End of the Picnic Era

Six years ago, when we moved our family to Benin, we bought a second-hand Toyota Picnic direct from the Port of Cotonou, where it had been shipped from Europe. It was eleven years old.

Over the years our trusty car has served us well, despite the state of the roads, and the long journeys we had to make. We love the fact that it has six seats (two-two-two), the back two of which can be removed. Before Eve was born, we got a roof-rack made because we were going to be having to use five of the seats and lose part of our boot!

However, the boys' legs just keep getting longer, and since we are leaving for a year, it seemed the right time to part company with the car. A year sitting around in heat and humidity was hardly going to do it any good.

None of the ex-pats we know were looking for a car, so we asked a friend in the village how we should go about selling it locally. He said we would just need to put a sign in the window ("À vendre" = for sale) with a phone number. It certainly was effective. For every trip into Kandi we had at least one person contacting us, interested in buying. It was almost overwhelming! Some of them were obviously not going to be able to pay an acceptable price, but after a lot of back and forth negotiation, Marc has agreed a sale with a taxi proprietor.

Since the car actually belongs to the Mission not to us (officially to our own ministry account, and we pay into that account if we use the car for personal reasons), the papers have to be signed, and the money paid, in Parakou. This suits us well, as we want to travel down to Parakou in it when we leave. We then have a private taxi lined up to drive us down to Cotonou.

Goodbye, faithful friend, we will remember you fondly!