Cats, fires and steaks

Bob phones because his car has broken down. He is not absolutely sure of the reason but what he knows is that a light, warning of a problem with the catalytic converter, comes on and then the engine management system shuts the car down. A bizarre sequence of events, if that is the real reason, and extremely inconvenient as it happened in the middle of the night, the breakdown service wouldn't come out until morning and there was no taxi service available. It seems inconceivable that a car would cease to run just because there is a problem with the 'cat'. Is this the ultimate car folly in our pc mad world?

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By mid-afternoon a huge plume of smoke, covering a large part of the sky, could be seen to the south east. Glyn and I went to investigate and established that it was a huge forest fire that we estimated was about 3 miles long. Several planes dropped huge amounts of water into the heart of the fire, flying south, to the sea, to replenish their tanks. Another two planes dropped large quantities of a red coloured chemical. Convoys of fire engines came from the north and headed towards the problems. As the flames licked high into the sky, we felt very vulnerable. By evening the smoke had died down. Scary.

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Out for dinner at 'the relais' this evening. We haven't been for a while but they still offer their 11 euros, four course, 'steak and chips' type menu. Not haut cuisine, but what do you want for that amount of money?