Well a 2hour blast up to visit the parents on the motorway yesterday and this morning first click of the key and it started, so alls right in the world again. Looks like I be changing spark-plugs in the future though small price for reliability I suppose. Thanks for the advise Valdelis.
As for the oil I am more of a tesco man myself ;-)(only when I can't get the usual total stuff) . But I do a full change (total oil) every 7.5 k an even with burning another 7 liters the filter is pretty much full of gunk.