It's like setting up a new home

It looks as if late autumns from now on are going to be plagued with bad weather, or at least unpredictable weather. And, of course, the days are short. All this discourages holiday breaks and days out. But I'm not a stay-at-home: dodgy weather and early sunsets are merely something to cope with. So I'm looking forward to my next trip - postponed from October - to South Wales, which I can slot in during the first half of December. Till then, though, 'travel' posts must be few. And the only real news remains my progress on getting to know my new car, and what still needs to be done to set her up properly to meet my preferences.

Already accomplished:

# A towbar fitted.

# Fine adjustment to the driving seat to suit my personal physique.

# Preferred digital instrument panel format selected.

# Sophie paired with my phone Prudence, using Bluetooth.

# DAB radio retuned to my favourite stations.

More lately:

# Rubber mats bought for the boot, to stop things sliding about.

# A temporary solution to the water bottle tipping forward in the cupholder in the central console. 

# Navigation mapping updated.

# New batteries for one of the two electronic keys. 

Still to be done:

# Changing the original registration plate to the personal one I've bought.

# A permanent solution to the water bottle tipping forward in the cupholder in the central console.

# A discreet 'Sussex' sticker for windscreen, to fly the flag for Sussex when I'm far away from home. 

# A trial tow of the caravan.

# Taking the caravan away to South Wales and back - the real test.

Even though Sophie was scrupulously well-prepared before handover by Caffyns Volvo Worthing - towbar included - I expected to find several things that needed to be done by myself, such as adjusting the driver's seat and certain controls to suit my preference. Nor was it any surprise when, for instance, the spare-key batteries (which had lost charge from not being much used) soon failed to open the doors or fire the ignition, and had to replaced without delay.

It's so much like dealing with the host of little things that crop up when taking possession of a new home. The snagging if it's brand new; or the alterations you must make if its not so new. In this case, nothing that involves going back to Caffyns, except to ask them - once I have the form V5C from the DVLA - to make up a set of number plates for my personal registration OO15 SHE, with 'Caffyns Volvo Eastbourne' shown on them. Another 'Sussex' badge, for anyone in distant parts curious to know where Sophie hails from. I'm proud of my long-adopted county. That's why a windscreen sticker showing the six Sussex martlets (little heraldic birds) might be nice. 

The rubber mats for the boot turned out to be a necessity. I always carry a number of plastic boxes in the boot, for such things as my walking boots, blankets and socks to survive a cold night stuck on a snowbound motorway, a backpack containing a waterproof jacket and trousers, and so on. Plus an empty box to place my Waitrose shopping in, a plastic tray, another walking stick, and a cool bag. Here they all are in the boot, once I'd got Sophie home after the handover:

But they slithered around the boot. The obvious solution was a ribbed black rubber mat, preferably tailored, that would grip them and keep them in place. The internet offered several solutions. But the one I actually adopted was to buy two rubber doormats from B&Q. They weren't expensive, but were stout and had the virtue of being made from recycled rubber tyres. They were actually ribbed grey fabric on the top side, and grippy rubber on the underside, and I'd be using them upside-down, and side by side. It was a pretty decent solution:

I didn't mind the slight overlap. Nor did it affect the positioning of my stuff:

Of course, I could still at some stage buy a tailored mat, and just use the two doormats (the right way up) in my house. But that may prove to be something I never get around to. In any case, removing these two mats will be simpler than heaving out one large and unwieldy mat (as I had to do with Fiona), if ever I need to get at the spare wheel.

Another issue - quite minor really, but still worth attention - was stopping the water bottle tip forward onto the gear lever when braking the car. It didn't happen every time, but it happened enough times to look into why, and work out a fix. 

The centre console had space for two coffee cups of the standard size, and these were held firmly in place by flexible rubber grips. It would have worked beautifully seven years ago, when Sophie was new. But the grips in the front holder had lost their stiffness, and couldn't keep my water bottle upright all the time. This was the scenario: 

As you can see, there was a space nearly an inch wide between the front of the water bottle and the silver edge of the coffee-cup recess. The rubber grips that should have held the bottle upright were out of sight, lower down in the recess. The upper two-thirds of the bottle therefore had nothing to prevent it tipping forward. My solution? To insert a rectangular block of black rubber between the bottle and the silver edge, to stop the bottle moving forward. 

I'd have to cut it to size from a larger rubber block. What could I use? I soon thought of such things as exercise mats and garden kneelers. In fact, I immediately knocked up this, from an old kneeling mat. It was the wrong colour for the car, even though it coincidentally matched the bottle!

It's that small piece, bottom centre in the picture. It's now in Sophie's centre console, and it certainly does the trick. But as soon as I can, I'll source a small section of black rubber and (with a little more skill and finesse) fashion a better bottle-restrainer.   

No doubt there will be more things to attend to. I don't mind. Sophie is going to get all the fixes and TLC she needs.