In 1974 we had a Vauxhall Viva as an office car: smelly plastic upholstery, three gears with the lever on the steering column.  It once had a punctured tyre when I was on my way to a meeting in a suit.  I managed to change the wheel and arrive in time, with only slightly grubby hands.

When my Ford Fiesta hit a huge pothole a few weeks ago and the tyre blew out, I didn't hesitate to call the AA. I couldn't face working out how the curious jack worked and where to place it under the low-slung chassis. Despite my being out in the sticks, the AA was with me within an hour and my spacesaver fitted within another ten minutes.

I thought it odd that the print outs that the salesman gave me included an acknowledgment of an application for vehicle tax starting on June 1. That was quick work, I thought, as it gave a registration number. Which I've just Googled: it relates to a completely different car that sold recently. Sigh.

Thanks, but the site's quoted price was £95 more than what I'm paying the dealer, who's also supplying £500 worth of  mats, extended warranty and a spacesaver wheel. I've an idea that the standard colour is black, and I'm also paying  £581 extra for red.

At least checking the website has reassured me that I'm (probably) paying a good price.  At first the dealer quote me £2-300 more, allowing, I suspect, some wiggle room and allowing me to think I'm a good haggler (which I'm not).

I've threads on two other forums about this, and on one someone has replied "Luton has always been a van plant, not car - it started off as a Bedford truck factory. The only cars ever assembled there were Frontera 4x4s from 1992 to 2004, but it closed completely two months ago. Stellantis' only UK^▸ (United Kingdom) assembly plant is Ellesmere Port - and that stopped assembling Corsas in 2020 and Astras in 2022. It now assembles electric Berlingo/Partner/Doblo/Combo small vans and their car equivalents."

Thanks. With my low mileage the protection plans offer poorer value than they might for other drivers.

An irony is that I've never been too keen on cars and could almost cope without one. I do about 400 miles a year on necessary chores, such as the weekly Big Shop (though I've successfully used Home Delivery several times). In fact I've only motored 10,100 miles in 45 months (it would have been a bit more but for ill-health), and much of that was to get out into the country for walks - which I could do by public transport as I live conveniently close to a railway station serving five different routes.

Another curiosity of the quotation, noticed only when I got home, was a £750 delivery fee. The salesman, in his third week in the job, seemed to think that car, a Vauxhall Corsa, would be made at Luton, 56 miles away; in fact production is in Zaragoza, Spain.

I did some token havering, on the lines of "thinking about it over the weekend", but succumbed to the sales talk about the need to get my order in for an August delivery. Previously I had done some on-line comparisons and reckon that the deal I signed up to wasn't too bad - with the convenience factor of having the dealer less than three miles away.  And no doubt those website prices would be lower than any final quotations.

Oops, I omitted the last part of the cutesy letter and my comment, and I can't modify my original post. It should have continued:

... ) and the things you will need to do.

If you have any questions, just call; they are a friendly bunch.

Missing you already!

Your New Car"

Yuk? I do hope that the car won't be too upset because I opted out of £800+ of bodywork & interior protection and chip repair insurance. In a moment of weakness I agreed to pay £332 for an extended warranty, but may cancel that. The  dealer's trade-in offer for my car was disappointing at £8000; the day before another dealer with whom I'd discussed another car offered £8,500. Webuyanycar offered £9,200, increased a day later to £9,410, though they're unaware of a couple of bodywork blemishes that the dealers know about. The Road Fund was a bit of a shock -I gather there there's a hefty premium for the first year. And I wasn't amused by the fact that it runs from June 1. Delivery is estimated for early August (four weeks before the MoT, Road Fund renewal and service for my existing car fall due).

This morning I ordered a new car and on my return home found several emails from the dealer including this:

"I'm so excited. When I heard you'd placed an order for me my heart jumped a beat; we're going to have such fun together.

Before we can start our adventure, the lovely people at [dealer] will do lots of things and they've asked me to explain. You will see a timeline above of next steps and in the box below they have detailed what they will do to get me ready (looking forward for that bit

An Ukrainian friend long resident in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) recently returned home for ten days to meet her brother (a paramilitary firefighter) and a friend. She flew from Stansted to Rzeszow in Eastern Poland  and took a bus to Przemysl on the border with Ukraine and then an overnight train  to Kyiv, some 300 miles away, in a four-berth sleeper compartment that was not very comfortable. This enabled her to “sleep in” when the train arrived at 0215, rather than de-training and being on her own with luggage at that time of the morning.

Life in the capital city seemed almost normal, though sirens sounded a number of times and she spotted a couple of missiles.

