He'll be a month old on Sunday, how time flies...to those wondering yes he's a good sleeper, we're now getting 3-4 hours at a stretch out of him at night, so can't complain really! 
Back to work on Monday, not looking forward to that after 4 weeks off! 
On the car front I've managed to get the first real jobs this year done on the car...
I noticed recently that the rear wiper wasn't wiping the rear window very well, when I had a look at it I discovered the wiping part of the rubber had all but ripped away from from it's base.
A trip to halfords was a bit disappointing - their in store parts lookup didn't list any rear wiper blade type for a Xantia, and they didn't seem to have the rubbers on their own to cut to length either...so I found one of their single blades that was the right length and looked a fairly close match.When I tried to fit it to the car I ran into a snag - with it clipped in place the far end of the blade wouldn't rest on the glass because the near side frame was snagging on the water spray nozzle that is mounted on the wiper arm.
Looking at the original blade holder it's of an asymmetrical design where the side nearest the spray nozzle is set back by about an extra 5mm. Whoops. Luckily I managed to transfer the blade to the old holder and even though it was a bit of a snug fit it seems to do the trick.The gearbox has also had an oil change yesterday - since I've had the car it's had a "hot flush" about a year ago but I wasn't sure about the oil they used, (no proper type was given on the invoice just a very generic name) and its changes have been a little bit rougher/ more abrupt than I would have liked in the last 6 months or so, making me wonder if the correct grade of oil had been used or not. Unlike the old V6 whose gearbox was overheating this one is not, (checked it again on the Lexia yesterday) so burnt oil doesn't seem to be the cause.
I've done 5000 miles since the hot flush so thought it was time for a manual change. The oil that came out was quite dirty but not burnt and didn't seem to have any particles. So far I think the gear changes are a little bit smoother, of course a single oil change like this only dilutes the previous oil by 50%, so a single change by itself won't do a lot. I may do another change in a few months time depending on the results and how the gear changes feel over the next few months.
While I was doing the oil change I discovered something I didn't want to find...
Yes, a pinhole in the front exhaust downpipe.
The strange thing is that there is no chuffing through the hole and I can't feel anything coming out of it with my finger - poking a small probe through the hole doesn't go right through either - it appears that the pipe may be double skinned (?) and the hole is only in the outer skin, perhaps due to condensation rust between the layers ?Any advice on how to get this fixed ? How feasible is it to get a patch welded over it, and who these days would consider doing it when everyone wants to be a parts changer that only fits new pipes ? I imagine this pipe is now in the unobtanium NFP category, and was probably crazy expensive even when it wasn't ? (And probably a complete ballache to fit when all the fittings are old and rusty)
The MOT is due at the end of July so not much time to sort it out when I also have tyres and balljoints to do before then...
Although it wouldn't fail now due to not actually leaking my experience of exhaust holes is that once they appear they grow very rapidly, so it will probably burn through by MOT time if left unattended... 
That clamp is FUBAR though and will need to be cut off - and I imagine the one on the other end is in the same state. And access to that one might be, er, interesting..... 
Actually exhausts are nice and thick - ideal fodder for welding learners - I'll just give you the torch and you can get on with it while I drink tea!!
