The weekend came to a sudden end as the van starter motor problem reappeared this morning. I was on my way to pick up Pep at the railway station, running late after a very disturbed night with Bonnie having stomach problems! Thank goodness I hadn’t had to make a dash to the vet in the middle of the night.  I had written down, just in case, the number of a 24hour service in Figueres.  She was stretching and bowing all night and needing to pop outside on a regular basis but I resisted panicking.

Lack of sleep meant I was already late when I turned the ignition switch and –  nothing. That is what happens when the starter motor is stuck. No coughing or spluttering or weak attempts to get going. Just nothing. It happened about a month ago and the mechanic hit it with a hammer, got it going and said it either would happen again, or it wouldn’t!

Helen and Francis were helpful as ever and I got a lift to Figueres and back. Then, instead of going to Port Lligat to visit Dalis house, and instead of having lunch by the sea, we spent the morning trying to sort it out.  As usual, my foreigner status made this more complicated than is necessary

• Car insurance here includes rescue and recovery.  My insurance is British and doesn’t
• Garages are closed on Saturdays. We didn’t know any local friendly mechanics.
• RACC is the Catalan equivalent of the AA and although they work on weekends, their membership office doesn’t so I couldn’t join up.
• The local rescue and recovery wasn’t keen on coming out as he usually gets paid through insurance and what if he couldn’t get the van started – would we pay up?

But he did come and he did start it. Turned out he was the local RACC man anyway!
The only problem was that then we couldn’t turn the engine off as the starter motor was still stuck.

So we all drove home although Bonnie and I had planned to stay till Monday.  At least we are close to a local mechanic who hopefully can sort it out on Monday.  And I hope I can join the RACC even though my van and insurance and documents are British. 
Bonnie by the way seems better. If she wants to go out in the night here, it means putting on my clothes so I am very glad to see her sleeping peacefully now.