On the return train journey, there was an oppressive checking of passports by aggressive officials. She was travelling on her British passport, which an official looked at with a sneer, asking “What’s this?”  It may not have helped that she primarily speaks Russian – as do around 12-15% of Ukrainians, with another 20-30% using both Russian and Ukrainian. Historically, Russian was more widely spoken, but the war has led to a shift towards Ukrainian.

The officials took away all the passengers’ passports but returned them before the train crossed into Poland.

Though she's been to Ukraine at least once since the invasion, to "rescue" her mother, without problems with her phone she had trouble getting it to work this time, not only when contacting people back in England, but when trying to communicate with the taxi driver who'd called to collect her from her hotel. She had to buy a new SIM card with a new number.

There's an article in today's Sunday Times "Home" supplement, "Just the ticket or a curse for locals", quoting the promoter as saying they're now targeting high-net-worth individuals and rail industry bodies, promising high returns and economic prosperity". The reporter observes that "the line between Frome, Bruton and Castle Cary could become one of the poshest commuter routes in England". The plan is to buy 50-year-old rolling stock.

I incline towards pessimism about the viability of the proposal. I'm reminded of the bid, what, 20 years ago, by an individual to run a couple of extra trains (using "old" carriages) a day from Pewsey into Paddington and a couple more on return journeys. One cynical observation was that during delays the existing operator might give route preferences to its own trains.

SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) comes under public ownership on Sunday at 0159. The next service would normally be the 0227 from Guildford to Waterloo, but that has been cancelled.

BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

Thanks, Grahame, I was aware of two of the articles, but the Kent Rail article on Dinton provided an excellent history of the military lines.

On Sunday I visited the Chilmark and Fovant area, my main reason being to "check out" the RAF^▸ (Royal Air Force) base at the former. There's lots of buildings to be seen from the country road that runs through the site, as well as a bridleway that crosses it. The embedded rails in the road are still there, but are partially covered where they run alongside it to form a pavement. There are some very secure gates with warning signs at the various entrances, though one was invitingly ajar - I didn't succumb to temptation, as I imagine the owners are fed up with "urban explorers" and the like trespassing.

Lorries conveying ammunition from the site must have caused problems in the narrow lanes, as might have buses and coaches taking personnel to Salisbury and Dinton.

Some accounts refer to a spur serving the depot off the Salisbury-Exeter line at Ham Cross, others to it starting at Dinton, though the latter presumably relates to the rationalisation of passenger services on the line and the singling of most of it, with the up line being retained for military use. The depot railway appears not to feature on contemporary maps, presumably for security reasons (as was the case with AWE Aldermaston) and the only plan of the depot I can find is here.

I have a vague idea that I cycled in the locality in the 1980s, pausing in the "throat" of one entrance to have a drink, setting off again just as a civilian emerged, presumably to send me packing. As with disused railway stations, I wish I had paid more attention to how the depot looked when it was active.

(Thanks to Grahame for his useful links above.)

Later I followed part of the track of the Fovant Military Railway. At Pembroke Farm, close to the A30, there's an impressive compound formed from old sleepers, perhaps re-purposed from the railway.

Then I walked north of the A30 along the southern edge of Fovant Wood, through the delightful village of Compton Chamberlayne to Naishes Farm and along two of the most impressive "sunken lanes" I've ever come across.

I don't visit Tilehurst Station as much as I used to, but it's my impression that work on installing the lifts finished more than a month ago. But they aren't yet in use. They could have been useful on Saturday when a friend visited me from Poland. She'd had (another) delayed flight, arriving at her accommodation near Bishop's Stortford after midnight. The next morning she made her way to Paddington with a heavy suitcase that she'd meant to deposit with Left Luggage, but there was a long queue, so she lugged it all the way to Tilehurst and up and down the stairs. I collected her in the car and a few hours later returned her to the station, for the process to be repeated.

I too have noticed that it's become more difficult to read full articles without first registering and/or accepting/rejecting cookies, and I'm inclined to assume that if I can access a particular website without too much of a problem, then others can also. But I'm careful about referring to my local online newspaper, the Reading Chonicle, as I subscribe to it to be able to read their articles in full. (I wince at the lack of journalistic skills and local knowledge - and at some of the readers' comments, with a couple of people regularly exchanging insults about their alleged sexual interests and the daily racist remark from one particular person.)

Interesting link, thanks for posting. I note the references to the "new Ludgershall Branch Loop Siding" - I had wondered about the branch's double track disappearing under the bridge to the west, which seemed a bit elaborate for just MoD use.

I can't imagine there would be much demand for the site?