bunn

Goodness, it's been almost two months! I have been reading here and I've even started the odd post, then a cat landed on my keyboard or something and...

Anyway, here I am. What shall I put in a post?

The Shop continues reasonably busy, though less so than last year: it's the first year since it started that turnover is distinctly down on the previous year. Unsurprising given everything that's happening in the world, but a bit concerning on the micro-personal level. 

Here are some things I've done:
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Still having a knackered shoulder / neck /arm that was causing me quite a bit of pain, I decided to go to a physiotherapist who lives in a little hut in a back garden in Tavistock.  It doesn't have chicken legs so I''m fairly sure that is OK.

She poked, prodded, acupuncted, used some sort of sound wave device that I'm fairly sure came directly from an episode of Star Trek, and by the end I had stopped hurting at least for a while, which was a huge relief, and got a proper night's sleep, ditto.  It remains to be seen how long-term effective this will be : I did hurt quite a bit today, but not so continuously.   And I have an exercise to do, and was given instructions about which over the counter pain thing to buy, which was also very helpful.

Also knackered: my car poor Helga Saab, whose suspension has completely given up the ghost.   I joined a local artists group, went off to the first meeting, which was fun, and was halfway back and feeling cheerful when suddenly there was a sudden loud thumping noise...

Apparently they aren't making suspensions for 2002 Saabs any more and even used parts for the suspension are 'like gold dust' so Helga has gone to Car Graveyard.  We went today to see a couple of cheap old bangers, since we do need to replace her.  Pp's car is not really much use for carrying dogs, canoes, or boxes of role-playing stuff.   After some debate, we put down a deposit on an ancient and cheap Volvo V70, which after only 142,000 miles and 14 years looks considerably younger than Helga did.   Not 100% that we will buy it since it juddered a little at speed, but the place that's selling it is going to sort the wheel alignment which I hope will fix that.

If we do buy her, I think I'm going to call her Gambara.  I was thinking it looked more like a male car, for some reason, but on the other hand, it's a Volvo, so should have a vǫlva kind of name, and this story about the Lombards is way too wonderful not to use. 

In other news, Helga Saab had a few minor fixes, re-took her MOT and passed! For a car made in 2002 that is getting on to 150,000 miles, I think passing an MOT at a price of only 200 quid (including a new tyre) is pretty good. Well done Helga. Well done, 2002 Swedish engineers, I'm sorry your car company went bust. Well done, Dave the Garage with your stylish-yet-affordable tyres.

ETA, apparently Saab has risen from the ashes and is now National Electric Vehicle Sweden, still based at the splendidly named Trollhättan! Good for them. I bet their cars will be quirky and efficient. Sadly, it's very unlikely I shall ever be able to afford a new car, but I shall send them generalised good wishes anyway.

In Tavistock yesterday, we parked near an array of elderly cars.  Not, on the whole, ancient cars - cars about my age, or perhaps 10 years older.

I was delighted to see that one of the two elderly Rovers had a number of Werther's Original sweets on the dashboard.  If I were writing fiction and included one of those Rovers, I'm not sure I would have the nerve to include Werther's Original, it would seem just too much.  I immediately rushed over to the other Rover to check it for Werthers.  Sadly there were none - but even better, there was a tin of pipe tobacco, and a wooden pipe!  

Sometimes it's nice to have your expectations confirmed. 

There are three different MX5 cars in the local paper today, different ages, mileage, body shape and contact details - but all 3 are California special editions. Weird coincidence.

That's the yellow one, by the way. I do love yellow cars. And Mx5s. Sadly, there is no way that 2 greyhound sized dogs are going to fit into a 2-seater convertible, no matter how yellow it is.