A few weeks ago my daughter started having trouble with the boot (tailgate) lock on her 55-plate Renault Megane II. Because this is "keyless" and relies on the electric central locking driving a motor in the lock to open the boot then this is a big problem. Now, you can get the boot open if you fold down the rear seat and crawl in - you'll need a lamp and a small screwdriver, though. Just above the centre of the boot sill you should see the lock through a gap, and a small white plastic block in a curved slot with a clear plastic window over it. The window is flexible and has a slit in it that allows you to catch the white block with the tip of the screwdriver and slide it across. That'll pop the boot open.

It's been an interesting couple of weeks, which started with the closure of the Forth Road Bridge to all traffic on Friday, December 4th. I'd been gloating a little as, living in Fife and working in Edinburgh, I'd just got home on the Tuesday evening when I heard about restrictions being imposed on the bridge while a defect was investigated. Why gloat? well, I was taking a holiday on the Wednesday, so I missed all the congestion caused by the contraflow due to all traffic being forced to use the Northbound carriageway.

The Jail, Poorhouse and Witches Dub

... Continued from Transylvania - The Count may be closer than you think!

Wandering a bit further to the North we can find some darker features of Dunfermline's history. Just over the railway line from our area of interest is the town jail, the poorhouse (or workhouse) and a "Fever Hospital".  It's possibly not a complete coincidence that the jail and poorhouse are adjacent as although many people might find themselves in the poorhouse through simple misfortune, some would also have been found guilty of petty criminality.  What is probably more unsettling is the proximity of the "Dead House" to the Fever Hospital, suggesting that the latter was rather frequently just a stepping stone to the former.

Warning!

This going to be a bit of a Shaggy Dog Story with a few digressions, some whimsical, but if you're interested in local history it may be worth the journey.

I think I first need to explain how this little investigation got started: On Sunday, my wife and I were looking for something to do, somewhere to visit, not too far from home, since I didn't feel like driving any kind of distance that day.  We eventually decided that despite only being a couple of miles along the coast, we'd never really visited Charlestown or Limekilns - I think I remember driving through on rather dismal day once but that's about it.