Waiting for Barbara

Storm Barbara called in briefly this afternoon with a downpour strong enough to make G get the sandbags out. However, the stream that rushes down the road past the front of our house whenever it rains hard, stopped within a foot of so of the front door.

Car rant - no need to read.

We bought a newish second hand car three months ago. Driving in the dark, in the rain for the first time a couple of nights ago we discovered that when you sprayed the windscreen washers the headlights disappeared for a second. We weren't happy; G rang the garage and they asked us to bring it in this morning so that they could do a full electrical check.

G showed the service manager the problem. The service manager then asked G to get out of the car and watch whilst he sprayed the windscreen washers - little doors opened on the front of the car and water and a brush appeared to wipe the headlights. So, we have this gizmo, that cleans the headlights but removes the ability to see for a split second at what could be a key moment. 21st century cars are over specified and filled with stuff just waiting to go wrong. We bought the thing because of low tax, good mileage per gallon etc and big enough to carry stuff that we want to carry. Who knows what it will do tomorrow?