Parting is such sweet sorrow!

…..well maybe that’s a slight exaggeration! 

 

We are parting from our two cars this week. Lady of the house can no longer drive with her eye problems  but the Honda Civic was being held-onto just in case things got better.  However, some months later there appears to be no sign of this improvement happening, and the fact of it sitting at the side of the house was beginning to annoy her, so the decision was reached, and it has gone to a good home! And we hope to see it again, to check it’s not lonely!

 

 

The love of my life, (besides the lady and the family, that is) has been my old Honda CRV with 122, 000 miles on the clock, but still going well. However it was decided that we now needed a smaller vehicle (are we shrinking?) but still liked the height for getting into the car. Consultations with the local garage have brought forth a Nissan Qashqai (We had never heard of it before either!).So having spruced it up for the last time it will be disappearing from our runway this week. The image above is how it will appear to me as it disappears from view.

People say that you should never get emotional over cars, but we have had to admire the mechanical reliability of these two Japanese cars…..British manufacturers….are you reading this! 

Another day, another car….

Last Monday was a holiday, and the lure of a drive to another part of Scotland was strong. My old CRV has 105,000 miles on the clock so is a bit tired; young Lady’s Civic has to be preserved for when CRV gives up; and son’s BMW needs its own petrol tanker coming behind it. So Daughter, who has just acquired a new Ford Focus, volunteered to give the new car a run into the Scottish/English Border area.

Peebles is one of those areas which is what is a REAL Market Town…..with REAL shops. It is situated on the River Tweed, well known for the fishing. The approach is by quite narrow roads and a sudden twist into the Main Street. It is wonderfully wide, but don’t expect to get easy parking on a nice day. On both sides of the road, you will find every kind of specialist shop, including a great book shop (for Son and me), and shoe shops (for the ladies).

Picnicking was possible on the riverbank, and we watched children happily playing about. Then we walked along the river, and through the rugby grounds. If the borders is known for nothing else, the rugby features highly in the social life of this whole region.

A visit to our favourite group of art and craft shops was essential, and a slightly-roundabout journey back took us to the source of the River Tweed, and a Devil’s Beeftub, a very deep valley in the shape of a deep bowl near Moffat. Back to Daughter’s where she served-up her usual high-quality food ( a gift acquired from my Young Lady) and a snooze, before being driven back home by Son in his BMW.

……………nothing startling, but just a nice day!

Male retail therapy?…surely not!

Son is obviously getting a bit better as he has decided to trade in his old Civic for a BMW. Like me, and my father, (and probably 90% of the male population!) he has always had a passion to have a nice car, and this is his dream. It has been snowing today, so I hope he can enjoy a run in it, without the inherent dangers of this weather.

Safe driving!

P.s. It corresponds in time with an increase in business after a year of worries, so is well deserved.

S’no very warm outside!

The weather forecast was right today! We got the first few flakes of snow, in amongst the rain! The cloud-base was so low that we couldn’t see the top of the Campsie Fells (if you don’t know where they are, look up an atlas!), so perhaps they will be covered by the morning.

Why is it that we love the snow at Christmas-time, and especially Christmas Day?

Logically, it is a nuisance for travellers, costs us more in heating, can be dangerous for folk walking on pavements, and makes the birds look about for food. On the other hand it makes the days seem longer and brighter, by reflecting the available light, provides amusement for younger children, and not-so-young children, on sledges and skis.

It gives us the chance to see the wealth of wildlife in the gardens as we feed them and see their courage as they hang upside-down under the pea-nut feeder or fat-ball.

It also has the wonderful ability to cover over all those weeds which we should have pulled, and even the piles of unused flower-pots take on a strange architectural beauty, which the eventual thaw will uncover, and make us feel guilty about the jobs undone!

So, let’s hope that we have enough snow to provide entertainment, but not too much to call major inconveniences to those travelling about.

The worst car  I ever had for driving in snow was, believe it or not, the Swedish Volvo! My old CRV is great in snow and ice. It has just had the 100,000 mile service so is good for this winter at least.

Even if there is not a particularly pleasant lot of weather over the next few weeks, …..’can Spring be far behind?’

Energy crisis, what energy crisis?

I drive a wonderful Honda CRV with 100,000 miles on the clock, and it has never given any real problems. Our winters in Scotland can come suddenly and rather un-expectedly, and with the change in the clocks, and shortening light, I reckoned a few months ago that I should invest in one of these portable batteries, just in case…..so I did. Thank goodness!

A few days of running about on short journeys, with full lights, radio on , the essential rear window heater, and that inconspicuous little light which stays on when you are unloading stuff, all contributed to a failure to start one morning.

A few moments connecting the portable battery, and crisis over, and I was off!  A marvellous item, well worth the investment….but portable?……it is about the weight of the smaller of the suitcases (mine,obviously!) we take on holiday, so it has a downside. I have been told that I am probably still using the original car battery, so my charger will hopefully pass down to the next generation, when I am past driving.

On the other hand, with the continuing increase in petrol (now over £1 per litre), travel by car may become an un-sustainable item, and the charger be condemned to the same fate as the Sinclair C5 car and the fondeau set.

O, what a happy future we are handing-on!