November 13, 1996

For Sale, one wet, soggy VW. Ever since we left France we've had rain. And that wouldn't be such a bad thing if I were curled up on a warm sofa, in a warm house, with a hot mug of tea. But sitting here behind steamed windows with trails of condensation trickling onto the dash is another thing altogether. If I dare open a window to release some of this steaminess, I risk being attacked by the globs of accumulated rain that are crawling along the molding. I know they are holding on, waiting for that chance to free-fall onto my arm. And the wet laundry that we have thrown across the dash and have hanging and dripping across the rear sofa isn't helping either. But Switzerland is a land void of coin laundry machines and we had to do something. I haven't kept count of the number of times that we've been down to the last of every item of clothing; but whatever that number is, I can add one more. That blue wash tub that we bought when we got the van has served us well.

With all of our wardrobe exposed, the van certainly doesn't look like we're ready to leave it. Are those people pointing at us because they're interested in buying the van or because they've caught us with our pants up and find our underwear dashboard ornaments amusing? "We'll throw them into the deal if you want." Oh well, they didn't hear me.

We knew that eventually we'd get to this part of the trip. The other side of the 'buying game' - the 'selling game". We put it off as long as we could, but now we are approaching the holiday madness season and the longer we wait to sell, the harder it will be. Already Switzerland has turned out to be a selling bust. It's too much of a hassle to get Swiss plates for a German car, so we're told no will likely bother. Plus there is a duty and VAT and the list goes on. So tomorrow we drive into Germany, better for selling, but this lousy weather isn't encouraging. I've made up new signs for the van. 'Zu Verkaufen'. If you forget the currency changes (Spanish pesetas to French francs to Swiss francs to German marks) the price of this van has been plummeting. It's the deal of the century. Come and get it!! Anyone?