In reflective mood

While I was toiling away on Mr A's accounts this weekend (for 8 hours!) he was outside fiddling with the car seat. And now it's fixed, for the price of one circlip, rather than £259 for a new seat base + £90 labour + VAT. If it's permanently fixed and will pass muster for the purposes of the MOT, I'm not sure how to feel about the garages that wanted to charge me £350 or the main dealer who agreed with them. My regular garage has always been very pleasant to deal with, and the other garage helped out when the window broke in the summer, but neither was able to diagnose and replace a missing circlip.

Term is coming to an end, and holidays approach, full of revision. I've finished three lots of coursework over the weekend, and the fish presentation is today, and then it's all over until the first exam in January. It's been as interesting as I'd hoped, I've met some lovely people, and learned so much science that I can't believe I ever thought that I was interested in engineering. I was talking to Mr A about that at the weekend - while he was doing his degree in Textiles and Fashion, he was spending all his spare time with cars, and now he's running a business designing websites. I wonder where we'd both be if we'd actually chosen a more appropriate path the first time round.

We were actually discussing this over a pint in the pub next door. We rarely go there any more, preferring to walk up the hill to the Star and Garter, which is much more welcoming. The Cricketers has changed since the new owners took over about two years ago (or was it three?) They introduced a jukebox and a large screen for sports, let the decoration deteriorate, and didn't keep the beer very well. Recently there were times when none of the real ales was available, and then they took one of the three pumps out altogether. The pub is now closed in the afternoons, and at 7pm on Sunday as well. There's never anyone inside when we walk past, and recently (when we were the only customers), the bar staff were having a row. We hardly ever see Fraser the landlord, and there are different bar staff there all the time, although occasionally Nobby and Sue are around. Whether it's the smoking ban or just that a sports bar isn't what's needed round here, it just doesn't look like they can be making any money. Perhaps having the bowlers over the summer means they don't need to try so hard in the winter? Whatever the cause, it's worrying to have a business looking so fragile, especially in the building next door.