On the hoof

Volvo. Club Joined. Parts not yet ordered.
Cat. Faulty. Service agent contacted. Transport System made of FAIL. Cat demands GOOSHYFOOD. Technician says Cat needs steroids. Cat is equipped with cone. Cone is also fail and has been removed for fear of cat falling down stairs due to inability to work out that she has to lift her head when wearing said device. Cat attempted removal of cone by standing on back legs and using both front paws. Cute. Cat also did this whilst standing on edge of bath. Immensely funny.
eBay. More items listed due to 10p day. Items sent.
Radios. Informed father of Birthday Present. Will go acquire it in a bit.
People. Missing various people as ever. Concerned about some.
Personal. Getting unfit again, need exercise and willpower.

Now, I need to go eat some lard, because I'm tired and ratty :D

Argh. Bloody cars :D

I found the bit of broken heater control using a magnet-on-a-stick and removing bits of seat trim. So now only one control on my car is broken.

As I closed the door, I heard a rattle. The driver's door always has made a few noises here and there, but this was an odd one. "Thud, rockrockrock".

Hmm. There's an upside-down tortoise in my door. That must be it.

Remove the trim (very easy; clearly designed for service - it's also amusing to see the rod for the door handle which is built like the wiper arms on most cars) and a plastic cover (no sheets of cellophane held in with glue here!)... and there's a bit of metal the length of my forearm.

It's the rear guide for the window. This might explain why the door rattles if I shut it with the window open, and indeed why there were so many rattles and clonks coming from that end of the car.

$21. I expect it to be more here. I think I can figure out how to fit it through the tiny gaps provided...

(EDIT: Doesn't really merit a new post, but the part was £11 - minus 10% discount as a Volvo Club member, so there's another quid saved for that £20 membership - and my car will be fixed on Monday thanks to this. Also, all parts ordered from Nordic to sort out the car's many woes, including the side repeaters (but not the throttle cable yet) and some engine seals - £184 shipped. So I'm crossing my fingers that I can handle/manage the strut top replacement (both sides!) myself without disasters. Next jobs will be new leads and plugs, which are a bit expensive for this car).