rolling without electricity

so, many of you will already have heard a little of the story of maggie the peugoet and her alternator problems. some of you may have, in fact, helped push start maggie when the hill wasn t good enough (merci! thank you!)..... there comes a day when a hammer doesn t suffice any longer for repairing the alternator and the car starts lacking in electricity. we ve already disconnected the stereo (oh my word?!), then we pulled the fuse that connects the heater/blinkers/other miscallaneous dashboard lights&systems; we don t drive at night, but with days and days of continuous rain (biblical, yes) we ve been obliged from time to time to use the windscreen-wipers and that, dear friends, has been the demise of our wee maggie.
bleeding weather.
all of a sudden, on the road into la pommeraie (where pascal s dad lives) the car starts farting, miss-firing and generally running like a misbehaved cow. we lean forward in the seat, pascal does his damndest to drive like a rally driver, and we make it into town. yah!!
later the next day the boys (dad and son) examine motor, tap again with hammer, remove battery, re-install battery and weyhey! we have lights! we have action! maggie rolls again with electrical accessories!!!! woohoo! we drive into town to get petrol and bugger me, whatever it was that made it all work fell off and now we re back to zero. but with a full tank of gas.

but all is not lost! don t worry, we have insurance! check this out: do you remember the beginning of the hammer and roadside repairs story where rescue mechanic dude turns up in the middle of the night and fixes car? well, that was cos we ve got insurance that gives us emergency assistance. well, pascal just rang them and told them our story (complete and unabridged) and they said not to worry, they'll give us a rental car to get back to paris!!!! (for future reference the company is agf and they are lovely)

so, this may well be farewell maggie, and thank you for the otherwise troublefree and happy 18000km that you have given us through france, england, switzerland and corsica. may you find somewhere shady and with a downhill angle to park up for the rest of your days
xx
b
ps: for sale (or free to good home) one blue/green/white limited edition peugeot 205 junior (but with grown up attitude) in nearly new condition. never rolled, raced nor ralleyed. needs a little TLC.