One certainly, two possibly. I'm looking to buy a small camper van so that we can spend next summer at the farmhouse in France doing a bit of work to it.

If that happens then I'll miss the WM which I was looking forward to, the Stelvio pass which I wanted to traverse, and of course the 2cv world in general bar one or two bad apples. But I've got to get a wriggle on now as I believe this country will turn to shite before our very eyes next year when the cuts and the arguments start to bite.

Plus given the knackered state of my kidney I'd better get a move on if I'm going to have a place to live at all. The specialist tells me that if I gave up drinking my kidney might last a bit longer, which I have no doubt it would, but even if it didn't, if I gave up drinking it would bloody seem like it.

That's another thing - Specialists! Ask them a specific question and they say that 'That isn't within my field of expertise' So what we've got are more and more 'specialists' specialising in less and less actual stuff. If you take that to it's logical conclusion then one day the ultimate specialist will know absolutely everything that there is to know about bugger all, don't you think?

Oops, there I go again.

I shall now retire to my bottle of red, this I can cope with far better than a litre of jack Daniels!

Ah! So you already have your 'place' in France?! You lucky dog .

Anyways, kidneys can be replaced, surely? Not an excuse to pickle the one you have, of course...

It's called 'living' DA. When you're a young man and feel indestructible don't you? You live as you want with little consequences, now that I've reached middle age it's time to pay the bill.

I was referring to your current pickling...

Yes I know.
It's purely a case of a pigheaded refusal to lie down on my part I suppose. There are some sensible people who give very good advice, and other sensible people who take it. But as you might expect I fall into neither category I'm afraid. Having said that I don't hammer the alcohol as I did recently very often, just occasionally. The rest of the time it's just a nice bottle of red, and not the cheap stuff as some might think, so that way I can't afford to do much damage.

2cv wise, I've just dropped the wife off for her evening shift at the Hospital. Driving the car there in the half-light, and watching the wind blown leaves flying all around us made me smile. In it we were warm, dry, and comfortable, how so with just a thin sheet of vinyl above our heads?

It's small things like that which make me admire the 2cv so much.

i agree old nail, simplicity of the 2cv is brilliant!!

you should keep it mate

this forum would be a great loss if you where to go your seperate way why not get a shagged out old ripple bonnett?

If it was possible to keep it James then I would. I like 2cv's and I appreciate both their quirks and design strengths.

An old ripple would be nice, but the money I'd spend chasing one down and then and making it roadworthy would make selling my own pointless. As for leaving this forum, well 't ain't necessarily so, I'm only ever a click away, and I'm sure some here might perhaps miss me a little, others perhaps not.

Thing is you've got to keep moving, if you don't then you learn nothing and know nothing other than that which is within whatever small circle that you have settled for. I came, I rebuilt the 2cv, and I learned lots. I hope I also managed to share what I learned effectively with those 11000 plus visitors here, but It wouldn't be me if I didn't move on to the next challenge, that's how you grow.

I'm 50 years old and still don't know what I want to do when I grow up.

In the meantime listen to these guys, I like this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWJ-N7sii0k

You can't stay young forever, but you can stay immature indefinitely.

To stay immature, one has to be immature, and I'm not that 250.
I simply have a different take on life, I intend to grow old disgracefully, I may even take to wearing a purple hat if it pleases me, and a croche't one at that.

I never did conform to things just because I was told to, never bit my tongue with my boss just for the sake of a three bed semi in nowhere special, nor accepted other folks labels because it made it easier for them to quantify me. I always think that before anyone can judge another individual they need to walk a mile in the other man's shoes so to speak, and most folks can't imagine that.

I'm perpetually looking for something, the thing is I don't know what it is, perhaps I'll only know when I find it. I remember a quotation I read somewhere that said "I haven't failed, I've just discovered 10,000 ways that don't work" and that pretty much sums it up.

Done over 240 miles today in a pretty mixed bag of weather. There doesn't appear to be many 2cv's in use out there during such weather, or at least I didn't notice them if they were?

The car is now sat on the driveway, 'pinging and 'tink-ing' as it cools, I just had to take that photo even if it didn't come out too well. My respect for these little cars grows with every such trip, they drive way better than any such 'old tech' designs have a right to, and then they just sit there, waiting for more.

All this, and nigh on 50 mpg at times into the bargain.