In Summary: * Have just taken my first round of night meds and am settling down, unwinding from the day's work. Wish I could have done more, but satisfied that I've done all I could. Catching up on the day's news now, looking forward to finishing the night prayers, and an early bedtime.

Prayers, etc.: * I have a daily prayer regimen I try to follow throughout the day from early morning, as soon as I roll out of bed, until head hits pillow at night.

Health Metrics: * bw= 214.07 lbs. * bp= 144/88 (69)

Exercise: * morning stretches, balance exercises, kegel pelvic floor exercises, half squats, calf raises, toe raises, wall push-ups, BP breathing exercises, pilates

Diet: * 05:30 – 2 conchas * 06:30 – 1 banana * 09:30 – 1 ham & cheese sandwich * 14:30 – fried chicken * 16:30 – shared a dish of ice cream with Sylvia

Activities, Chores, etc.: * 03:00 – listen to local news talk radio * 04:00 – bank accounts activity monitored * 08:30 – unless otherwise noted, the rest of this day will be spent unpacking and organizing.

Chess: * 10:10 – moved in all pending CC games

Work continues. The younger couple who have been helping us have just dropped off another load from the old house. I hope it's the last load; we're quickly running out of space here at the trailer. Gonna be getting plenty of exercise, running out to the shed behind the trailer and back inside as I continue sorting and organizing.

And the adventure continues.

Today we will be tidying and cleaning, and packing up most of our stuff, so we can be ready to load the van and head back to reality early Saturday morning. Back home. Going from there to here is always much easier, and better. Better than tomorrow when we will be going from a leaf covered path in the woods barely wide enough for the van, with chipmunks darting across it, to a highway with sixteen lanes full of trucks and terrible drivers. It is a bit of a downer thinking about leaving tomorrow, but it truly has been an exceptional getaway. A recharge.

At least when we get back I still have a couple more days off before returning to my stupid job. It is really hard to think about walking away from that terrible job... as much as I hate it. But I do think of leaving, often. Especially when I'm off. This November will be nine years of being employed there. It is the known rut I'm stuck in.

The pay rate was competitive when I first started there, but it has fallen behind other companies that do the same kind of thing. If I'm careful with spending, it is enough to get by. For now anyway. World leaders and the oligarchs they serve seem hellbent on making it impossible for everyone. But for now I can make it work.

Aside from the semi-sufficient pay, I also get four weeks paid vacation, plus pretty okay medical and dental insurance. I've been paying into an investment thing. Going somewhere else to do the exact same job seems rather pointless, stressful, and a roll of the dice. If it did happen, it might seem like an okay decision for a few months, or maybe longer. In the end it would be exactly the same shit I'm mired in now. Just with different people in a different building. Chances are it would be worse, and it would likely seem like a terrible idea right away. There is almost no hope, like one in a million chance, of it turning out to be better. I would no longer have the vacation time, and likely nothing close to the insurance plan I have now, if any at all. That is all assuming that I could even get hired somewhere else at 55.

Something in the news yesterday triggered a memory of words I had typed about a year ago. The memory was vague, so I looked into the archives, and found them fairly quickly. I remember it feeling like exaggeration when I first typed them. But now, a year later...

A tiny handful of the global population has a massive amount of the wealth. There might be a few of those in the top 1% that are not horrible people. Or maybe 'a few' would be too generous. Maybe .001% of the one percent might be not horrible. Not good people, but not horrible people. Or maybe all of them are just horrible. Maybe calling them people is a stretch. That seems to be a more comfortable assessment.

Amassing wealth trying to fill a void that they don't even know they have because they are the void. Born that way. Born into it. Devoid of everything that makes a person a person, and the only way for them to feel anything at all is if the numbers representing their wealth keep going up year after year. To say 'they feel anything' might also be too generous of a thing to say about them.

Priority to them is displaying power and a wealthy image. They fear losing it. Despise everyone not like them. I guess those are feelings too, sort of. Just not the type of feelings that will extend the existence of the human race. The disgusting unbalanced joke of a system might have worked silently without much obvious damage done at some point in history, to some degree, but now it is like a virus killing all but the wealthy in many different ways, and it can all be watched, like watching an explosion in slow motion.

