Hard sums

So, apart from my car being expensively broken, and me whining on and on and on about it, what else has been going on, you may be asking?

I like to imagine people are actually interested, you see.

Mr WithaY's Landrover is sat on the drive again, but is not really fixed. The axle he bought off the on-line scrappie is apparently a bit rubbish, the diff was full of water. It still makes a horrible screeching noise when he drives around, so he now thinks it might be a brakes-related issue rather than a diff-related issue.

Who knows? Not me, that's for sure. Any readers who have experience of Landrover Discovery-related problems, and have helpful advice to offer, please feel free.

Also, big news...saw a rat in the garden. Went to dump a load of stuff in compost bin #2** and as the lid was lifted off, saw the back end* of a rat scoot down a hole in the compost. Mr WithaY deployed some garden tools and a vigorous forking*** ensued.

Time to go and buy more poison.

Ooh, also, used my funky new peg bucket today. Spring really has sprung, the washing is out in the garden to dry.

Noticed this afternoon that the price of diesel in the garage over the way has gone up to 122.9 a litre. That's a rise of 3p in 2 days. Fuck's sake.

For the American readers out there, it is now costing me about £50 to fill my fuel tank, so that's what, about $100? And that gets me about 350 miles. Getting about is becoming very expensive. Had a chat with a lovely on-line mate the other night and he was grumbling becasue fuel now costs him $4 a gallon. Pah.

How much are we paying a gallon now? Um (mental arithmetic.....arrghh) 5 litres to the gallon, so, um, £1.22 x 5, so about £6 a gallon, so about what, $12 a gallon?

I am sure the maths wonks out there will set me right.



*I assume the front end had already gone.

** Compost bin #1 is almost ready. I'll keep you informed.

***Nothing like a vigorous forking in the garden on a nice afternoon, I think.

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Fog

Interesting drive across Salisbury Plain this morning in the fog. I left home about 15 minutes later than normal (due to sloth and lethargy, mostly) so got stuck behind the bin lorry as it wended its way through the village. That added an extra 10 minutes to the trip, which was tiresome. I did get to watch how the binmen handle wheelie bins, though, which was mildly interesting.

In a "stuck in the fog behind a lorry in the village" kind of way.

And then across the Plain, every bend, dip and hill a new adventure as fuckwit after fuckwit risked not only their own life but mine too by overtaking in the fog. Where are these people going that is worth dicing with death like that?

It was ridiculous. I was doing 60, it's not like I was toddling along painfully slowly.

Not only were they driving on the wrong side of the road in low to zero visibility, many of them did it with no lights on. Gah! Fuckers.

Other news: Watched an episode of The New Adventures of Superman on TV last night. It was (I think) unintentionally hilarious. There was an "Oirish" character with probably the most appalling accent I have ever heard in a professional production.

I genuinely had no idea he was supposed to be Irish until he said something along the lines of "My Ancient Oirish Druid Ancestors would be proud of me". Made me laugh out loud, which frankly was a tough thing to achieve yesterday*.

Went to the gym after work, too, even though I didn't feel like it. So hurrah for me.

Off to the dentist later. It's a social whirl, I tell you.

Peg bucket still looks nice, by the way.



*Just Googled that episode. It's called "When Irish Eyes are Killing" which made me laugh out loud again. And the guilty actor is English. Which makes it even better.