Forgive the title, it’s tenuous at best. 2017 is the year of the rooster apparently and, seeing as this is my first post of the year, a questionable reference to a Soundgarden song was the best I could come up with! The 22 visitors the site had from Iraq last summer might need that one explaining should they decided to make a return visit. Wonder if having Iraqi visitors to your website affects whether you’re allowed into the USA these days? The world is an even more bonkers place than when I last posted – it’s probably best to stick to waffling about old Volkswagens rather than making any sort of political statement though. There’s a degree of irony in that I guess, considering global politics has a very 1930s kinda vibe about it these days.
Closer to home, things have been pretty quiet as far as the bug and the bus are concerned, mainly due to it being winter. There was no Black Stone Cherry double header for my birthday this year (we may have seen them 5 times last year!!), but instead I made a pilgrimage to Masham to visit both the Black Sheep and Theakston breweries. There’s only one winner as far as I’m concerned – the OP at Theakston was absolutely out of this world. Can’t wait to get back up there for Matt’s birthday weekend in June!
Clarence had a good wash a couple of weeks back because it would have been embarrassing taking him to the garage for his MOT in the filthy state he was in. As I was washing him over at the folks’, some dude who was driving past actually stopped his car, parked up and came and had a chat with me about him. It turns out he had a 72 crossover back in the early 90s.
Having a bit of room and some daylight on the situation also gave me the opportunity to replace the window lifter on the passenger cab door which had decided to give up the ghost on the way back from France. Let’s hope there’s nothing too major when it comes to MOT time, although I have a sneaking suspicion that the steering box won’t get through this time……
It wasn’t a bad couple of days for Clarence, as he had a decent run out the day previously too. Just before Christmas my landlord notified me that at some stage this year they’ll be selling the flat. They did give me first refusal, but sadly we couldn’t reach a deal. I could afford to buy the place, but I can’t afford the 7 – 10k bill that would be landing on my doormat shortly afterwards to contribute towards the renovations of the communal areas. On the one hand I’m gutted because living in this flat makes certain aspects of life very easy, but I would also love to have a bit more room and some outdoor space. So a couple of weeks ago I was out and about in Clarence scoping other areas of Leeds where I’ve seen a few potential houses. One in particular looked positive – the next door neighbour was out washing his T5 and gave us a wave and a smile as we went past!
Last week saw us pay a visit to the lads at the Herbie Hospital in their new unit – which is directly behind the old one and is much, much bigger. Now obviously Clarence couldn’t have passed the MoT at the first attempt, but I’m super pleased to report that the list of issues was nice and short:
- Offside front Brake pipe inadequately supported (3.6.B.1)
- Nearside rear Brake pipe excessively corroded (3.6.B.2c)
- Offside rear Brake pipe excessively corroded (3.6.B.2c)
- Nearside front Front wheel bearing has excessive play (2.5.A.3c)
- Steering system has excessive free play detected at the steering wheel (steering box fitted) (2.2.A.1a)
The guys turned things nice and quickly and he was legal later the following day, all ready for our first visit in a couple of years to the Waterloo Inn.
In other, I guess more bug related, news I might have bought myself an XBox. And Forza 6 (amongst other things – how good is Steep?!?). So obviously the first car I bought was an orange bug. Admittedly it’s not the right year etc, but you can’t have everything! And you can race in the mountains…….
In reality, Betty is filty, although we did have a run out to Ilkley in the sun as I had the afternoon off the other day. The sun was making a rare appearance and I’d thought it could have been a good opportunity to have a play with the GoPro, but she’s embarrassingly dirty so I decided against it. She will be getting a wash this weekend!