I find myself wondering if capitalism could actually function fairly if it wasn't owned and operated by the worst of the worst of humanity. I don't know. I lack the knowledge to understand the intricacies of world economics. Recently though I have been reading about the idea that no one on earth should have enough wealth to 'be a billionaire'. So I guess in a way that sort of answers the question of whether or not this shit show could function more fairly. That excess wealth that they hoard for no logical fucking reason could instead be wages, could be for dealing with the climate crisis. Could be for feeding, housing, medical and dental care. Education. Science. Useful technology. Guess we, humanity, fucked that up. We could have been something better than what we are.

Food and shelter are basic human rights, they say. Some even say it with a straight face. Yeah right, rights. Right? I suppose in an alien world not governed by sociopathic billionaire morons there might be such a thing as basic rights like food and shelter. If they could find a way to commodify the air we breathe they would, and they absolutely would not hesitate to take it away. Just like with food and shelter.

When my parents were starting their life together they had three tiny kids, a 4 bedroom house, and a car. My father was the only one working. He worked in a factory. I wouldn't say we were well off, or had nice things really, but we were never ever hungry or lacking necessities. That scenario could never happen now. I left the grocery store the other day with one bag of groceries that cost $90. That used to buy a cart full, and not just 1 bag. So much that I couldn't carry it all in from the car in one trip. Inflation is broken. Cost of everything has been on a steep incline. Wages that are supposed to keep up with the cost of living haven't changed enough to keep up.

Someone important to the regime south of the border got shot in the neck. The world nearly instantly got to see blood spew from the wound thanks to social media. It wasn't too long before they had the shooter in custody. I'm sure by now he must wish he had turned the gun on himself after shooting the guy in the neck. Last I heard he wasn't cooperating with giving the interrogators his motive. It is entirely possible that he simply does not have a motive beyond a shallow desire for fame. Maybe ChatGPT told him it was an excellent idea.

I picture him being mentally and physically tortured until he ends up saying things that he deep down doesn't care about at all, just to get them off his back. The highest bidder will decide what words the torturers make him say. Something that will send the right kind of ripples through the pond of public opinion.

The regime will fast track his execution and make it public. Turn it into a spectacle. They won't follow rules even if they know them. Firing squad will use the same type of gun and ammo that the shooter used (maybe even the same gun?). They will shoot him in the neck. No one will gasp in horror, or turn away. It will be met with a non-reaction, a profound silence that no one expected. No possible reaction seemed like the right one. Like everyone was waiting for someone else to react so they could mimic it.

The drooling senile cult leader will be there, asleep and dreaming of his gold toilet. He will shit himself, and then wake up when the shots are fired. A flunky will help him stand, then he will wobble and lurch up to the podium wishing he had the walker, and could still be wearing his dead mother's bathrobe like he does in private. He will slur out his usual fucking nonsense that no one understands. Not even him. When he appears to be finished rambling, everyone will vigorously nod their heads as though in agreement with something, while frantically applauding. They don't even know why they are applauding, but they are thankful for being able to finally make some noise after the silence.

The body of the executed will be laying on the ground face down in a puddle of blood, legs bent weird, hands tied behind his back. No one in the newly birthed Fox and Friends Public Executions Team planned on having the corpse removed.

Nothing messes up your writing energy more than physical and mental stress. A change in schedule can do that. It was another reason why I didn’t post as much back in September.

Usually, I can handle changes. Being in the Air Force and working as a private investigator does that. But it is different as a stay-at-home dad.

From early morning to bedtime it’s a constant go, go, go. Writing is a struggle and the brief times I can write I often want to relieve myself in the bathroom or take a nap. But I have to keep on writing.

So what are some things I do to keep writing even when I don’t feel like it?

First, I always keep my notepad on me at all times with my pencil inside the pages. Whether I have the urge to write or not, my notepad is ready for me. Second, I always maintain my “one sentence a day minimum” rule. One sentence is better than no writing at all. Finally, realize that you’ll have your good and bad days. Either way take care of yourself. Rest, eat well, exercise, decompress.

Be well and write!

#writing #exhaustion #health #stress #wellness

Lydia's Weekly Lifestyle blog is for today's African girl, so no subject is taboo. My purpose is to share things that may interest today's African girl.

This week's contributors: Lydia, Pépé Pépinière, Titi. This week's subjects: Paris Fashion Week 2026, Naomi Campbell's tall trees catch a lot of wind, Diet drinks work as well as water for weight loss, major trial finds, and A glass of wine? No thank you.

