I know what you mean about tiles. I chose what I wanted for our new bathroom (had to have one put in downstairs because my husband has difficulty with the stairs) and had a shock when I found out the price. So, no lovely mosaic ones for me.

So what do you do when you are in a brand new rented car the day after you collected it and it breaks down on the M11 with less than 100 miles on the clock?

You get to one of those emergency phones [do not know if they still have them but they did in 1991] and you are told to get back in the car, lock all windows and doors, and do not get out of the car or move until you see a police car pull up.

Only you sit there and you need a pee. Oh boy do you need a pee. But you are sitting in a rented car on the hard shoulder of the M11 and have no idea why you are told not to move, not having been in the UK for six years and not knowing about nasties happening to women in broken down cars, and you just gotta pee.

You do what I did. Had no choice really. Pee'd in one of my suitcases.

And a police car turned up while my nikkies were round my ankles.

That's just the sort of thing I would do! I was once sick in my handbag on a train.

And I'm sure half the time the desperate need to pee is psychological - because you know you can't, you just feel you have to!

Yes but I was stuck for hours and on my way to friends from before I left England.

So me - the car [a Fiat Golf] and my suitcases, one of which and no, not the one I pee'd in was full of gifts, were taken back to the rental place. Car on the back of a low loader.

No idea where because my son had arranged the rental, picked me up from Gatwick and taken me to the rental place. I had actually booked for a Fiat Panda as it was cheaper but they did not have one so let me have the Golf at the same price.

Got back, car unloaded, two suitcases unloaded one leaking and a bit pongy and oops, we do not have another rental car.

This was maybe two days into my one and only visit back to the UK?

So they phoned around, trying to ignore the leaking suitcase, and got me a brand new little black Seat - same size as the Panda - such a cute little car!

And when I eventually got to my friends I had to ask them to please run all my clothes through their washing machine as I had had to pee on them.

Good think I did not need to do anything else...

Well Minihaha - it is something I remember my old dad (who thought he was very funny) saying yonks ago when I was complaining that I had to take a 'sample' to the doctors and I couldn't find a suitable container to pee in! (He also suggested an old whiskey bottle but warned not to leave it in a bin where the tramps might see it!)