All Scottish

As it was due to be "dreich" or worse, an early start to mow one of the horse fields with my big tractor & then late morning with the horse trailer to Memmingen to collect our new - replacement - lawn tractor.

Unlike the old one which was branded by the DIY chain, Bauhaus, as a "Gardol", the new one is a "McCulloch". Both of them in the Husqvarna Group, McCulloch being the cheap price-conscious range. The orange go-faster stripes remind me of Starsky & Hutch or General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard. To make it worse, the tractor has "McCulloch PowerDrive" and they claim to have the fastest lawn tractors & even a video in the same mode as the above.

The salesman/workshop guy who so wanted us to have the induction training was very pleasant & did his best. Sadly his best was technically awful. I took a back seat & simply listened as he talked. I could even see Angie had serious doubts about at least three important operations he explained. All three totally wrong as I later read in the instruction manual while Angie did the admin. I can't blame him for trying to get us to buy the super-duper Aspen petrol that costs 3x normal petrol - like so many technical things whether electronics or cars, salespeople are forced to do their best for these over-priced accessories & no doubt get extra commission. However, the lack of knowledge was painful.

We were both very pleased to get out of there even if the rain started as we left for home. With the forecast for it to stay that way, I will be able to refit the grass box which had been put together in the shop. Put together but not properly and with large 5cm gap between box and chassis! I can also add the optional "Bullbar" which for some reason got thrown in for free. Given the speed, it will almost certainly be needed to fend off our chickens, cats, dog, horses & the odd tree.

In German, the word  Scottish as an adjective means "price-conscious" or rather dirt cheap. Actually only see it used very rarely in newspaper special sale adverts, I couldn't even find a Google link to share. I have no idea why and I suspect it is dying out. Suspect Brexit has finally killed it off. Bavarians & Germans taking more & more a liking to the Scots & Irish. We need to do something about the Welsh. I did hear on the radio today that the UK was the second most popular EU destination for German migrants, after Austria. That seems destined to change too.