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Came across this lovely wee Austin Swallow yesterday in Hawes.

Take care Andy and take it easy.

Agree with Tony,thoroughly enjoying these tales and magnificent photos.

Halifax were charging me £1035 per year for building and contents cover I changed to Legal and General for £125!I could have got cover for as little as £85 for the year. It's hellish to find out you've been getting ripped off as a loyal customer after thirty odd years with them. I also found out they're call centre was in the Phillipines! As far as Direct Line are concerned,they tried to double the premium on my car insurance after the second year,so I wasn't long telling them where to go.

Look forward to this taking shape.

Tissues please.

As the owner of a Fiat Panda and three Puntos previously,the city setting on the power steering cuts out around 30 mph. I've always left it on the city setting without any problems. After a week driving my brother in laws Mercedes 320 CLK on holiday my arms now feel like Popeyes! What a joy to get back into my Panda,so responsive and easy to drive.

Lovely job Michael,looks the business.

Some cracking images there.

On the subject of manufacturers fuel figures I find the Panda to be spot on with what the hand book says.And let me assure you I don't hang about! It averages 46 to the gallon around town and my last long journey to York with three in and luggage it made over 60 at a steady 70 mph. The car was bought with 9000 miles on it and now it's at 103000.The car has never been in a garage apart from mot and tyres,it's been serviced by myself and has never seen a computer and it runs like a dream. My mate runs a new E class Mercedes turbo diesel and last week he recorded 68.5 mpg.He reckons the biggest factor is the outside temperature and how quickly it heats up.

Anything I've heard of the small airtwin engines suggests they actually use more fuel as they have to be driven harder.I drive a 1245cc Panda at the moment with the old bombproof FIRE engine in it and it is very economical. For my previous car I thought I would try a Skoda Fabia 1.2 as they are supposed to be ultra reliable.Nothing could be further from the truth. From rollbar bushes at 18000 miles shockers every 30000 miles and wish bone bushes,power steering rack and gearbox at 60000 miles amongst other things. The final straw came at 80000miles when the starter was acting up and nobody could supply one, even the dealers!No one had seen one like it. My biggest concern was fuel consumption,My very best was 50 to the gallon at 50mph on the motorway which is down right dangerous, average was 32 mpg but if I used air conditioning it dropped to 21!! That was a 3 cylinder engine. When I changed back to Fiat the saving in fuel actually paid for the car over three years. My wifes cousin was running a diesel Fabia and he reckoned it was well short of the figures quoted,around a third short if I recall.

My nephew has been quoted £285 for a battery for his diesel BMW 1 series due to stop start feature it has. I asked why he couldn't just turn it off and use a normal battery,but apparently the new battery has to be coded in!

I've never used anything but supermarket fuel for all my cars unless none were available. A few years ago I had the usual blown head gasket on the Punto and taking the head off I was stunned to see how little dirt carbon was on the valves and pistons.The one where the gasket had blown was spotless though! The cross hatching was still visible on the bores from the factory and this was at 135000 miles. I think if you use top quality oil with regular changes you see the benefit,but I've never noticed any difference in the car on the occasions when I've filled up at branded stations.

I've seen crows and magpies leaving holes like that on lawns due to the size of their beaks.

Up here in Glasgow I've heard of Pete Loaf, Status No and Gallus Cooper.

That is very nice indeed George.

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you too David. It's always a pleasure seeing your photos every day. Alistair.

Happy birthday Rod.

You're doing a grand job Simon.I'm enjoying watching it come together.

Steve,you've made a superb job of that.Well done.

The drain pipes look fantastic,a nice tidy job.Well done

Lovely photos Chaz,always a pleasure to see Dock Green.

That's a good idea Chaz,I'm going to use that next time I build one.

You've made a fine job of that Simon. It really looks the business Regards Alistair

All the best to you Rod.