Well given how the weather was at the end of the year and with my tax expiring on 31 December I decided to give January a miss and save the best part of £50. I bought a solar charger a while ago so connected that up.
Then in early February the roads seemed to be salt-free and I was getting withdrawal symptoms so I bit the bullet and taxed it. On the 5th I found out that my solar charger wasn't up to the job, because trying to start the car only resulted in setting the alarm off! So I connected my jumper pack and started it and the alarm even went quiet after what seemed ages, but was probably less than a minute.
I made a point of using it for essential travel every week or so and all seemed good, until I left it 12 days and on 2 April I needed the jumper pack again.
It worked fine, but as soon as I drove away I got the trifecta of warning lights. I did nearly 40 miles and it started on the battery when I wanted to come home but the warning lights stayed on.
So I decided to bit the bullet and ordered a new Exide battery from Tayna on 4 April and Yodel claimed it would be delivered on 6 April between 19.00 and 21.00. Then about 21.30 I got a message from them saying nobody was in - which is so much b*llocks because I was and nobody left a card. Probably couldn't be a*sed because it was heavy!
Anyway I didn't bother trying to get it redelivered because I could see a repeat of their first effort so I arranged to collect it from their depot yesterday evening - it was only a few miles away.
So today I got it fitted and took the car for a test drive which was great, but those 3 lights haven't gone away.
It looks like I'll be seeing how I get on with my code reader tomorrow!