pmsumner

I took it in to get new tyres a few weeks ago, and the guy there had trouble getting a couple of the bolts back in after removing the wheel, and I've been driving on 3 ever since - not a huge issue really. I was suspicious as it's the same wheel as we had problems with before, when the garage in Manchester tightened the bolts so tightly they sheared off when attempting to remove them next time.

Anyhow, at the service apparently they could only get two bolts back in. That is an issue. 3 is safe enough for the short term, two is extremely unsafe. I asked how much it would cost and they're telling me that it needs a new hub, new bearings and new something-else's which I can't remember now. A grand total of... well let's just say that it's over £300.

The service itself is about £180 which I expected, and they did some diagnostics on the rough idling which they can't find a specific fault for, and are unable to fix. Hrmph. As well as the speedo, which has been working consistently since about Tuesday last week.

I guess if I looked at it overall I'm probably spending £1000/year on the car, which for a car of this age can't be that bad all told, but I can't help feeling that it needs replacing. But with what money? According to Jane it's as simple as "saving up a few months". One day I'll sit down and show her exactly how much debt I have...

I'm wireless again!
I turned the wireless feature off on my D-Link DSL-G604T ages back 'cuz it appeared to have stopped working. I started it up again today and played with the settings, mainly the channel and signal strength that it's running on and now it seems to be working fine. I'm thinking that next door (the bad next door, not the good ones) installed a BT Home Hub running at full whack on the same wireless channel that I was using, whereas I normally turn the signal strength down to 25-50%. Interference-tastic.

I'm off work on Holiday, HURRAH! This morning was spent in Starbucks after dropping the car off, eating a very berry scone and drinking cappucino whilst reading the half-blood prince. It was bliss.

I just finished off my loverly chicken soup, despite still having some gristly lumps in it. I never got round to blitzing it better, but my blitzer's not particularly good so I blame that! It was the last part of the chicken that we bought on Saturday, assuming Jane's eaten the remaining breast that she had for lunch. I also bought a flavour shaker today. I was after a pestle and mortar but the shaker was cheaper and gimmickier ;) I've crushed and shaken some chilli, garlic, ginger corriander, salt and black peppercorns together, but I don't know what I'm going to do with it yet. Any suggestions?

Can you tell?

Today I have been to the garage, left the car there overnight after being told that they need to order parts, been to Starbucks (mmm), spodded, fixed my wireless connection (YAY), put a a leg of lamb with cumin, garlic, chilli, ginger and olive oil marinade (mmm) in the oven to be ready for about half-five, spodded, watched Star Trek (Enterprise), walked to Sainsburys (feels further than you'd think!) and washed up. Not much really but hey, it's my week off and damnit I'm not going to stress about it ;)