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Paris Fashion Week 2026: Paris Was Doing the Most. Paris Fashion Week arrived with one simple message: please leave the ordinary at home. From September 28th to October 6th, the French capital turned into one giant runway, with Spring/Summer 2027 collections bringing drama, tailoring, fantasy and plenty of “Wait… where did she get that?” street style. The runways were serving fashion with a French accent—sharp tailoring, beautiful silhouettes, unexpected proportions and enough attitude to make even a coffee run look editorial. And then there was the street style. Parisian fashion girls stepped out looking effortlessly expensive, while editors, models and influencers turned sidewalks into their own personal catwalks. The real skill? Looking like you just threw something on when you clearly spent an hour making it look that way. For the Accra fashion girl, Paris offered plenty of inspiration. Think relaxed tailoring that can survive the Accra heat, oversized sunglasses for maximum main-character energy, statement bags, elegant neutrals and shoes that say “I have a meeting at 10 and cocktails at 7.” Of course, Ghanaian fashion girls already know the assignment: confidence first, outfit second. Whether it is a perfectly fitted kaba-inspired silhouette, bold African print, sleek trousers or a killer accessory, the Accra woman has never needed Paris to tell her how to make an entrance. Paris may have the Eiffel Tower, but Accra has Oxford Street, Cantonments and a fashion girl who refuses to overdress—because there is no such thing.

Paris Fashion Week 2026 proved once again: fashion is not just what happens on the runway. Sometimes, the real show starts when you step outside. Naomi Campbell's tall trees catch a lot of wind. Supermodel Naomi Campbell has managed to overturn a five-year ban on serving as a charity trustee that she said had “hurt deeply”. Two years ago, the Charity Commission, which regulates charities in England and Wales, found “multiple instances of misconduct and/or mismanagement” at the charity including using charity funds to pay for Campbell’s stay at a five-star hotel in Cannes, as well as spa treatments, room service and cigarettes. As a result, it imposed the ban on Campbell. In its current ruling, the tribunal confirmed there had been “serious misconduct and mismanagement,” but that the “failures in the management of the charity’s finances and the misuse of its funds” resulted from the conduct of the founder of the charity Bianka Hellmich, not from Naomi. These misconducts were “concealed” from the supermodel. Anyway, Campbell is not very good at choosing her acquaintances. She knew Epstein, of the famous Epstein files. Epstein was very good at getting business favours from rich business men by making under age girls available to them. The Epstein files mentioned Trump and he has been busy trying to keep things covered. Trump was in Moscow in 2013 for the Miss Universe Pageant, when Campbell lived there with a Russian business mogul. Campbell knew Trump. And Campbell knew Nina Keita, niece of Ivory Coast's president, who introduced Epstein to young women and local business leaders in Ivory Coast. It’s who you know, isn't it?

Diet drinks work as well as water for weight loss, major trial finds. A two-year clinical trial involving 493 adults with overweight or obesity found that diet soft drinks were essentially as effective as water for long-term weight loss and weight maintenance. Participants drinking beverages sweetened with aspartame, acesulfame-K, or sucralose lost a similar amount of weight to those drinking water, while both groups also saw improvements in waist size, body composition, and several metabolic measures. Professor Jo Harrold, Dean of Psychology at the University of Liverpool, led the peer-reviewed research with Professor Jason Halford, Professor of Biological Psychology & Health Behaviours at the University of Leeds.

A glass of wine? No thank you. In M.A.G nr. 46, 5th May 2023, I mentioned that most wines in Ghana have a lot of added sulfur in them, (Europe allows till 250 mg/ltr for white and rose, and 150 mg for reds) to avoid that wine starts to referment, which could even result in the cork popping out, like with Champagne, Prosecco and other sparkling wines. On the bottle it is mentioned: added sulfurs. Adding the sulfur stops any effort by the wine to start a 2nd life. Unfortunately this often leads to headache if you drink too much of it, that sort of nail in your head the next day. Call it a Chateau Migraine. But there is also urticaire (another word for hives is the itchy, raised red or skin-coloured bumps and welts on the skin). Recognize this? And on top of that there are all the other chemicals added to give the wine a constant taste; you didn't want to get something else than what you drank last time. And there are the left overs of pesticides, and for example South Africa is known to import pesticides that are forbidden in any other country, so much so that workers in the wine yards and fruit orchards sometimes go on strike because they don't want to be poisoned. And I dare to bet that our FDA does not check for these things. Cheers.

Lydia...

