Hubby bought Vauxhall Astra car through Auto Trader website three weeks after arrived in London. At that time, it's winter and snowing week in December. The Eins were unwell so the need to get a car was very high. it's very important to have a car if there's an emergency rite. We can't imagine if we needed to go to hospital in the middle of cold night. Same goes even if it's during a day, it's still hard to go by bus as to get a bus we need to walk in the very bad weather first to the bus stop at the main road. It will be a real pity especially to the Eins.
BTW, i can never forget the day we got the car. It was tough but yet a memorable journey. The location of the shop was still in London(North West to be specific) but it felt like it's in the other side of the world. :P Ok may be i was exeggerating a little, but as most of you knew that we live in Stratford (South East London), which is in the Zon 3, seriously it's still faraway for me as the shop was in the zon 9!!
In the beginning, the plan was only hubby who will go there alone to buy and get the car. As a wifey, i was worried to death! My hubby ni klu i tade dia mmg boleh sesat..i kan the best gps dia...hihihi. So i decided to follow him no matter how unwell the Eins were that time..but at the end i was relieved that i'd made the best decision. I can't imagine if the eins were left at home with me alone, they would have cried for hours through hubby's absence and that definitely would have drove me crazy!
So off we departed from our house by walking to the bus stop at the main road...it was 15-20mins i guessed. Hubby claimed it would only take him 5-10mins if he's alone. :P luckily when we reached the main road, the bus stop was just in front of us so not long until the bus came..At that time, ramai juga orang nak naik bas yg sama, berebut2..tak sabo2 nak naik bas may be dah tak tahan sejuk sgt kot. As the bus was stroller-friendly, so senanglah bagi kami yg bawak 2 stroller ni. ;)
Riding on the bus was kinda excitement especially to the Eins as the bus was a double deckered! ;D Although we just stayed at the bottom, it felt good just to be in it..though it's not our first time. :P What made the journey even more troublesome was we didn;t know whether the bus will be stop at Stratford Station or not. To be safe, when the bus stopped at the Stratford Centre, we walked out the bus. Since the Stratford Station is in the opposite of the building center (the mall) again we had to walk there. Huhu. Next time, will carefully check about the bus info, such its number, it's route and it's stop. Lesson learnt! Anyway, still ada hikmahnya sebab we dropped by one of the stall and bought two pairs of gloves for the Eins as I forgot to bring theirs. :D
As soon as we arrived at the station, hubby quickly bought the underground train (tube) tickets. Oh yea, we were going to Amersham (Zon 9) from Stratford stn (zon 3) and if i'm not mistaken we had tto change the lines three times to reach our destination. In spite of the terrible whether, there was a major delay at one of the line. Ya Allah sabo je lah masa tu...lama gila tunggu tube datang kt platform. Nak jadikan cerita, platform tu plak bukan underground, it's on the ground and open aired so it was damn cold and freezing!! I thot the temperature that time was subzero as well. huhuhu..Actually, there was indoored waiting area but only me who waited in there most of the time as the Eins preferred to tail hubby wherever he was but still damn freezing. *eye-roll*
OK, finally the train appeared, it took us to Amersham, its last stop. Even though the journey was still afar to be arrived but the view along the way masya Allah was so beautiful! Dah la snowing, then lalu kat pedalaman yang berbukit-bukit, so sumenya nampak putih bersih dilitupi salji. Subhanallah! We were like 'is this London?' :P but it was, apparently London is so big itself...klu luar London mana ada servis underground rite. so percayala (ala Ct ye...)hihihi..!
when we finally stepped on Amersham ground, hubby checked out the map. Alamat n direction sume dah ada..tapi energy yg dah nak tak ada...ihihihi. We first thot to take a cab to go to the shop but the cab driver's said it's just around the corner. Hmm kuang asam tade nya dekat, jauh jgk hokey....Sakit2 kaki ktrg menapak dgn beratnya menolak the Eins dlm stroller ats snow, hew3 hanya Allah shj yg Tahu. the Eins pun dah smerengek memasing tak tahan sejuk dahh..kesian betullah.
Snow tgh turun masa tuh, jalan kaki pun laju2 sbb takut kedai tutup pukul 5. Tapi keadaan dah gelap mcm dah malam! (Waktu siang musim Winter sgt pendek) Apapun Nasib baik sempattt. Alhamdulillah, sampai2 kedai lagi 5minit nak ke pukul 5pm rasa lega tak hengat. Sementara hubby sign agreement/document/bayar weol duduk kt sofa dlm bilik ofis tuh..Of kos pasang heater, so it kept us warm for awhile.
OK lepas dah bayar danpuas hati dgn car's condition..cuma ada kesan kemek sket kt lampu belah kiri..issokay yg plg ptg heater works! Then ktrg pun bertolak pulang..tp bila nampak restaurant fast food halal ala2 KFC tepi jalan hubby berenti. Perut dah lama minta diisi. Hiks. So Hubby pon pegilah beli set ayam ghoreng, fries..awpon just mkn dlm keta je ttp nikmat..hihihi pengalaman sungguh la. Pegi ambil masa dekat 3 jam. balik naik keta satu jam je..tp satu jam jgk ye wpon dalam satu London. Tgk la btp jauhnya. Huhuhu.
Anyway, the car was tip-top, good performance and fuelsaver. Start end of December until mid of April we kinda satisfied. Never meragam. So far, plg jauh hubby bawak sampai Kent, south of England. Masa buat kt Coventry 4-5 tahun yang lalu ktrg guna keta jenis yg sama jgk sampai ke Scotland sana, Ok je ;) byk jg jasanya, pegi balik hospital bawak i checkup..dapat la ktrg gi jenjalan pegi pasar, pegi Asda, caboot rumah Yus Hadzley hihhi..mmg sentimental ar..
Since hubby has bought mpv, so he sold Astra last tuesday. Finally, dapat jgk buyer yg nak beli dgn harga yg ktrg offer. Tade bargain2 lg dah, he's very happy with the car. Alhamdulillah, rezeki di bulan Ramadhan rupanya. Dkt 4 bulan baru terjual. :)
OK Begitulah kisah keta Astra. :D
P.S Can anyone teach me how to upload photos via IPhone 4?T_T
