On matters automotive and other things

After a couple of posts in which I have done little but minge, it's time for a more positive approach and I'm very glad to be able to say that yesterday, New Year's Day, dawned bright and sunny down here on the Sussex coast.  Despite that, I treated myself to a short lie-in and it was ten to eight before my feet found my slippers and I staggered into the bathroom.  It was almost pleasant to walk the dog to the local park, although the paths in the park are still treacherously slippery and some care needs to be taken when walking through the wooded part.

As for the automotive matters, I started up the Old Bat's car the other day, the first time it had been started for more than a month.  I was a little concerned that the battery might have been draining and I wanted to charge it up by driving the car a few miles.  The Old Bat has a Nissan Micra and I have complained that I pay the road tax and insurance amounting to the better part of £400 but she drives only a few hundred miles a year.  The car is 9 years old and although the odometer reads 53,000 miles or so, the true mileage is probably still under 4,000.  The dashboard, which is one complete unit, had to be replaced so the mileage shown is incorrect.  Anyway, she replied that she values the car as it gives her a measure of independence.  I can hardly argue with that.

The car started on the first turn of the key - unlike my son's.  I think it was on Christmas Eve that he found his car dead as the proverbial.  He called is breakdown company (the AA, I believe) and the following conversation ensued when the AA man arrived.

"Have you jump-started another car?"

"Yes."

"That's the cause of the problem.  You mustn't jump start another car with a Mercedes, it mucks up the computer.  I'll have to tow you to a garage."

So son's car spent Christmas in a garage until the spare part could be sourced and helping out a friend cost him cash as well as inconvenience.

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Here is my first view - well, almost my first view - from the bedroom window of 2013.