Barny

That used to be the way of it, doing all your own basic (and sometimes advanced) car maintenance. Sadly it was all mixed up with “manliness” which meant that if you didn’t know how to refit a complete gearbox you were somehow not quite fit for the gene pool. As I also lacked any interest in football, I was widely viewed as a bit of a no-hoper…[Read more]

I have a friend (though I don’t see much of him now), of a much more practical bent than me, who for nearly twenty years kept the first new car he’d bought back in the seventies (a Vauxhall Viva – remember them?) doing all his own maintenance and servicing. He doesn’t do that anymore. You can’t service a modern car without a garage’s specialist…[Read more]

Great blog, Richard. You captured both the disaster of the car journey and the pleasure of the holiday. Perfectly done.

With modern cars, it’s easy to take things for granted and forget that comparatively recently many things about cars were surprisingly simple, if not primitive. Heating is a classic case. Today many vehicles have in-car air…[Read more]

Nice one, Jane. I’ll get my thinking cap on.

A belated “well done”, Jane!

Just got back from a lovely day out culminating in finally seeing Stars Wars nine to this. First time I have ever won anything! Thank you Janette for the competition and thank you everybody for the comments. I love the way these competitions inspire so many different takes on the same prompt and I am feeling very honoured that Janette chose mine.…[Read more]

Well done to Janeshuff – well deserved. And thanks for the competition, Janette.

They really were all lovely stories. It’s been a while for me (again) and it’s great to see the monthly competition still chugging along, though perhaps with fewer entries. It was great to be pulled out of here and to be transported to four uniquely different places. Great job everyone!

Congratulations @janeshuff, I too loved your story, and Ath’s, and Sandra’s which completely hooked me. I hope we hear more about Lucy.

Only four entries this month, so easy to judge, yeah? No way. Each one was a delight to read and I’ve had to read them over again, and again, to decide on a winner.
Sandra, your prologue is a hook which begs me to read on and see how the ‘will they – won’t they’ conundrum pans out. Lucy, it would seem, has more facets than a brilliant cut…[Read more]