From the inside

Not as dramatic as it looks - this snow is already sliding down the windscreen which shows that it wasn't freezing when I got in the car this morning. I was soon underway but found I was turning heads as I passed through the village. I turned down the radio and opened the window to be greeted by a very expensive sounding grinding noise. I knew it was related to the wheels because it stopped when the wheels weren't moving and boy did it get serious after using the brakes. I went the long way round the block to see if it cleared - that's a couple of miles - but it seemed to be getting worse. I headed home for a restorative cup of tea and waited for Kwik Fit to open.

I know that some will poo-hoo the idea of using Kwiky but I knew there wouldn't be a queue and it's not far away and I have no idea how soon I'd get it fixed if I shopped around.

In I went and the blokey took it straight onto a ramp where the quiet bloke who sucks his teeth started his detailed investigation. I went for a free coffee secure in the knowledge that it would probably be a rather costly coffee. Of course quiet tooth-sucker's job involves checking any and everything that they might be able to flog me in amongst the job the car is there for thus there was a wrenching on the exhaust and each wheel arch and nook and cranny was prodded and poked. I risked another coffee.

In the end the noise was a stone caught in the heat-shield (sounds like something on the Space Shuttle) and the pads and disks are fine. He said that the tyres were legal but that I should be advised that the tread was going down on the front wheels - he said it was only so many mil and that's "not a lot". I suppressed the urge to mention that I know how thin a micron is so his handful of mil is a good deal chunkier than he might be trying to suggest. The Manager's Deal today is 10% discount on brakes but as they did the whole thing for now't I wasn't able to take advantage of it. In fact I had a charming hour with free coffee in a smart new lounge equipped with a big TV and a selection of newspapers.

That's my adventure for today - who knows what excitement tomorrow might bring?