05 Mar 07
Life with the R-Class continues to be an unalloyed joy, then, though we still haven't got to grips with a narrow-home-drive parking manoeuvre on a par with dry-docking an American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.
The missus has, rather disingenuously, suggested that R-Class owners really should fit child seats at all times, offspring or no, just to take advantage of the nicely enlarged spaces on offer in most supermarket car parks; a rare occasion when the largest rear passenger door in the business proves rather more hindrance than help.
That and, of course, the steep side slope. The elder hooligan is now of an age where he prides himself on unassisted entry and egress, and the threat of that stout rear door swinging shut again mid-clamber regularly elicits more winces than an evening in front of an episode of Big Brother. It's a pity this situation is evidently too rare to merit some sort of automatic, hold-open device...
I've even become reasonably competent at moving Mercedes's rather smart-looking child seats around. The elder's booster seat base is, of course, simply lobbed to and fro like a warped Frisbee. But for some reason the need to extract and replace the younger's more substantial Isofix throne has, until recently, always conjured the dread threat of blood-letting and swear box. Happily, though, faced with banishment from the best parking spots at the supermarket, it seems you can teach an old dog new tricks after all.
