The fault with my hi-fi system (June 22) turned out to be with the speakers. The woofers had packed up. They have been replaced and music now sounds as it should. I took the car to collect them from the shop because together they weigh 11kg.

The shop is on a narrow one-way street; I parked near it on a wider section so not to obstruct traffic. Further down the road was a large delivery van blocking the road. When I came out with the speakers the van had moved onto the pavement so less of it was in the road, but the driver of an SUV had parked sideways in a layby so the vehicle jutted out into the road. I was not prepared to try to squeeze past. The van and SUV were likely to go before long so I remained parked. Prudence was patience.

Two cars did manage to squeeze through the gaps though both had to scrape their tyres on the kerbs, mount the pavement on both sides of the road and avoid a bollard. Along came a white Transit van which, to my surprise, also tried to squeeze through. The bollard got the better of it and it had to reverse.

After a few minutes the delivery van and SUV moved off, the road was clear and I set off hastily before any more vehicles could block the road.

Thought for today
Going to church no more makes you a Christian then sleeping in your garage makes you a car.
Garrison Keillor (1942 - ) American broadcaster