Car troubles

I was driving home from my course in Antrim last night in the Cleo. I was happily listening to a Dr Who book when I lost power to the engine. I pulled over to the side of the road and tried unsuccessfully to start the engine. I hate that feeling when you know you can do nothing, but phone for the RAC (which we are members).
A very nice lady tried to find me on the map, being well aware that we in Northern Ireland give roads names, not numbers. While i was on the phone, a break down man came, and offered me help. I told him I was calling the RAC, and he said "I'm an RAC contractor, let me speak to them." In stead of a 30 minute wait, I was on the back of his lorry within minutes. It did mean trying to find a way out of a homophobic rant, as i didn't want to challenge his view and walk home pushing the car.
The car has a broken timing belt, which means that the engine is probably badly damaged. Our friendly car fixer man tells us anything between £300 and £600 to fix. The car is 10 years old, and we have been humming and ha-ing about getting it replaced, so this brings that forward.
Today i went out to see the price range. A lot of garages didn't have people to come and talk to me, but a couple did, and we are in a good position without a trade-in. It can knock up to £1000 off the seen price. Also went to Peugeot, who, when I told him i was replacing a Cleo, asked if it was for my son or daughter. How posh.
It means that we now only have one car to get me to work, Charlotte to Nursery, and Julie to her groups (and take the kids out to stop them going ga ga). It will be fun until we get a replacement.