Hopefully, most of our partners/wives will have found a nice few stocking fillers for the coming seasonal beanfeast, but with postal services currently overstretched, if you want to buy online you'll have to pay for courier delivery to get anything delivered by Monday afternoon.
Desirable presents abound, although the wherewithal to fund it all isn't always there!
Sat Nav's seem to be the thing this year, PDA users can buy the end of line TomTom5 Bluetooth receivers and maps/software for as little as £30 plus postage on ebay. Note that TomTom have withdrawn support and updates for TT5 Mobile.
DVD's of Mr Dibnah smile out of every store window, and while I am not 'into' Fred and his work, I have to confess to have three of the DVD's at home!
Books: Plenty to chose from there. I picked up a nice pair of volumes of Joseph Lucas' history on ebay, at half the internet bookstore's price:
"Harold Nockolds:Lucas,The First Hundred Years", 2 volumes. Wordy and detailed history of the company, lots of references and bed-time reading. That's part of my Xmas present.
Manuals: I have already mentioned the Haynes Spitfire manual, it is very good and goes further than a straightforward repair book. Well worth your pennies.
Hardware: No engines have crossed my path in person this year, or at least none that I would want to throw serious money at, there has been a sighting of something large and oily on the horizon, but it depends on so many variables that I am not betting anything on it yet.
Tools: Lots of decent spanners and socket sets, but watch out for the usual cheapo stuff. Buy Britool or Snap-On, you won't regret it, "King-Dick" branded spanners earns lots of kudos with the colonials out west.
"Mystery Presents": We bought our youngest son a personalised No Plate for Xmas, and it's conspicuous by its absence under the tree, where a burgeoning pile of wrapped stuff has been accumulating for the past few weeks. Something arrived by ParcelForce today, addressed to Rita but VERY heavy and definitely NOT a bottle of deodorant! She smiled when I asked what it was....
Our grandchildren have got spoilt rotten as usual! with bikes and stuff like that we'll need the big van to lug it all over on Boxing Day.
Hopefully, everyone will have a happy and peaceful Xmas and a prosperous New Year. Peter
-- Peter A Forbes Prepair Ltd, Rushden, UK snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk