MY FIRST CAR

 9-2-91 Originally uploaded by PhylB

Here I am back in 1991 with my first car. It was about the size of a dustbin and about as reliable. My uni mates and I affectionately named it Chuggy because that's how it sounded and how it drove on a good day... on a bad day it just didn't start at all. Given it was pre-mobile phone days, I guess I should be grateful it almost always broke down beside a call box (generally the one in Thornliebank main street - I still know the local garage owner today!) So why am I on about Chuggy? Well, last week Thomas bought a new lawn mower - a heavy one spark plug chuggy thing that works on petrol. It reminded me a lot of Chuggy - a bit smelly, a bit smokey, a bit noisy and rattly. It had the same choke mechanism too. It just took me back 20 years. Today of course I realized that it was even more like Chuggy than I expected. Thomas tried to start the bloody thing on and off all day and it was as dead as a dodo. So Thomas's choice of lawnmower has catapulted us back 20 years. Anyone know how to fix a useless, if expensive, lawnmower?