Getting Ready For Spring

The first couple of months of the year are always a little more expensive than the rest of the year. The insurance is due on both the bug and the bus, and there there’s the dreaded MOT for Clarence.

It’s not all bad news though – my birthday also happens to be the anniversary of picking Clarence up and driving him across the M62 in the snow – 4 years ago now! And what better way to celebrate than to kick off a Black Stone Cherry double-header down at Wembley Arena?

Having spent a week back in La Plagne in January, it’s not been a bad start to the year at all!

Continue reading “Getting Ready For Spring”

How did that happen?

That’s not me wondering how something went wrong on a Volkswagen (insert emission gag here), that’s me wondering how it’s gone from July to being October all of a sudden. September in particular just seems to have evaporated (4 days in Dublin probably didn’t help!). There are so many clichés kicking around about time going by faster the older you get, but I’m starting to think there might be some truth in it. Which in turns makes me think I might be starting to think like an old man. (Or an annoying old tw*t if some people are to be believed.) So in the last few months, what’s been going on? Not a fat lot to be honest; well not on the Volkswagen front anyway.

Continue reading “How did that happen?”

The Lakes

One of these days I’ll get one (or both) of these old Volkswagens through an MoT without them needing any work. I can’t really complain on this occasion though, as all the bug need to get her through her test was a new ball joint and a bit of air in the washer jet system. That one’s becoming a bit of a theme methinks! Overall though, that’s a result.

As the sale of Beetle People looked to be going through, I decided I’d give the guys at the Herbie Hospital a go. It’s changed hands since I used to use them, and it’s only a 5 – 10 minute walk from the flat so it’s super handy. Having spent a while chatting with them, the guys there seem like a sound couple of fellas and I think both the bug and the bus will be in good hands.

Continue reading “The Lakes”

More Rubber, More Pie

Once again I’ve had to restore the site from a back up after the planned migration to WordPress didn’t really go so well. Whilst moving the actual content was pretty simple, shifting and managing the images wasn’t going to work as well as it does with the current CMS so I’ll be sticking to that I think. I just need to figure out how to upgrade to the newest version without breaking it. Again.

In more interesting news, I’ve just got back from a lovely weekend camping with Mr and Mrs French at the Waterloo Inn at Biggin. I think my legs have just about recovered from the 13 mile walk we did on Saturday! Of course, we did have a couple of refreshment stops, just to make sure we were properly hydrated…….

Continue reading “More Rubber, More Pie”

Volksworld Show 2015

Having not made it to Sandown Park last year, we were excited to be returning this year. I think that, along with Stanford Hall, the Volksworld Show is probably one of my favourite shows. The quality of the cars on display is always extremely high, and this year was no different. Brad was also particularly looking forward to this year’s show, not only because we were promised extra treats with it being the 60th anniversary of the Karmann Ghia, but because his daughter Nels would be attending her first VW show at the tender age of about 15 months!

Continue reading “Volksworld Show 2015”

A Little Rant, Some Rubber and Spring Dub 2015

After wasting at least an hour of my time this evening, today’s lesson is don’t try and take shortcuts and make sure you back up before making any fundamental changes to your website! Fortunately I did make a back up of the site, otherwise there’s every chance I would have thrown the laptop from my 5th floor balcony after trying – and failing – to upgrade to the latest version of Joomla. I can’t help but think there has to be an easier way – and there probably is in the form of WordPress so there’s every chance I might have a go at migrating the site at some stage. But not before backing it up…….

Continue reading “A Little Rant, Some Rubber and Spring Dub 2015”