I took a trip yesterday.

I took the car for my first proper drive down to see Herself in her nursing home. I hadn’t actually seen her in many months as we have been apart in various hospitals. It was a surprise visit and I am happy to say she was surprised! She’s happy in the nursing home but is still very anxious to get home. The plan is for me to get my strength back at home before bringing her back. The way things are going, that won’t be too far off.

As this was my first real experience of the new car, Daughter came along as co-pilot. It went very well and the car is excellent.

There’s a lot to get used to such as the ability to entirely ignore lighting in the dark. The car will go full headlights without my intervention. It will dip the lights if it detects an oncoming vehicle and will even adjust the lighting left or right as I enter a bend. Very strange.

If I drift off line on the road it will gently remind me with a vibration on the steering wheel to get back on track.

I experimented with cruise control and that also was weird. It would adjust speed to the one I set but if it caught up with a car in front it would gently fall back to a safe distance and take it’s speed from the leader ahead.

There is no hand brake as such. If I stop, I can pull up a little lever by the gear stick and forget about it. As soon as I hit the accelerator it will automatically release the brake.

I only once nearly crashed. That was simply because the car is so silent and easy to drive that I didn’t realise I was going so fast as I hit a junction. Lesson learned.

Anyhows on the trip, Daughter told me a little story. Last weekend she had come to the Manor with Navanman, Granddaughter the Younger and the latter’s friend. They spent the day demolishing trees and shrubs in the garden and doing massive work. The kids played and it was a great day.

Early in the visit I noticed GDtY’s friend staring at me. It was a long intense stare. She then went over to GDtY for a little confab. Now I am well aware that having no nose is a tad unusual and I’m used to the odd second look and the way children can be fascinated. I was interested in what she had to say. Daughter had noticed this and also was intrigued. She took GDtY to one side and asked what the friend had said about my appearance.

“Ah!” says GDtY. “She wanted to know what happened to my Grandad’s beard”.

Lovely!