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Feelgood-böcker har under de senaste decennierna utvecklats till en av de mest populära genrerna inom skönlitteraturen. Med sina varma berättelser, färgstarka karaktärer och ofta hoppfulla slut erbjuder feelgood böcker en stunds avkoppling från vardagens krav. Men bakom de lättsamma omslagen finns en genre med långa litterära traditioner, som ständigt förändras i takt med samhället och läsarnas förväntningar.

Feelgood böckernas rötter kan spåras till äldre tiders romantiska romaner och vardagsskildringar, där relationer, personlig utveckling och människors livsöden stod i centrum. Redan under 1800-talet skrev författare som Jane Austen berättelser där kärlek, sociala förväntningar och individuella drömmar vävdes samman. Även om dessa romaner inte kallades feelgood på sin tid innehöll de flera av de berättargrepp som senare skulle bli kännetecknande för genren.

Under 1900-talet fortsatte litteraturen om kärlek, vänskap och familjerelationer att utvecklas. Författare som Rosamunde Pilcher och Maeve Binchy blev uppskattade för sina levande miljöbeskrivningar och skildringar av mänskliga relationer. Deras romaner förenade vardagliga konflikter med värme, humor och hopp, vilket bidrog till att lägga grunden för den moderna feelgood-litteraturen.

Ett betydelsefullt steg i genrens utveckling kom under 1990-talet, då den så kallade chick lit-litteraturen fick sitt stora genombrott. Helen Fieldings roman Bridget Jones dagbok, som gavs ut 1996, blev en internationell framgång och bidrog till att forma en ny typ av underhållningsroman. Här stod en modern kvinna i centrum, med karriärproblem, kärleksbekymmer och en ständig kamp för att få vardagen att gå ihop. Humorn och huvudpersonens mänskliga brister gjorde berättelsen lätt att känna igen sig i. Författare som Marian Keyes och Sophie Kinsella fortsatte att utveckla denna berättartradition och nådde en stor internationell publik.

Under 2000-talet började feelgood-litteraturen utvecklas till en bredare genre. Berättelserna behövde inte längre enbart kretsa kring romantiska relationer eller unga kvinnors vardagsliv. I stället fick teman som vänskap, familj, sorg, nystarter och personlig utveckling allt större utrymme. Små bokhandlar, kaféer, pensionat och pittoreska byar blev populära miljöer, inte minst genom författare som Jenny Colgan. Dessa platser fungerade ofta som en trygg bakgrund där huvudpersonerna kunde börja om och upptäcka nya möjligheter i livet.

I Sverige har feelgood-litteraturen vuxit kraftigt, särskilt under 2010-talet. Svenska författare har utvecklat genren genom att kombinera internationella influenser med miljöer och livssituationer som svenska läsare känner igen. Katarina Mazettis Grabben i graven bredvid, som utkom 1998, är ett tidigt exempel på en svensk relationsroman med den humor och värme som förknippas med feelgood. Senare har bland andra Emma Hamberg, Frida Skybäck och Camilla Davidsson bidragit till genrens popularitet med berättelser om kärlek, vänskap och människor som vågar förändra sina liv.

En viktig förklaring till feelgood-litteraturens framgång är dess förmåga att erbjuda både verklighetsflykt och igenkänning. Läsaren får möta människor som ställs inför svårigheter, men berättelserna präglas vanligtvis av en grundläggande optimism. Till skillnad från många andra litterära genrer ligger tyngdpunkten inte på mörker eller hopplöshet, utan på möjligheten att hitta lösningar, skapa nya relationer och gå vidare efter motgångar. Det betyder dock inte att feelgoodromaner saknar allvar. Tvärtom har moderna feelgoodförfattare blivit alltmer benägna att skildra ämnen som psykisk ohälsa, ensamhet, skilsmässor och förlust.

Under senare år har genren fortsatt att breddas. Traditionella kärlekshistorier samsas med berättelser om vänskap över generationsgränser, människor som lämnar storstaden för ett lugnare liv och huvudpersoner som försöker hitta sin plats i tillvaron. Även frågor om identitet, jämställdhet och livsval har blivit vanligare. Samtidigt har gränserna mellan feelgood och närliggande genrer som romance, historiska romaner och mysdeckare blivit alltmer flytande.

