oldbloke's mutterings

When I had the motor MOT'd, they mentioned the left front would need replacing soon. I could see it was a bit worn on the outside shoulder.
There was an offer at CostCo but I left it to near the end of that and the queues were silly so I missed it. And I kept thinking "I'll sort it out when I do [x]". And it just kept looking a bit worn on the shoulder, the main tread looked OK.

When we went to Oulton yesterday, I happened to park up with the wheels turned. After a while I happened to look at the left front.

The inside shoulder was much more badly worn than the outside. Much much more. CAPS BOLD LARGEFONT worn. Flashing, with underline. I looked closer. At one point I could see the canvas... (are they still made with canvas? - whatever's under the rubber anyway)

I'd been doing 70 twice a day on that. A chill went down my spine.

Later we moved the car a few feet so that the jack point was over a fortuitous bit of stone - we were parked on a grassy knoll - and I put the spare on. So now I have 3 count them 3 different brands of tyre on the thing, and the two that match aren't on the same axle. I really really need to get this sorted out properly!

For only a little more than a set of 4 half-decent tyres, I could get alloys+tyres... Why exactly are alloys better, people?

What's the lap length of the M60?
Close one side, put LMP class cars on it...
[Le Mans Prototype, for the uninitiated; 24hrs round the M60, could be a hoot]

Well done Lewis! Nailed it in qualifying, sorted the start, no mistakes. So many places it could have gone wrong, with all the shenanigans behind him and all the Safety Car periods. And to think that elsewhere I tipped Ferrari for this one...

Jack has occasionally complained that his feet hurt, recently. And he's had other symptoms of a growth spurt. And, indeed, seems to be taller.
So today we went to JL in Cheadle to get his feet measured and to try to buy him some sandals.
While we waited for the measurer, he chose some. He's a 6.5, maybe a 7 in some shoes, depending who makes them. They didn't have the ones he'd picked in that size. He didn't like anything else. He was quite categorical about that. We got some anyway - he has to have some shoes that fit! We weren't looking forward to the tantrums when we made him wear them though.
There's another JL in the Trafford Centre. It opens an hour later than the Cheadle one and doesn't have a knitting section, which is why we hadn't gone to it - it's closer to us. But as we had to pass it on the way home...
THEY HAD THE RIGHT SHOES IN THE RIGHT SIZE.
AND they were 8 quid cheaper!
And we got to look at the fountain that shoots water 4 storeys high. Again.
He claimed he didn't like the shoes when we first got them, even though, less than an hour earlier, they'd been the only ones he'd wanted. But 10 minutes later he said he liked them. Phew.