However, despite being bogged down with loads of work, speaking to the admin lady for my department proved to be very interesting- although not anything to do with my degree!
The admin lady, named Nanette (but everyone calls her Nan) told me a couple of wonderful stories of when she and her husband owned VWs- I can't remember how we started talking about it... it just came up (as it does). Anyway, we were discussing how much love people give to their VWs, especially when it comes to something breaking. The first story Nan shared with me was when her and her family owned a 60's Split screen bus (sorry I can't remember what year she said it was). They were living in America at the time and were taking a three day drive to their holiday destination, when the starter motor died. For the rest of the three day journey, Nan had to give the bus a bit of a push down a hill- her husband had to pop the clutch because she didn't like doing it- while leaving the cab door open so she could run alongside the bus and hop in. Every time she would do this, her children would be chanting 'Mom, Mom, Mom' and when she jumped in they'd throw their hands in the air and shout 'Yaaaaaay!'. They continued this- and towards the end began only eating at fast food restaurants so they could leave the engine running while they hopped out to order- for the entire journey, until they made it to their destination and could buy a new starter motor.
They also had a '72 beetle whose clutch cable snapped one day. So, to take it to the garage, Nan had to sit in the back wearing a pair of leather gloves holding the clutch cable. Every time it was time to shift gear, her husband would shout 'shift!' and they made it to the garage.
It just show what us VW owners are prepared to do for our little cars (or busses), and how we continue to love them no matter what they throw at us...
