50+ and proud of it.

Whilst driving the Mustang to town on Saturday I noticed a strangely familiar odour, not noticed since the passing of the Morris Minor. "What's that smell?" asked my wife. "Um, that's anti-freeze". Yup, most of the coolant was pouring from a small hole in the bulkhead. It looks like Mr Ford thought about this - and duly designed a drain hole for coolant leaking from the heater core to exit into the engine bay rather than onto the carpets. Now, personally, I would have preferred them to have a) Designed a stronger heater core and b) Made it easier to get to. Let me explain how Ford build Fox Mustangs. They sweep out a big room and place a V8 engine in the middle and place a heater matrix beside it. Then they build the rest of the car around them both...

My son is moving into the (new) flat with his mate on Saturday. It appears to be definite now, as they were waiting for confirmation and it turned up in spite of the Postal Strike. Basically his mate's Mum (June, not her real name for reasons which will become clear) is moving to "a large town far away". June said to her son that he could come with her or stay where he is now. The son says that all his mates were here, so he started to look for a flat. My son had secretly been thinking about moving out for a while and this was an opportunity to split the rent. Now, my daughter has already packed and has moved her things to the landing outside his old room. Also, we ordered a new wardrobe and cupboard for her via home delivery from Argos - which of course we don't want now... Have you ever tried to cancel a Home Delivery? Once you pressed a zillion buttons a get through to a "real person" it's quite easy really! June is moving away to start a ne...

We were more than a little surprised on Saturday to receive a phone call from my eldest son. Not surprised in that he gave us a ring (he's always doing that), but in its content. We were spending the inheritance at the local pub and were halfway through a sandwich when the call came in: "Hello Mum, do you think it would be alright if I left home?" My wife kept calm and asked normal things that mothers do - "Err, have you thought about it a lot?", "Have you worked out how much it's going to cost a month?" and the like. "Well", he asked "Is it alright?" "Alright? Alright?!", I exclaimed, "I'll help you pack."