Digitaliseringen har också haft betydelse för feelgoodlitteraturens utveckling. Ljudböcker och strömningstjänster har gjort det möjligt att ta lyssna på feelgood böcker och roliga ljudböcker under promenader, bilresor och vardagssysslor. Sociala medier och digitala bokgemenskaper har dessutom skapat nya möjligheter för läsare att upptäcka författare, dela läsupplevelser och rekommendera favoritböcker. Genren har därmed fått en synlighet som sträcker sig långt utanför de traditionella bokhandlarna.

Feelgood-romanens utveckling visar hur en litterär tradition kan förnya sig utan att förlora sin grundläggande identitet. Från äldre tiders romantiska berättelser till dagens mångfacetterade romaner har behovet av hopp, gemenskap och igenkänning varit en återkommande drivkraft. Även om miljöerna, huvudpersonerna och samhällsfrågorna förändras finns en central tanke kvar: att litteraturen kan ge läsaren en känsla av värme och framtidstro.

I en värld som ofta präglas av osäkerhet och snabba förändringar fortsätter feelgood-boken att fylla en viktig funktion. Den erbjuder inte bara underhållning, utan också berättelser om människans förmåga att förändras, hitta gemenskap och skapa nya möjligheter. Kanske är det just denna kombination av verklighetsförankring och optimism som gör att feelgoodlitteraturen fortsätter att locka nya generationer av läsare.

9 September 2026

Phenomena at Yena's grandmother's house: a sort of misty aura spiraling around the light outside her grandmother's old room, deep organ sounds in the middle of the night coming from the same room (I thought of deep navy blues and royal velvet purples), six magpies fighting for persimmons from the tree outside Yena's bedroom window, intermittent construction sounds throughout the day in the distance (as Yena observed, they're only destruction sounds, not building), in the evenings—a father and a toddler winding down with a book while their cat does the same on its tree, nice end-of-cycle chimes from both the laundry machine and the microwave, spiral-shaped incense that makes mosquitos spiral in panic, when in bed at night—a ray from that same light outside Yena's grandmother's room shooting into the bedroom where we sleep (in an outwardly-expanding ring pattern, like the light bulb is blowing luminous yellow smoke rings).

The HMICFRS PEEL 2025-27 inspection report into Gloucestershire Constabulary landed recently, and frankly it makes for grim reading. I sit on the Police and Crime Panel, so I've been through it properly, and it raises serious questions about how our county is policed and who should be held to account.

What the Inspectors Found

The report grades the force's leadership and management, and its investigation of crime, as inadequate. Most other areas, including safeguarding, responding to the public, and neighbourhood policing, require improvement. Only one area has improved since the last inspection. Several have got worse.

Two formal causes of concern stand out.

On leadership and management: the force's operating model is hamstrung by financial constraints and poor IT. A £10.5 million request to the Minister of State for Policing for essential funding was refused outright. The force is raiding reserves to balance the books. Meanwhile morale is rock bottom, with only around a third of staff surveyed saying they'd recommend the constabulary as a place to work, and many unable to take the leave they're owed.

On investigating crime: serious criminal investigations have been handed to officers who simply haven't had the training. As of April 2026, just 13 of 68 constables in the criminal investigation department held the accredited qualification for investigating serious crime. Open crime files rose from around 7,900 to 9,600 in a year. Fewer victims see their case end in a charge than in comparable forces.

There are bright spots. Stop and search has improved dramatically, with 98.4 percent of searches showing reasonable grounds. Emergency call answering has got better too. And on one point, the report confirms what I and others have been banging on about for ages: Black people were five times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people. But the overall picture is of a force that's under-resourced, overstretched, and struggling to deliver the basics for victims.

My Position on the Panel

I want to be constructive here. This isn't about kicking a force when it's down. It's about making sure the people of Gloucestershire get the police service they pay for and deserve.

Name the funding failure. The report is explicit that the constabulary faces extremely challenging financial circumstances, and that a direct request to government for investment in IT and infrastructure was refused. When the Panel scrutinises police performance, we must also scrutinise the government decisions that got us here. I'll be pressing for the Panel to put the funding context formally on record, and the PCC should be challenging ministers publicly with the evidence in this report.

Evidence, not assurances. HMICFRS has given the force six months to act on its recommendations. I want the Panel to get measurable progress reports against each one, with actual numbers: accredited investigators, open cases, neighbourhood officer abstraction. The reassurances we've had in the past were not enough.

Protect neighbourhood policing. Neighbourhood officers keep getting pulled away from their communities to plug gaps elsewhere, sometimes weekly. The report links this directly to weaker prevention and problem-solving. I want the force's own target of 85% of neighbourhood time spent on visible, community-focused work reported to the Panel every quarter, with someone senior, like the PCC, actually owning it.

