An incident with a flying stone has seen our long-term Mazda MX-5 require a visit from National Windscreens.

The stone-chip actually occurred back in the summer, but in a scene reminiscent of a recent windscreen repair campaign, it slowly spread into a crack which reached crisis point last month as the overnight temperatures neared zero degrees.

Thankfully there was no shattering, but the discovery of a crack spanning a quarter of the screen’s width one Tuesday morning meant action was needed immediately.

With the assistance of our publishing company’s fleet management provider, Zenith, National Windscreens was called in to replace the screen on-site at our offices.

Never having had a screen replaced before, I was surprised how quickly and efficiently the job was done – so quickly that we hadn’t time to get a photographer to record it.

So now the MX-5 is back into full, unhindered use.

Although there has been little opportunity to get its roof down due to recent autumnal rain, any time spent in the little roadster coupé is still a pleasure.

Its insulated solid roof, powerful heater and heated leather seats mean occupants are soon cocooned in a welcome warmth a couple of miles into any journey, and its effective yet cautious electronic stability system negates worries about the combination of cold, wet roads and a rear-wheel driven sports car.

Well, that’s unless we get snow this winter…