Money, Money and More Money.
£360 and counting; that's the bill to repair my car. This includes the following work:
* New front pipe
* New oxygen sensor
* New handbrake cable
* Rear brake shoe dismantle and refit
* Diagnostic check
* Emissions check


Then there's the MOT retest - that will cost £20 if I get it booked in by Friday.


In the past year and a half of me owning this car I have replaced:
* Auxillary (alternator) drive belt
* Fuel pump
* Timing belt
* Front brake assembly
* New exhaust (back box and catalytic converter)

Then there's the expected small things:
* Wheel trims
* Exterior lightbulbs
* 3 litres of Oil

Okay, so the car is 12 years old and only original parts have had to be changed. But WHY do all these things have to reach the end of their lives at the same time?! Still, on the bright side there shouldn't be any big jobs left to do over the next few years!

Enough complaining. I have found more relations on Genes Reunited. Now my number of relations is up to 603, with 92 different surnames. Talking of surnames, below are two maps showing the distribution of my surname in 1881 and 1998 respectively...

I found out last night on TV (Balderdash and Piffle) that the word "set" has over 150 documented contexts and a 85,000 word defintion. You can see the definition for yourself online. Click here to go to the Oxford English Dictionary online and explore for yourself. On tonights TV there is Who Do You Think You Are - a very interesting show delving into the family histories of well known people - one person per show.

In Pluto news, things are going well, here's an image of New Horizon's trajectory leaving the Earth. Latest news can be found here.

Take care everyone.