MOT

I took my pickup to a Fort William garage for its MOT, a formality I thought.

I put the bike in the back and this allowed me to visit a couple of sites, after dropping it off, in order to prepare fee proposals. Those done I simply cycled home avoiding main roads as far as possible.

Later in the afternoon and back at the desk the garage phoned to suggest I spent a large amount on new components some of which would otherwise trigger a test failure. At just under 3 years old and with a relatively gentle life (say compared to a farm or construction truck) I was surprised at the lack of durability of the Ford pick up. I had already tentatively spoken to a dealer about possibly changing this car and I now have lost confidence in this brand so I may take the plunge. By comparison our Nissan pickup, at similar age and mileage, sailed through its MOT.
Mrs SJR meantime had a busy shift at the croft cottage which had been left very untidy, so bad that friend J offered some cleaning assistance.

Late in the afternoon Mrs SJR gave me a lift back down to collect the Ford which needs at least one shock absorber to get through the test, but much more to give peace of mind for continued use.

Thankfully I have got in a few weeks early with it. 

The picture is the canal tow path, where I stopped for my banana on the cycle home. With my site visits around the town I managed about 24km