All we can fervently hope is that this woman, on arriving in Auckland, finds the friend of a friend wafting a meagre $600 in her face, talking of a suspicious sounding ‘big end’. (A useful ploy, at any time. A ‘big end’ is a bit of the car that starts making thumping sounds when it’s getting old and tired and about to ‘go’ but that it is difficult for anyone to know if they are hearing or imagining; so mentioning it suggests you might, possibly, know what you’re on about. You can, at least, unless he or she is a bone fide mechanic, know the seller won’t know, one way or another.)

It might have been worth swallowing your pride and saying “Well, how about $900, then?” Or even going the full $1000. It’s ‘only’ £30/£60 more. I mean, she was spurning the certainty of an okay deal for an only slightly better possible one … so she would probably have gone for $900. It might even have been a bargaining attempt on her part to extract more from you.
I remember two car incidents, both selling, when similar things have happened to me. One creep, having agreed to pay £1300 for a Volkswagen van, after I picked him up with a friend to drive to his house where we would complete the deal, started mumbling about a ‘noise’ he had heard, his friend corroberated this, and I was beaten down to £1100 – I was desperate as I had a ticket back to Portugal that day. Another time, another van, the guy who was buying, as he counted out his money, ‘discovered’ he was somewhat short of readies.
Again, I had a deadline … he offered his old wreck of a vehicle in part exchange … I accepted the money he had. Even more annoyingly, we bumped into him a couple of years later in Gibraltar, driving our old van, where he invited me into a restaurant for a coffee, which I ended up paying for!!!

Well, M agrees nothing is the best plan – “We never got Malaria, etc, etc …” but I’m not so sure. Maleron would have been good to have to hand, at least. I suppose you can start Doxy again if anything untoward happens. Just remember what that nurse said, and don’t assume it’s a touch of flu or dengue:

“If you experience a high fever of 38C or more, seek prompt medical advice for a blood test for malaria parasites.”

Doxy … maleron … nothing?

So, are you now taking Doxy, Malaron, or nothing?

No, I forgot Crips b’day. Also James’s – same day.

Great news, Geroff. Clearly, it’s climatic; so you’d better find somewhere you want to live in Asia!

Cheers for the parcel, Tan. Nifty hat!!! Mama will write soon.