Sharp lessons

Our trip to Guildford hit two snags. Firstly it pissed down with rain in that cold, unpleasant way that seems to be the norm at the moment. Secondly we had a flat tyre, which we later found out was due to a small piece of metal embedding itself in the tyre. The mobile tyre man who came out and rescued us said it was a clip from a set of brake pads known as a shim.  According to the Cambridge Dictionary a shim is “a small object or piece of material used between two parts of something to make them fit together, or to prevent them rubbing against each other”. Maybe it's just me but that sounds like something you would buy in a sex shop.

My attempt to fix it using a tyre sealing adhesive went predictably badly and meant that the car park was running with white solvent in the rain and the mess was all over the hub cap. Don’t try this yourself, it’s a waste of time. Everyone says so.

We achieved our shopping objectives and came home. Went into a bit of a torpor after that. Typical Sunday inertia. 

Matthew Perry was declared dead in the wee small hours. He was found drowned in his hot tub; this is why I don’t go near water.  It’s very dangerous. I never realised quite how sad a life he had had although I knew he had had his problems. He made the iconic character of Chandler Bing his own. Warner brothers are still making close to a billion dollars a year from Friends, so however much Perry and the rest made, they gave good bang for buck.