Surprise!

Every now and then Olivia likes to surprise us. Just to check that we're paying attention, you know.

On Saturday evening we toddled off to Gordons Bay along the N2 in the face of a stiff wind. When suddenly the bonnet flew up! Big fright all round, and a quick pull-over to close it, then a slow drive to a safe side road to fix it. Good thing the toolbox always goes with us.

The bonnet closure is a pretty simple device. It's a pointed bolt that screws into a nut located on the other side of a lip of metal - the spring goes between nut and end of the bolt, and the point of the bolt goes down into the bodywork. Nothing overly fancy about it.

But the nut had ripped through its hole under pressure from the prevailing gale, leaving the closing mechanism down in the bodywork! Sjoe.

Well we managed to get it back in and tightened - at least Favourite Man did, at the expense of his palm which had to push the pointy bit of the bolt with force up into the bonnet again. Back home he put on an extra washer between nut and metal lip to keep it on the right side of the bonnet, and included a bit of Locktite so it won't come loose again.

We lost one of the rubber bushes that surround the bonnet hinge in the process, but I'm glad it wasn't any worse. It could have been a complete and utter disaster.

We're awake now Olivia - you don't have to try that again.