Magic Machine

These cold mornings, the car has been struggling to start. It recovered a bit after the long drive to Devon and the warmer weather, but as it's got colder again, the number of attempts to get it going has started to increase each morning.

Last night, when I went to collect the Wonderspouse from the bus stop, it was freezing hard again, and even the afternoon start of the car took a couple of attempts, so when I got in, I thought it might be wise to unearth this machine, which I bought a year or so ago as a cheaper substitute for upgrading my AA membership to include "home start".

It said to charge for 12 hours before use - since it was around 6.30 pm last night that I unpacked it, we had 12 hours - just!

And we needed it this morning. There was no WAY the car was going to start unaided, so the Wonderspouse went back into the house to collect the machine while I opened the bonnet and exposed the battery connections. I attached the doofers, and YAY, the car sprang into life!

I do have ordinary jump leads, but I don't see our neighbours being very keen on being got out of bed shortly after 6 in the morning to be asked if we can drain their batteries, which are probably in nearly as poor a state as ours is in any case!

What's more, the magic machine has an air compressor, in case the dodgy tyre needs it!

So now my car really needs a new tyre AND a new battery. However, given that it's now done over 120,000 miles, and is well over 10 years old, and is getting increasingly rickety (I've noticed I have to fill up the oil reasonably often, and its petrol consumption is definitely not as economical as it used to be), I really need a new car.

We're trying to get it through to the summer though, when its MOT is due, so that, for the time being we can put the "how to buy a new car with no money" problem as something to "think about another time"!

Other than that, I've been motoring through the jobs list today. Done my accounts, crossed off loads of stuff, been delighted by Moses (and the rest of the mischief) enjoying Shreddies and dried mealworms for breakfast, acted as doorkeeper for the cats (who wish to go out to the warm place), and now it's time to settle down with a bit of Welsh and a bit of Maths!

And, for the time being, the magic machine will, I sincerely hope, keep the car going for just a little bit longer!

It's a pretty cool thing, although I'm still trying to work out how I can get it to make me a cup of tea!