Vroom Vroom

 I have long said I would drive my 5 series into the ground and not be too concerned how the body work looked. It has done 125000 miles and seemed good for the same again. Then things took a turn. The air con packed up and needed a new compressor. The boot lid would not respond to the key any more which was indicative of a loom problem and finally the car started losing power under pressure. A best that was an exhaust fault and at worst could be a gasket or interventions failure.

My recent experience with Williams in Liverpool  as documented here, did not fill me with confidence so it has become time to trade in and move on.

I decided to use the used car department of the Chester dealership, Hallowell Jones, and see what they could offer. We had met Mr Jones at St Andrews last year so I felt a bit of empathy there.

As thing worked out there was a vehicle in stock which fitted my requirements at a reasonable price. So it is now sitting on the drive and I am a boy racer!!

It is taking some getting used to. It is the first automatic I have owned and the interior packages have moved on a way since I was in the market eleven years ago.  Front and rear cameras are there to help and I have an app on the phone from which I can lock or unlock the car and track it if it goes missing!

So at least there is something more suitable now sitting in the Captain parking space at the golf club.

There's a clue in the name

 The BBC Sports Personality of the Year has always been a must watch Christmas event in our household. I will admit that as the Beeb have less and less live sport to show it has become a bit less enjoyable than it used to be, but there has usually been a good list of candidates for the big prize. We will just ignore the fact that Ryan Giggs managed to win it one year. That's a bit like Danny Willett winning the Masters!!

There always used to be silly sports challenges which audience members would participate in even if they were not up for the grand prize, but those little off piste diversions seem to have disappeared too.

This year, though, we are in a very strange place. as has become the trend, the six major prize winners have been announced beforehand and I am now doubting whether I really wish to watch it, particularly as Lewis Hamilton, the contestant with the least personality, is favourite to win it. I am not sure though whether Stuart Broad or Ronnie O'Sullivan might run him close in a grey man competition, unless that is, Keir Starmer is in the running.

OK,  Lewis is world champion for the 'n'th time in a minority sport which is boring and monotonous to a large part of the population and, yes, I know golf is probably tarred with the same brush, but if he is best of a bad bunch I really despair.

Tyson Fury must agree with me as he has withdrawn his name from the competition, although whether the BBC have noticed I am not sure.

Joe Wicks read out the nominations, he must have been thinking that he had done more this year to win it than the nominee's themselves. And what about Major Tom, He has scooped up most of the awards this year, walking round the garden must have counted as an endurance event as far as he was concerned? Jordan Henderson  will get the Northern Powerhouse vote, but I would like to see Hollie Doyle win, as she has the profile and  all the current attributes of a 2020 success story, just don't get me onto the 'Lewis Hamilton for a Knighthood' campaign

Neeeoooow!