyone in the back of the Clio, so legroom back there isn't much of an issue! I'm not exactly planning to impress anyone with it.

Anyway, this is all pretty dull so I'll leave it there, but if there are any car experts out there with recommendations, feel free to pass them on!