Mostly lemon based

Category: Moggie

Stuff directly related to my Beloved Moggie Minor

  • Oh, now I see….

    Getting permission to dress Rebecca up as a police car and ourselves up as police people for EuroPride 2006 turned out to be ‘somewhat harder’ than I originally expected. I either thought it’d be a straight yes or no (unintentional).

    Anyway, eventually we managed to sort it out – and with muchos thanks to the Met Police who’ve been ultra-helpful. I’m very impressed.

    Anyway, despite e-bay’s policy, today my police / emergency services lamp arrived; and well, now I see why they were so concerned….

    Rebecca with a blue light

    God, if I saw that coming up behind me I’d be thinking it was a real police car *grins*

    Anyway, preparations are beginning slightly in earnest. Hell, if it doesn’t come off I’m sure we can be a float in a MardiGras when I get to Canada :-)

  • Only my hair really tells the tale

    It was today that I decided to service the car. I have got services down pretty pat – they take a few hours normally. I also had a few other jobs to do, and being as it was cold getting the engine up to ‘normal operating temperature’ would take a bit longer, but hey. Should all be done before lunch, I though.

    Wearing my oh-so-slinky overalls and slipping on some stylish blue-vinyl-nitrile gloves I stepped out into the cold of a Bristol Winter’s day.  As lunch approached I was no-where near half done. After ‘lunch time’ – a time not noticed by me – I was mostly done. I paused at 2 to go get my eyebrows done, and then headed back out having stopped to buy a new brake-pin-retaining-clip (one of mine snapped) and continued – despite the increasing cold. Sorted out why the car wouldn’t start (I’d managed to misallign the spring on the points, so it was grounding itself…); and I’d managed to complete all the tasks I’d allotted for myself except two.

    The car is now serviced, thankfully; the seatbelt on the driver’s side’s been temporarily replaced (so it now works); the heated rear window’s been repaired; the brakes at the front have been replaced (very worn); the handbrake adjusted (it now comes on before the end stop); the wheels have been ‘rotated’ (I wish I’d done that a while back, the (were)front tyres are very close to the wear limit…) and a patch of rust I discovered’s been jenolited… but:

    The areas I jenolited haven’t been painted yet (ran out of time and light) and the interior light’s not working still.

    I’ve got changed now, slapped the clothes I was wearing in the kind of wash cycle that will probably ruin them all and the only bit of me that feels really grubby is my hair. I’d wash it right now, but I’m hungry, ‘cos I’ve still not eaten. So I’m going to do that now… As you might guess I’m exhausted again – and I can’t believe it’s taken the entire day just to service my car.

  • I’m sorry officer…

    …but the sun was shining.

    It was a gorgeous day as I stepped back into Rebecca after having a good WBLD experience. No, really. The absence of our facilitator made the group discussion flow – the other group’s facilitator actually facilitates and our discussion when the two groups got together was… well… useful.

    So I came out of the session in a good mood, slapped the headphones in my ears and stuck on Moby / Punkawallahs / Ladytron / Madonna – and shoop-shoop-dancie-dancied my way back to the car; chucked my coat onto the back seat, connected the CD player to the Radio Cassette… started the 1275 engine (desparately in need of a service) and pulled out into traffic.

    Only. There wasn’t any traffic. It was quiet. And sunny. And I had dancy music, a willing engine and a Morris Minor on a curvy A-road that I know too well.

    I just kept her on the boil the whole way back, the industrial roar of the ital engine, the whistle of the air intake, and the gentle flutter of me throwing money out of the window… oh, no, that’s just the effect it had on my fuel consumption.

    It’s ages since I’ve been out for a drive like that; all *Graaaarrrrrr*snick*Grraraaaarrrrrrrrr*snick*Grrrrraaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrr*snick*grrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh*.

    Anyway.

    Mmm. It was so good. So fun. It was the roads she was built for.

    So as a special gift for her I went to Ashley Autoparts and got all sorts of service bits, a new interior bulb (although I looked and am about 90% certain it’s a connection problem rather than a bulb problem…), some equally yummy fresh oil and some delightful new brake pads. And then I headed on to the junk shop that’s shutting – and picked up my second non-working video camera. More frustrating because it’s a fairly good one – and SVHS-C camera… which so far shows absolutely no signs of life. It was a fiver mind. Well, it was a tenner. Then I added two chairs, which were a tenner for the pair – and the woman knocked the total price down to 15 quid. Since the chairs work, and the camera does not I think I’d prefer to have paid the tenner for the chairs ;-)

    I guess I’ll look at the camera when I get a chance – I want to shoot some video so… But at the moment it’s doing *nada*.

    Then, anyway, I came back home. I came home, and tidied and cleaned and cooked. Tidied cleaned and cooked…. curry. It’s funny, but I really miss the dinners me and my uni friends used to have. Tonight was not on that scale – the curry is one of my ‘standard’ dishes; as opposed to something spectacular made for a special dinner – but it felt good to get the table cleared and laid up – and even if I didn’t get any work done tonight, and scared ‘meriKate with Flanders and Swann songs – I also ended up making Nikki buy a Gramophone player. But still, she’s wanted one for ages and I came across a working one which just needs some TLC.

