I received two letters from the tax office recently. Suspecting that at least one of them would be a bill, I procrastinated opening them for at least two weeks. I eventually got round to it and, guess what? I was wrong. It was a £100 refund. So that was nice.

We went to the pet superstore last weekend. CGF Sprog 3 wants a couple of pet rats and has spent most of the summer researching them. “Do you need any help” asked the assistant. I felt like replying “it’s all right, CGF Sprog 3 knows far more about rat accessories than you will ever know”, but didn’t. Even if it would probably have been true.

New working schedule day off yesterday. I took my car to the dealer under a recall notice. Apparently some models had been put together without a vital component – you would think they would have noticed the missing part lying on the workshop floor when they had finished, as when I do DIY. My car was OK, but the workshop did give it a wash. I also got my new key programmed, so I am now back to push-button technology. Something I had forgotten about using a key to unlock a car door is that you can’t see the keyhole in the dark.

While the car was being sorted I had a mooch around the local car showrooms. Really just getting a general appraisal of the market and a feel for what I could get for my money. And trying to gauge what different models look like. I have little interest in cars, other than a method of getting from A to B, so when I see adverts for model xxx or yyy I don’t really know what they look like.

Some new models are advertised as having “stop-start” technology. This meant nothing to me – I thought it meant brakes and accelerator, so hardly novel. Turns out it is the ability for the engine to switch off when in stationary traffic and restart again when you move off. The clever boffins at car design HQ have found a way to solve the problem that starting an engine uses more energy that keeping it running.

Anyway, I have whittled any potential choice down to two options; with merit and dismerits so different that I can’t choose between them so will probably end up keeping my current car for a bit longer.

I also know very little about how a car engine works, so am trying to correct that gap in my knowledge by building one. No, not a real one, silly, an airfix-type model. OK it’s more for fun than to learn how they work. I’ll probably throw it away when I’m done, but I’ve had it for about two years so thought it about time I assembled it.

On my way home I stopped at the supermarket to do a little shopping – make that a Lidl shopping. I quite like Lidl – mainly because when I get to the checkout I get the pleasant feeling that I have been undercharged. Speaking of being undercharged, on the way I stopped at Costa (primary purpose was for a pee, not a coffee) and ordered a small but got a medium.

The Costa was reasonably full and quite noisy – mainly because the metal pre-fab design of the building made it very echo-y, like a swimming pool. Most Costa’s seem to be reasonably full – but not always so noisy. Costa, of course, is owned by Whitbread. This is one reason that Whitbread shares have soared over that last few years.