Headlights moan and squeaky windscreen wipers.

I don’t know if it’s just me, or because I usually drive cars that are as low as other cars;  headlight beams, but headlights seem to be a lot brighter nowadays.

The whole thing is counter-productive – up to a certain level, brighter headlights improve safety (see and be seen) but I am quite sure that many cars have passed that stage – they can see better but oncoming traffic is pretty much blinded, especially as so many idiots seem to leave their headlights on full beam all the time.

What’s worse is, these bright bulbs don’t last very long, I’d guess at least one car in twenty only has one functioning headlight (having done the counting game with my son on the way home). How on earth people don’t notice is a mystery to me. Idiots. And of course, the remaining headlight is so bright that you sometimes can’t see the car at all, and it’s easy to mistake them for a motorbike.
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On a vaguely related topic, I tried the Halfords budget wipers (about £18) and they wiped OK but they didn’t click into the arms properly.

The old windscreen was pretty much opaque after 150,000 miles of minor scratches, so I had a new one fitted (pretty good value, £200 inc. VAT if I recall correctly). I treated myself to a pair of Bosch wipers (about £21, so the Halfords were a false economy) because I was worried that the budget wipers would pop out completely and the arms would scratch the lovely new windscreen to buggery.

They wipe great, but they squeak like mad over the glass, which is really irritating. Is there any way of fixing this? Rub them with graphite powder or something?