    I was going to ramble more, but I’ve entirely forgotten what I was going to say, so let’s call that it, eh?

  • Dull, dull, dull.

    So, I’ve got the next two days ‘off’; in that time I’ve got several things I need to do:

    • Action plan for essay. Find evidence. Implement plan. Write 2000 word essay.
    • Polish of reviewing those last two papers. Hope the two I’ve ordered are good.
    • Attack the EU Packs a bit.
    • Swim.
    • Find out what I need to have done for Friday’s Uni Day; and do it.

    I’ve rung about the moved goalposts / government forms. I’ve prodded into action the machines that need prodding. Christ knows what’d’ve happened if I’d’ve not rung.

    I also need to:

    • Service my car (in the near future, it’s not desparate yet but the brakes are starting to pull slightly to the left, so I reckon they’re due the service they’ve not had for the last 2 and a bit years…). They tyres need ‘rotating’ – because the front ones are looking a trifle worn. Not at the wear limit, but getting awfully close, so I shall swap them round a bit. Hopefully it might help me track down the hideous shudder. But I really can’t afford to replace them before the end of the placement – and this placement is hard on tyres (all bloody roundabouts and nice-to-drive curvy British roads)
    • Strip my bike’s frame. Someone’s very kindly (incredibly kindly) offered to weld up the frame for me – which I really need done, but I need to strip the bike down to just the frame.

    Excitement is clearly brewing in the House of Elliott ;-) (more…)

  • Hairy McScary

    So, for EuroPride 2006 I’ll be taking my beloved Moggie; we hope; this year we’re also intending to make it to the far end and not stop 15 minutes in (not anything to do with Rebecca mind). As part of the forward planning for this I’ve been trying to find out whether, in a Parade, my car can be decked out as a Police car.

    Rebecca’s blue, and a touch battered, but she’d look Lovely with ‘POLICE’ down the side and a nice flashy flashy blue light on top.

    Anyway, so I started by asking the Parade organisers, but there was some difficulty there; no one seemed entirely sure. Technically I’m still driving down the road, with potentially, my car being identifiably a ‘police car’, which is illegal. Never mind that it’s 2006, not 1969 and my car is ‘unlikely’ to really be a police car. Indeed, I’d be seriously concerned if anyone thought it was (mind you people asked if she really was a tow vehicle last year, and whether Hebe really was a driving school car. People concern me). I can understand it actually, the whole not diluting the impact of the word POLICE.

    It became apparent that that line of inquiry (I hate ‘that that, incidentally) was not going to yeild results quickly, so taking my heart in my hands I mailed the Metropolitan Police. Not that I’ve got anything against the Police, I’ve worked with loads of officers in my training and they’ve all, to a person, been excellent. I’ve encountered the police also outside of work – with the Racist blokie, and they were also really good then.

    But just because I find contact with big things like the Police or the Government kind of intimidating. It’s one of those still feeling like a kid things. And also, my youth is not exactly the best thing in the world. It’s not like I broke any big laws, but I wasn’t the best kid in the universe. And I still feel guilty.
    Anyway, having crafted an e-mail I paused for a moment, and thought, and then hit send. And off it went, winging it’s little way all the way to London.

    Being as it was kind of a random request it bounced through the Met police a little teeny bit before hitting it’s mark; and a very nice chap mailed me back with information and more questions. And rang (unfortunately right at the time I’d decided to go out swimming); and it looks likely to happen. Of course, if anyone knows a discount supplier of magnetic signs that’d be handy.

    But the question is, what’s so scary about all of this? It’s the fact I’ve had to give my car’s details to the police, and my name… I’m not sure why they need this, although it might be to keep track of cars they’ve given permission to. But that was like “oh god, what have I got myself into?”

    Still. I’m looking forward to it. I need a blue flashing beacon if this is to work too. And a police costume uniform. Anyway, generally it’s *yay*. But it’s still a bit scary…

  • Abandoned Fossil Car Stuff…

    Here: Horfield 2006 (and one of the centre of brizzy at the moment).

    I’m dead pleased with the new camera – the light was very wintery today – very white and bright, no warmth to it. Very clean. Anyway, I took the camera and myself down to the Horfield Regeneration Project and spent a couple of hours freezing myself to death. It’s peaked at 5 degrees C, and considering there was still a good thick layer of ice on the ground – and I didn’t have my gloves on (in aid of being able to work the camera) I got really quite cold.

    So anyway, there’s the photos.

    I’ve been very good today too; I went to the supermarket and stocked up on veggies again; and fruit; mmyum. And then I got back and despite the fact it was fracking cold I changed the faulty shocker (now at a level of ineffectiveness rivaling most politicians) and put the new drum on – but I think I also need to adjust the handbrake cable.

