Having the morning off I decided to give the garden one last cut of the year and pulled my Mountfield HP470 hand propelled petrol mower out of the shed.

I bought this red mower, with it's Briggs & Stratton engine, earlier in the year when the pull cord on my old one snapped and disappeared into the lawnmower.

It hasn't been going well from the start. On its maiden cut two of the wheels fell off, and the pull cord, over six and half foot in length (what size arms do they think we have?) quickly cut through the red plastic engine cover. Although the mower claims "Reliable starting" among its credentials, having just spent over half an hour trying I have proof that it is not.

The clouds are now discoloring into darker shades of grey, it looks like rain, will I try for another last half hour to get it working?