Fairness and data integrity. Black people were five times more likely to be stopped and searched, and almost seven times more likely to have force used against them, compared with white people. Inspectors also found officers often don't ask people to self-define their ethnicity, meaning the force's own analysis may rest on inaccurate data. The inspectors were told that the external scrutiny panel does valuable work, though I've yet to see much evidence of that in what the Panel is shown about the Legitimacy Panel's activity. Scrutiny is only as good as the data behind it, as I raised at the last Panel meeting.

The Bigger Picture

I acknowledge, as the Chief Inspector did, that officers and staff are working under enormous strain. Most joined to serve their communities and are being let down by the conditions they work in. But sympathy isn't a substitute for standards. Victims of crime in Gloucestershire, particularly vulnerable victims, deserve better than unresolved cases and untrained investigators.

And as a Green, I'd add this:

The report shows exactly what happens when public services are hollowed out year after year. A police force that can't invest in its people, its systems or its communities can't keep people safe. The answer is proper resourcing rooted in prevention.

I'll be raising these issues at the Police and Crime Panel with what little agenda space we get to ask and I'll report back here.

Cllr Gareth Kitchen, Stroud District Council and Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel

Harney County, Oregon

JOURNAL 9 octobre 2026

Je termine ma pause. On s'est fait du thé avec yôko et izumi On a essayé la nouvelle machine, mais il est moins bon que celui qu'on fait nous même. J'entends à côté la voix de hayame. J'aime bien cette fille elle est d'un seul arbre, sortie sans retouche. On peut compter sur elle elle se trouble jamais. Bien plus mature que moi et mon caractère explosif… Me calmerais-je un jour ? J'admire son humeur égale

Tom est venu avec un bouquet de fleurs blanches. Il est extrêmement gentil, mais vraiment pas doué, encore très lourd. Arriverai-je à faire une gazelle de cet hippopotame ? Honnêtement j'en doute. Je vais redescendre. Encore une heure minimum avant la douche.

#dojo

Taste torment in trickles draining teardrops' salty repair. A cadaver's mercy... The flintlock fluidly conducting despair. Crawl through the ashes. Crawl, scrape, and glean. Crawl and spin madness. Crawl for your queen.

© 2026 AnOublietteofThought. All rights reserved. ———

This morning's musical influence.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=QVp0ZDBvmsY&is=97xUl49w5QdI_fkg

Our family car has been having problems for a little while. It used to be a robust little machine that we would use to travel with our son to appointments, or to drive back to my parents in Netherlands every once in a while. Recently, it has been having constant issues with both the battery and the engine. I did not own a car before, since with the Berlin public transport system it is generally not really needed. This also meant that this was the first time I was trying to get a car repair done here in Berlin.

I don't like calling places, and I definitely don't like calling places in German. It is not that I don't speak German on a good enough level, but still some confidence here is lacking to easily pick up the phone and make calls. So, I did try to find an alternative and see if there are any online places where I can book a car repair. It turns out there are, but a very select few with mostly bigger branches.

No need to name and shame here which one I did make an appointment with in the end, but I did eventually make an online appointment after some searching. My first appointment was a simple “what is this error code that is showing up on my dashboard” appointment. They read it out, said the battery was probably done, and that was it. Oh, you want to replace the battery? New appointment needed. I went online to check for a new appointment, and the first available one is only in 3 weeks. Great.

I probably should have taken that as a hint and find another garage, and god forbid even call one. However, I did book the new appointment in 3 weeks time to replace the battery, and showed up for it. Same procedure of dropping off the car, keys and hoping for the best. They did change the battery, which was in a bad state, and simply mentioned “Ah by the way that yellow engine light is still on”. I asked if the new battery could have fixed it, and he said “No”. “Well, I have a long drive coming up soon, what should I do?”, I asked. He responded “Ah well, you can book a new appointment online and we can take a look at it”.

When I book an appointment to fix a car, is it really asking too much for “fix the car” to include the obvious thing still broken in it? I'd expect a hands-on attitude: “Ah, this looks wrong, should we look into that?” Or at least call me first if it costs extra. Returning a still-broken car is a weird concept to me.

So what did I do in the end? Picked up the phone and called a nearby small garage with good reviews. Appointment on Monday, fingers crossed...