Christine's walking & birds blog

This morning we picked up the car, and it was nice to know that one of the "advisories" from last year's MOT had been fixed before this year's test in November. I still expect it to fail, but I'll deal with that when the time comes. Then - Greger noticed as he followed me out to Alturlie that my nearside brake light wasn't working. My heart sank. This bulb has failed twice before, many years ago, and I found that it was not easy to replace it. We went back to Ford and bought a new bulb, but the service people couldn't do it there and then; so we drove home - with a stop at Glascarnoch dam for a very short walk. There were a few meadow pipits around and another small flock of birds which, landing briefly on the wall, proved to be redpolls.

The problem I had all those years ago with the brake light was that I found it impossible to remove the casing. The Ford handbook states that "the required tool for this procedure is a Phillips screwdriver". No it isn't. The screws are star-shaped, not cross-shaped, and the "required tool" is a Torx screwdriver - which we didn't have. Now, however, a better-equipped Greger applied himself to what still seemed to be a mammoth task - and eventually we replaced the bulb, and he put it all together again. We tried the brakes - and to our dismay, none of the nearside rear lights came on! It must be the wiring, and we can't do that. 

The car is now booked in again for Tuesday!