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Yes, sadly, the holiday has come to an end so no more excuse for unhealthy eating. From tomorrow I must start in earnest undoing the damage of the last 8 or 9 days and getting that cholesterol level down again!

So, we’re back home! And a quick look at the ‘onboard computer’ reveals that since last Monday: we’ve driven 1205 miles in 24.5 hours of driving (amazing, that’s more than a day just driving!), at an average speed of about 49 MPH. But that’s it now, until next time - back to normal life, work and choleserol control!

It’s funny though, because Hilary and I have completely different reactions to the end of a holiday. For her, returning home is exciting and she looks forward to it; for me, it’s depressing, and I try not to think about it until I absolutely have to. I’m not sure what that says about us or about our normal, ‘not-on-holiday’ lives but it is insteresting how she really enjoyes the experience of returning home to familiar things and surroundings whereas, for me, the closer we get to home the heavier hearted I feel. And that feeling was encouraged greatly today by the fact that the nearer to home we got the colder, greyer and wetter it seemed to be! And then, of course, there’s the length of the grass on the Rectory lawn - neglected now for over two weeks. I’m going to have to do something about it I suppose, and that really is depressing.

But we had a good holiday. It turned into a bit of a nostalgia trip for both of us. Kent is where my mother is from, and I spent a lot of my childhood there. So we visited Hildenborough and saw the house in which my grandparents used to live; and Framfield, in East Sussex, and saw the church in which they were married on Christmas Day in 1925 (they were married for 69 years!).
Also, lots of visits to the numerous village pubs that we saw in our travels, a visit to Hever Castle, home of Anne Boelyn and plenty of time just relaxing in the garden in the sun.

And then, on Saturday, we went off to Tring, in Hertfordshire, via Oxford and Cuddesdon where Hilary’s parents used to live, to a gathering of Hilary’s family for a meal on Sunday to celebrate her cousin’s 10th wedding anniversary.

And, in a moment or two of rebelliousness on Sunday morning, we decided not to go to church but to have  lazy morning drinking tea and reading the Sunday papers. It felt good!

Sadly, it’s all a receding memory now! It’s up bright and early tomorrow, and back to work for both of us. I think that might come as somewhat of a shock to the system!

After visiting the doctor last November and discovering that my Cholesterol levels were rather too high (7.00, for those who are interested) I’ve been on a very strict low-fat diet ever since (well, fairly strict). No cheese, no peanut butter, no sausages, no cakes and NO BACON! It’s been hard, but I’ve got used to refusing Scones and biscuits  though resisting chocolate has been a bit harder. But I’ve done pretty well, and last time it was checked, my cholesterol was down to 5.8 - quite a triumph and the doctor seems quite happy though clear that I can’t afford to become complacent.

But, holidays are for relaxing so, for the next week, I can eat what I like! And what better way to start than to break our journey down south with a Little Chef Olympic Breakfast? Sausages, bacon, chips, fried eggs - all the stuff I’m not allowed to eat. It was delicious!

This afternoon I realised that we’ve lived in Dunfermline for nearly eight months and we have yet to wash either of our cars.  We’re not very good at washing cars, I’m afraid - just as we’re not very good at cutting the grass or doing the garden (though young Gavin from Church has said he’ll take over the garden I think!). But that still leaves the car.

Of course, where we lived before in Perthshire it didn’t really matter because it was rural and the roads were covered in mud so everyone’s car was always dirty - and no-one cared anyway! Here it’s different. Now we live in middle class suburbia and it’s expected that we’ll attend to such things. Certainly, nearly everyone else does and now, as the weather’s warming up and the grass cutting season has arrived again, the light evenings and and the weekends are filled with the noise of lawnmowers and hedge-cutters and strimmers and the gutter is full of foam and dirty water as cars are washed and hosed down.

Honestly! You’d think they’d find something more interesting to do!

But, since we’re going on holiday tomorrow and since our car seems to have been a magnet for bird mess over the last few weeks, I decided I should do something about it. And so I did something I’ve never done before. I took the car to the car wash . . .

. . . Well, OK, I’ve been to the car wash lots of times before - but not to one like this. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever even come across this before. But in Dunfermline, they have what I think they call ‘Car Foam Washes’. Basically, you drive into a sort of filling station type forecourt, and sit in your car while someone else washes it for you. Or, in my case, two people.  It was like a sort of conveyor belt. First of all someone rinses, soaps and washes the car, then you get beckoned forward a bit, and some one else rinses it it off and waxes it. It all takes about five minutes and afterwards it was spotless. I was very impressed!

