NO MORE BORING THAN MANY ANOTHER BLOG

No, not your blog of course. I concede that your posts are succinct, insightful, humorous and well worth reading. That is why I would appreciate it if you could spare a moment to cast your eye over my efforts and let me know how I can encourage people to read it. On the other hand it may be the most boring blog, someone's has to be.

Newark market place

Newark market place
Newark market place dull Saturday morning

Newark Church

Newark Church
Two residents at the weir

Snowy Dry Doddington

Snowy Dry Doddington
Snow on the road to not very Dry Doddington

Raleigh Runabout RM6 Refurbished

Raleigh Runabout RM6 Refurbished
Look for the "before" in the blog post

Thursday, 27 March 2008

Puch Grand Prix moped - don't Hammerite it

Took the cats to the vets for their annual service yesterday. Always very traumatic (I mean for me!) as although it only happens once a year they sense it and make it as difficult as possible to get them into their baskets. When in they make the most pitiful noise that makes me feel a complete shite. Even though I tell them its for their own good. After the checks and injections the vet tells us Maisie needs some dental work. She will let us have an estimate which I can collect at the reception desk. I go out to pay the consulting and medication fee. A modest £90 or so. I am handed the dental estimate. One hundred and ninety two quid! No wonder I was given it to read outside the consulting room, the (very nice) vet doesn't want any old codgers dying of shock in her office. Susan, pass me the pliers and the bottle of whisky. Maisie you'll hardly feel a thing.

Anyway all that is beside the point, today was also very traumatic. I have dismantled the Puch M50 Grand Prix with a view to refurbishing (my definition is reliable presentable and safe). As you can see in the picture it now looks like a piece of Meccano. Although the frame is not rotted it had a lot of surface rust so what to do. I don't at the moment to spend vast amounts on the cosmetics so I decided to brush paint the frame pending an eventual respray. I had decided I would NOT use Hammerite on it. However today I somehow found myself testing Hammerite black on the frame and thereafter painting it. Within about two hours the whole frame had turned into a black sticky unsightly mess. I could have roared, and not like a lion either. More like the cat in the basket. In the end I spent a considerable time scraping the whole gooey lot off. I hope tomorrow I can begin to replace it with lacquer as I originally intended.

Although this moped was no doubt hammered in it's youth (probably by a youth or two) this does not seem to have caused as much damage as being subjected to Hammerite.

Sunday, 23 March 2008

Cows at Claypole




Snowed again in Newark. That's two lots plus an earthquake in about a month! Bob Marley who bid for my Honda NC50 Express on Ebay let me down. Never heard a thing from him and when I checked he had not even given a full address to Ebay. Relisted the Express and a Honda C90 and both have now sold. So we could afford to go out for an Indian meal last night to celebrate my 61st birthday which was in fact a couple of weeks ago. Pork for dinner today so I felt I could look the snow bound cows in the eye this morning.
OFSTED passed not sure how.
Puch M50 in bits in the garage undergoing what I fondly like to call a partial refurb or "tidy up". Awaiting parts from Puch-Weiser in Austria.