Things can only get better...

The Port Appin West Coast Motors open top fleet haven't been seen out for a while.  The old Bristol Lodekka has a good load and is about to leave.  The Scania/Plaxton President, a newer vehicle will do the next 'Round the Bay' trip.

In other news...

We had old friends around for dinner last night.  The women talked about washing machine performance and the verisimilitude of the Electrolux, 'I'm gonna knock on your door' ad campaign compared to the Hoover, 'beat as it sweeps as it cleans' campaign. My pal and I discussed the role of the International Monetary Fund in securing financial stability, facilitating international trade, promoting high employment and sustaining economic growth, and reducing poverty around the world.  

All was going swimmingly until the lights started to flicker, then after a short while they dimmed and flickered, then they went off and on, dimmed and flickered.  Then at 8.30pm they just went off.  'Oh bugger' MrsDB muttered and in a tone not to be ignored, and in her best 'parent/child' finger to my chest style, I was instructed to sort it.

At 8.45pm the lovely Alison at the N Power call centre explained the problem, a fallen tree on power lines, was only affecting 1,977 homes and would be fixed in an hour.  Shortly after our friends got a phone call from their security company saying their alarm was going off and they left - probably relieved to get out of the dark cold house.  Did I mention our central heating went off with the power.  The clock on the cooker suggests that the power was resumed at 0230am.

This morning the boiler refused to start.  I did all the usual checks and it was dead as a dodo.  

Picked up my iPhone and it wouldn't start up.  I had a home screen but nothing else.  The charge was 68% so it looks like it's just given up.  I know the feeling.

I begged MrsDB to allow me the use of her phone and after she'd deleted several emails and messages she said were 'unimportant' she handed it over and I managed to get hold of an engineer.  Fortunately the central heating man I use was working locally this morning and called around, took one look at the dials, pushed a secret button on the burner and it restarted. "That'll be £55 please".

A new iPhone is over £500.  I'm not feeling very happy.

Things can only get better.  Or worse.