29W 6D 車　We bought a car

赤ちゃんが生まれたら車が必要だと言っていたJasonだったが、10日ほど前いきなり「車買った」と寝入りばなの私を驚かせた。時計を見ると、もう夜中の1時ぐらい。え、どこで？「Ebayで買った」と更なる衝撃。Ebay はインターネットのオークションで私もDVDなど小物はたまに買うし、ビデオを売ったこともある。でも詐欺が多いことでも有名で、まして車なんて・・・と思ったわけだ。

まあ、Jasonのことだからと任せておくと、案の定、あっという間に、車体番号から車の盗難・事故歴を調べるサービス（有料）で下調べをし、数日後にはOxfordの売り手の所まで出向き試乗を済ませたらしい。法的な手続きは一週間もあれば済むようで、今朝車を取りに行って来たのだ。

紺のアウディ、1800CC。私も運転できるようにオートマ車。1995年の登録車だが、イギリスでは特に古い方ではないだろう。なにしろ、くさってもドイツ車だ。Jasonはマニュアルカーの方が好きだから、今日もクラッチとブレーキを踏み違えたり、ギアチェンジがないから運転中退屈そうだったが・・・。

早速帰りに Oriental City に連れて行ってもらった。Oriental City は中国系のスーパーや雑貨店が数店舗入っている小さなモールで、日本食材を売るコーナーやフードコートもあるが、車がないと行きづらい。ベトナムヌードルを食べて、カリフォルニア米を10キロ買って来た。

Jason was talking about buying a car as it would be handy once the baby is born. But I had totally forgotten about that when he proudly announced, ' I've bought a car.' It was already after the midnight and I was sleeping in bed. Being surprised, I asked, 'Where from?' He said, 'On eBay.' 'Whaaat?' The eBay is an Internet auction site and I have bought and sold small things such as DVDs before. However the site is also notorious for fraud and I thought buying a car from the site was a bit risky.

Well, I know Jason knows what he is doing. Within a few days, he checked the stolen and accident records of the car, which can be obtained from the serial number of the car, then went to Oxford to meet the owner and had a test drive. The legal transfer did not take long and we went to get the car this morning.

It's a dark blue Audi, 1800cc. As I will also need to drive a car, he chose an automatic car. The car was first registered in 1995 but about 10 years should not be considered as 'old' in this country. Anyway, it's a German car. Must be quite reliable. Jason prefers manual operated cars and apparently he looked bored without gear changes and for a couple of times he stepped on the brake thinking it was the crutch!

We went to the Oriental City on our way back. It's a small Chinese mall with a supermarket, a couple of small shops and a food court. There is a Japanese food section as well. We had Vietnamese lunch and bought 10 kilos of California rice.