For years I’ve taken my cars to ordinary, unmanned, car washes and been disappointed. This was a welcome change - and also great to see something bucking the trend towards greater mechanisation and less human involvement. In a time when it’s now the accepted norm that if you phone a bank or other big organisation you’ll end up typing numbers into your phone rather than actually speaking to a real human being it was refreshing to see six people at work and to get the personal touch!

I will go again - probably in about 8 months!

When I was growing up in the 1970s I remember watching the first run of The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin with my Dad - and wondering why on earth he found it so funny. He would guffaw all the way through and I just wouldn’t get it!

Several years ago Hilary and I watched all three series on DVD - and I guffawed all the way through (well though the first and most of the second series anyway!). Classic words and expressions, like: ‘Great!’, or ‘Super!’, or ‘I didn’t get where I am today . . .’; the farting chairs . . . the hippopotamic mother in law - all suddenly seemed hilarious! Even Hilary found it vaguely amusing (well, definitely funnier than Father Ted which also makes me guffaw!) And now I’ve just watched a remake starring Martin Clunes - and I guffawed all over again. Some people are saying it’s not as good as the original, and maybe they’re right - but it still made me laugh. See what you think!

Here’s the new version:

 
Fast Tube by Casper

Here’s a scene from the old series:

Fast Tube by Casper

And I just couldn’t resist this one:

Fast Tube by Casper

I originally posted this on the old blog in February, 2007 and, of all my articles, has been the most searched for and most commented on (which probably should tell me something!). So, here it is again for those who need it:

One of the features of our new(ish) car, a Nissan Primera, is that it has an on-board computer which, among other things, gives you a reminder when the car is due for a service.

The service interval is 12,000 miles and, every time a multiple of 12,000 is reached the system gives a reminder . . . and another reminder . . . and another reminder . . . and it gets a little irritating . . . and then very irritating - especially when you know perfectly well that the car had a full service less than 1,000 miles ago, and doesn’t actually need another one for another 11,000 miles.

No problem, I thought, I’ll just reset it!

But no! That’s not possible! In total the computer allows you to set up 4 maintenance reminders (to remind you to check the oil, tyre pressure etc). Three of them are fully configurable by the driver but the fourth, the one which gives a service reminder, isn’t controllable at all.

I looked in the handbook, and it said, ‘Note: the overall Service is set and the Service Key cannot be activated’.

A quick search on the Internet revealed that only a Nissan Garage with the correct specialised equipment could reset the service reminder. Normally this would be done when the car was serviced - assuming it’s serviced by a Nissan dealer. Ours was serviced by a Vauxhall dealer.

So, I resigned myself either to putting up with this irritiating message (and accompanying bleep), or to paying a Nissan dealer to use its special equipment to reset the reminder.

But, as a last resort, I searched again on the Web and, after about 10 minutes, believe it or not, I found what I was looking for!

Special equipment is not necessary and, following the instructions I found, it took me about 30 seconds to reset the reminder. Which, I think, is a real triumph for the little man, over the power of big car dealerships to hold us to ransom over the alleged need for specialised equipment.

Just in case any of you out there drive a Nissan Primera (or, presumably, any other kind of Nissan with the same computer system), this is what I did!

1. Turn on engine
2. Turn off stereo
3. Hold down INFO button
4. Whilst holding down INFO button turn volume 30 clicks or more in either direction
5. You will hear a beep as you enter a new menu containing two options: SELF-DIAGNOSIS and CONFIRM/ADJUSTMENT
6. Use the joystick and select CONFIRM/ADJUSTMENT/li>
7. Click on CONFIRM/ADJUSTMENT by pushing down on joystick
8. Use joystick to navigate to SERVICE and select by pushing down joystick
9. Select RESET and enter - optionally select mileage and adjust service interval
10. When finished push BACK repeatedly to get back to normal display

(Obviously I make no guarantee that this will work and, if you try it, please remember that you do so at your own risk. However, it worked for me!)

Once you get into the SELF-DIAGNOSIS - CONFIRM/ADJUSTMENT menu, there are other things that can be configured - but I’ve no idea how!

Welcome! As you can see, meltedgold.com has been somewhat revamped! We’ve changed to a different hosting service and the site now uses Wordpress MU rather than Textpattern as it did before.

But, I guess, most of you aren’t all that interested in the technicalities. The important thing is that Max is still here - gloating that he has a new site and therefore must be the most superior dog ever.

I’m also determined to blog regularly on my own site! Max thinks this is very funny, but I’ll show him!

And, in a new venture I’ve started page for the Daily Office according to the rite of the Scottish Episcopal Church. This is updated daily - everything in one place and in the right order with no need to carry loads of different books around. It works well on my mobile phone too!

Please bear with me whilst the site is redeveloped. The links on the right (On meltedgold.com) take you to the other blogs.