Hello there. This week has gone incredibly fast. It's over already. Had a dialectology seminar at 12, and then went to Rosie's for lunch. We took the Panda to Kwik Fit afterwards to get the brakes looked at. They did a 45 minute free braking system check and the results make you want to cry. First of all he said the brakes were unlikely to ever work normally, owing to the lack of any features normally associated with stopping being built into any part of the system. But we knew that all along. The front pads were ok. Hoorah, as the Russians would say. However, both front discs were below the legal limit, and one of the rear brakes was leaking and damaging something or other. So he said he'd put new discs on and whatever it was on the back but this would cost a rather harsh £130 all in. But he could do it there and then and the car would be free for tomorrow (going somewhere for valentine's day). But, he phoned again later on to say that he'd was having trouble with one of the front calipers, which was seized, and no longer fitted back on once the new discs were fitted. "Basically, it's old". Arc de triomphe. We went down to chat about it. I recounted the way they kept seeming to be rubbing, and how a cloud of smoke once poured out from the wheelarch. He thought this was amusing. But at least the problem of the burning rubber seems to have been solved. So it's still there now, with no wheels on. We told him to ignore the exhaust... Dread to think what it'll cost tomorrow. I tried to make it clear we wanted it as cheap as possible. It did give me an idea for a valentine's present though, and the brakes will be fine for the MOT. Amusingly, the guarantee for brake discs at Kwik Fit includes 'wear'. So, presumably, this means they'll keep on replacing the discs for free. I can't see that car ever needing new discs again though. They did that with the exhaust on my mum's old Volkeswagen. She had about 3 new exhausts for free in about 4 years.