IT’S weird waking up in the spare room…and I’m only just coming to when Margaret gets up and dressed to let the carpet guy in.

It only takes him an hour to lay the bedroom carpet and when he’s done I get up and into the shower.

Margaret arranged for the car to go to a garage in Alexandria this morning to see if they can sort the catalytic converter and/or warning light on he dash.

After a quick breakfast I jump in the car and make for the garage. It’s bucketting rain and the garage guys can’t tell me how long they’ll need the car for…but it’s likely to be a couple of hours.

I’m glad of my waterproof jacket and golf umbrella, but they don’t stop the repetitive tidal waves soaking me me as every car goes by while I walk the mile or so to McDonalds for a coffee, Wi-Fi and a sit-down out the rain. I sit there for nearly two hours. Amazing how much work you can get done on just a phone.

No word form the garage so i take a walk – in the rain – to Loch Lomond Shores where I wander about for a while then have a toastie and another coffee. I’ve been investigating paddle boards for a while now but the one I have my eye on is pretty expensive. Until now. I visited the manufacturer’s website to find a pre-Black Friday sale with a whopping 60% discount making the expensive board cheaper than a lot of the crap ones around! I sign up for their mail list and get a further discount and place an order!

I call the garage to find that the catalytic converter warning light has been triggered by a glow plug rather than the catalytic converter! The rain’s off now and I wander back to the garage, pay the 80 quid cost for running the checks (!!!) and head for home.

We spend the rest of the day building up the new bed and sorting the bedroom. What a difference!