Snowbound

Well, almost.  The village's Facebook page has been full of stories of failing to get up either hill out of the village to go south, and you can see from this little line of traffic that people are moving very carefully (at least I can imagine that's what it shows).  The other hill was blocked for a while by two cars who had failed to make their destination, whether that was into the village or up and away (echoes of Gone Fishing, with Mortimer and Whitehouse).  

But I managed to get out this afternoon, admittedly in a 4WD machine, as I had booked a pair of tyres to be fitted near Crewkerne through blackcircles.co.uk.

It's always a risk, I find, choosing a new garage for servicing or tyres (or other car-related stuff) and I chose the wrong one when I booked it last week.  I arrived five minutes early and there was no one in Reception.  Shortly a young and diffident chap arrived and asked for my key before disappearing for antics in the rather shambolic parking area.  After a few minutes I retrieved my key, intending to make a run for it if I didn't get some sort of service – or at least a greeting and an indication that the garage would fit the tyres that I had paid for.  Eventually, another young chap, equally diffident but this time with purpose in his movements, appeared and asked me to sign a form accepting that there was already damage to one of my alloy wheels.  I signed.

An hour later he reappeared with my car with new Hankook runflats fitted.  Hurrah!  I'm pretty certain that I haven't had to wait that long before, but I was glad to have the new tyres and to be dealing with someone who had the requisite professionalism and off I went.  I try to give fair reviews for jobs done for me, and this one will be fair.  I won't go back.