    There was quite a bit of swearing involved – the cutesy bit in the manual about undoing bolts and removing neglected the bit where I ended up cutting through the shock-absorber to split it enough that I could get the damn thing off the shaft. By this time I was *cold*. Not ‘a little bit cold’ but cold to the point where I could touch the cold bits of myself and think my hands were warm.

    Shortly after this, after lying on the floor at probably around 3 degree C for about an hour I started to shiver, but handily I’d finished. I even topped up (read: refilled from nearly empty) the diff. As I was laying there, face in the gravel I found something funky though. I’ve got a little fossil – it looks a bit like a chunk of an Ammonite – I thought I’d dropped it back in the chunky gravel but fortunately managed to find it again. It’s not like a big bit, nor is it terribly well preserved, but it’s funky none the less and now adorns the top of my monitor – along with much else in the way of crap.

    Anyway, having warmed up (several hours in front of a fan heater, multiple super-huge-mugs cups of tea) I’m now ready to celebrate my housemates birthyday.

    As promised, here’s a quick shot of the picture that Rachel painted for me…

    Rachel's fabby painting

    I found the wood I wanted to find, I hope I’ve got enough – I think I have – so when it’s dried out fairly thoroughly I’ll start cutting it up to make the frame.

  • …and back *again*

    So, I’m back. It turned out that it was (is) leaking from the drainer, the plastic nut which seals the sink to the drainer seems to have developed a leak on one side, but the sink – unlike the last sink is actually supported by the pedestal underneath it; so I’m not 100% sure how to repair it.

    At any rate, without taking the pedestal out (which I couldn’t do by myself anyway); I attacked the nut using the screwdriver on the peaks and hit it with a weighty object method. This… well, improved matters. At least, I thought so, until I found that it was now leaking from the opposite side of the nut *rolls eyes*

    Still, now we know what it is, so she can call the plumber in who put the sink in to fix it – and he can deal with the pedestal / sink issue. I’ve put a jam-jar underneat the leak, so it should be okay for minimal use anyway. The leak isn’t *terrible*. Not the way my mum was describing it…

    Rebecca rolled over 10,000 miles (or 110,000, actually, but the 1 at the beginning is invisible). I have a thing for the big mileage rollovers, and since I do so many miles I actually get to see quite a lot of them, which… well, it makes me happy. There’s something enjoyable about people’s faces when they ask how many miles it’s got on it and you’re able to give a *really big number* in return. I realise that 110,000 miles isn’t a lot for 35 years; but it’s growing quite quickly, and when we reach 200,000 then I’ll be mightily proud!

  • Independent Online Edition > Transport

    Independent Online Edition > Transport

    Oh good fuck.

    Get me the hell out of this country!

    [wonders if it’ll cope with her inverted colour scheme numberplates]

  • Nothing else can go wrong…?

    So, yesterday I headed over to John’s with my unleaded metro head. We carefully drilled out the blanking from where the heater hose is on a minor – it took quite some time, around 1.5 hours, but we got there. Having done it “properly”, I then decided that for once, the whole job was to be done properly. Because I really need everything to be sorted for when I start my placement.

    So, I set to.

    Off to the shop to buy the correct waterpump (rather than bodge the one I’d got), the correct thermostat, fresh coolant…

    …back to my garage. Lunch.

    Half an hour of scraping and cleaning the head, flushing the waterway, getting all the crap off…

    Dissassemble the engine… (more…)

  • Fed up but why?

    I dunno why I’ve been in a pissy mood all evening.

    Techincally, today’s been quite successful; I got my new swimming costume (bit tight and higher cut than I meant… oops); and my new unleaded head for Rebecca.

    But:

    – Missed a bunch of photo ops, because I intended to ‘get them on the way back’ – but…
    – GPS replotted route for way back, added 20 miles and sent me up the motorway instead of the A-roads which I’d enjoyed all the way there. This also meant that I… didn’t get to take the photos.
    – Missed the last Friday Evening Swim at Bristol North that there’s likely to be in my time here.
    – Discovered that the busses to Clifton from here suck dead donkey shit for fun (1 hour to make a 20 minute journey to the centre of Bristol, *then* walk 1/4 mile in the rain, so you can wait for the bus going up into Clifton. Of course there’s no hope that you could get a bus back home *after* going to the pub, oh no.
    – Missed the showing of Wallace and Gromit we drove to go and see, parking was *terrible*
    – Discovered that the Hollywood Bowl was booked ’til 10. Not going bowling then.
    – Found that Frankie and Bennys (sp.) was queue for table.
    – Drove to Clifton, to go to Bar Icon and noticed… straight people. Yes, that’s right. Bristol’s utterly crap GLBT scene means that it’s gone back to being ‘Gay Friendly’. Woot. And called Eldon House. *sigh*.

    So, even the 3 rounds of pool (lost, 2:1 to Trey, incidentally) haven’t really cheered me up.