A dented front . . .

10 Forsythia Grove

Outer Hamlet

CORSETTSHIRE  ZY6 4GT

Rain

My Dear Ralph

Rain - and indeed snow - has been engulfing Outer Hamlet all morning and I have just swished along to the local coffee outlet clad in green wellies and my Nepalese hat (complete with plaits).  There is something very beguiling about entering warmth and having the ears engaged by a voice singing of its beauty from the overhead speakers.  And a triple chocolate brownie has just now added to the melting effect I am now experiencing!

Today I have paid riveted attention to a long news monograph on the subject of road tyres.  It transpires pet - and I did not know this - that the stopping distance of one's motor vehicle - is up to ten times (TEN times!) longer when outfitted in 'budget' tyres than it is when outfitted in the 'premium' version.  This is absolutely shocking don't you think?  It does make me cross that one attends these tyre emporiums without anyone making the slightest effort to inform the customer of these facts!  I think back, with a shudder, to the number of times that I have skiied (inside the Banger 0.9L) along the lanes in winter and almost come to grief!  And matters are not all that much better in summer when, the view obscured by tall hedges, one rounds a corner - perhaps at a slightly excessive speed hrrrmph - and comes nose to nose with a combine harvester!  A decent set of tyres seem to be an absolute necessity under this set of conditions and I am most cross that we are setting out with four BUDGET tyres affixed to the wheels! 

One would-be highlight (occurring since yesterday) is that my new washing machine arrived, stacked inside a lorry.  It was just my luck pet, that it turned out to have a large dent in the front and I had to refuse it!  And that wasn't the only problem.  After I opened my front door - just prior to delivery - I discovered that it wasn't possible to shut it again due to the swollen wooden flashing (rain) beneath it.  Well I galloped off to find a hammer and chisel, and then spent quite some minutes shaving wood strips off, in order to lever the door over the obstruction.  And then - when the men turned up - I discovered that I couldn't then re-open the door!  I had to shout out of the first floor window dear, that they would have to batter it down from the outside if they wanted to get in with said washing machine!  I felt quite flushed and panicky over it all, at first thinking that I would have to go to bed with the front door open and then thinking that I was going to be trapped inside the house for the rest of the weekend! 

I hope you are having a better time of it all pet?  Luckily, you are not yourself in possession of a motor vehicle and doubtless your Doc Martin boots have a quite significant grip upon the pavement - whatever the weather conditions which assail us!

Yours

Aunt Agatha