Legs and wheels

We enjoyed a sumptious afternoon tea on Wednesday, a birthday present from Martyn's sister.  I can't remember eating so much sweet stuff, and regretted it a bit afterwards, but it was a big treat at the time!  Patisserie Valérie, Disgustedville.  We drove thither in the new machine, of which more anon.

We drove it a little further yesterday, to Benenden Hospital for a chat with Mr Sawbones.  Interesting to be shown pictures of the inside of one's knee.  Cutting a long story short, there's a good bit of cartilage left, which he has tidied up, so I'm evidently not in knee replacement territory meanwhile, he says.  Hope he's right, because things ain't that great right now.

Anyway, the car.  It was a surprise to find that the colour was nowhere close to the colour I'd picked from the brochure: several shades darker, in fact.  Still, it's by no means a bad colour, and we'll get used to it.  In fact it is quite close to the colour of the Altea (which model it replaces in the SEAT range, incidentally).  It is built alongside certain Skoda models at Kvasiny in the East of the Czech Republic, near the Polish border.  So it's a Spanish Volkswagen, built to the East of the Iron Curtain.  Who'da thunk it?

It rides smoothly and quietly and handles well, with less roll - and a noticeably tighter turning circle - than the old car.  As for performance, I've yet really to test it.  It has a number of different engine management settings, and so far I've left it on the eco setting.  There is a point on the dial with a chequered flag symbol on it, for those who like to subsidise the oil companies, no doubt.  I'm less sure about the stop-and-start function, but read in the manual that you can stop it cutting out in traffic queues by keeping light pressure on the brake pedal.  It has its own built-in navigation set-up, which we've also yet to test.  Cars are easier to operate these days, but they come with so many gizmos that you'd need a Master's to understand them all.