Le fourgon est mort

Yes, we have finally accepted the inevitable fact that our troublesome van has hauled its last load and gone to the big garage in the sky. Our mechanic battled valiently to save it, but in the end had to admit defeat - and pretty annoyed he looked too. Our neighbour helped out - which was kind in the middle of a not entirely wonderful harvest (no rain in May) and is even storing the poor broken van in his shed so it doesn't have to sit outside our (his really as he's our landlord) house looking "pas joli".

Apart from that today was a blur of phoning DIY stores and suppliers, and visiting them. More additions to my limited knowledge of French DIY language and practice.

EDIT: I should add that the van is being towed by our neighbour's truck in this shot, and not moving under its own steam.