October 2025

 

October 2025

 

October is the month for funerals. My dad died in October  my mum did as well. One of our very good friends was added to the list and a trip to Barnsley was needed. I feel that this month we need to change our names to Mister and Misses De’Ath. Too many people we know have left this world. I refer to Zuben Garg the famous Assamese pop star and I was lucky enough to be invited to the UK Premiere of his movie about drugs and gangs while he was here. A message for the youth of Assam.

Another Observed Sunday and the A3 closed again so I had to do another detour to get around the problem. All was not bad. This Sunday another Club magazine “Intercom” was issued and contained one of my articles “Who is Jugal Bailung?” It was about a short video of my first Ride to Arunachal in January this year. Nice to see my Assamese friends get some credit.

I have new spots for the El Cid. Those I fitted in 1997 have lost their lustre. Still working but with corroded reflectors needed sorting so I set about rewiring as the fittings were different. So were the mounting brackets.  Having got that done I checked the rocker oil feeds for oil-tightness while there was access as I had a problem at Easter. All was good. There was a leak on the exhaust. I thought it was the heat exchanger but it turned out to be the joints needing reseating. Also I put some silicone sealant on the gaps at the front of the exchanger to stop any free exhaust gases from getting in the cab. It had been quite smelly on the last trip.

We had a trip to Bristol in the C3 for my Sister-in-Laws’ funeral. On the way we went via Yeovil to drop the gearbox and parts off a Ric Pembro’s for assembly. Gita and I had set aside the whole week for family and any jobs we needed to do. The funeral was quite beautiful with a non-religious service celebrating her life marked by a poem of love written and spoken by one of her cousins. Yet again being so close to death and understanding your own mortality I have been stirred into more action. A book from the grandchildren “A gift from us to you for us”.  They want me to tell the stories of my childhood and my adulthood of me and my family before it all gets lost in the mists of time and poor memories. I confess, I don’t think I’ll ever finish it as my memories merge with theirs.

It was another French car day at Blackbushe Airport. I left early but got snarled up in traffic on the A312 just down the road from my house and languished in the queue before I could get out of the traffic and go through Hayes  to pick up the M4. Once on the motorway it was a relatively quick trip. It was great to meet up with members of the Thames Tortoises as there no longer seems to be monthly club meetings. The day had started in lovely sunshine  and deteriorated to cloud and cold drizzle. I left early to keep ward. I was beeped at by a kind gentleman who told me I had a flat tyre on the slip road of junction 3 of the M4. No sooner as I was on the A312 the tyre was completely flat. I found a place to stop just before the roundabout and changed the wheel. Another kind gentleman stopped to give me assistance but it was not needed. The flat was caused by a perished valve that had lasted less than three years.  

Two tyres and valves were changed when they were fitted in 2022 before going to Spain. I had a rest day on Sunday and Monday I was heading for the tyre place that had changed and fitted the tyres in 2022 but ran again into the traffic jam that was still there from Saturday and I abandoned the gripe mission and went to another tyre place that has more reliable services. A successful morning and with grandchildren staying with us little more could be done that day. Managed to repair one of the suspension cans. They are too good to cut down as a temporary solution for the van. Painted them the next day. After a couple of wet days it was fine enough to take the Buell for a run out. A forty mile trip, a tense ride. It was a journey into the unknown as problems had side-lined  it for a year. A good shakedown run with everything working as it should and the engine getting smoother as every mile passed. It was still dry in the afternoon to fit the suspension cans to the van to get them out of the garage.

September 2025

 

September 2025

 Surprisingly Observed Sunday was moved from the first Sunday of the month to the last Sunday of August. There was an observers training course that could not be rescheduled so something had to change. The changed meant I could not attend the shop as I was on a family holiday in Barcelona with the grandchildren. I was busy doing DIY in youngest daughter’s flat in between relaxing and site-seeing. When I got home it was time to write the August posting and articles about the bike ride in Arunachal and my view about electric bicycles and scooters another form of Powered Two Wheelers (PTW). I had the MOT for the Kawasaki and it passed, so good for another year and chased up the progress of the repairs on the Buell. Having changed my PC the program for my Kodak printer was lost. It was too old for Windows 10 and no longer supported. I have a twelve year old notebook that runs on Windows 7 and I loaded the software from, the original disc and it worked. I am no longer using it for printing but it is excellent for scanning far better than my Cannon MP272 that does the printing.

At the beginning of the month I was doing work in the garden getting things tidied up before autumn and winter removing dead plants and digging up an anti-social bamboo that was spreading around my garden and a wisteria that had taken over the front of the house.

The left side screen had dropped at the British Motor Show and had no idea why was it the heat or an attempted break-in? I investigated by removing the under-wing protective shields that I made after some rust removing and painting on the sub-frame. I had not looked at it since then and that was 2016. All was good. The support for the windscreen was in good order so there was no structural reason for the change in position of the side screen. The right side screen is still in the position when it was first fitted and has much more use than the left one. I made them both and I know how strong they are.

I was on a mission to be at Registers Day. I had parts to buy at the event and be part of the show. Registers Day is on the Sunday of the two day event. I drove down to Bristol on the Saturday and stayed with my brother Adrian. We went together to be day visitors on the Sunday at Westbury on Severn. We chose the scenic route which was delightful going over the old Severn bridge passing through Chepstow, Lydney, Blakeney and Newnham. It turned out to be a successful event with more cars putting on a display than I had seen before.

 I managed to talk to Paul who is Mehari Registrar for 2CV GB and I ask him about the article I has written about making the new hood for the El Cid as he had not publish anything in the magazine for months.  The article would be coming soon as life had taken over and left little time for anything else. Coops was also there and I spoke to him a new cover for the Burton. I had a great time talking to Paul’s son about the hood and my adventures in India I did not manage to pick up the spares I needed for the El Cid. There was to prize giving for the best car or variant in their class. I didn’t win anything for the El Cid and we headed off back to Chipping Sodbury around four taking the taking the M5 from Chepstow dipping in and out of the Welsh 20mph speed limits before escaping back to England.

Monday had us visiting Martin of Cotswold Classics to pick up some large diameter suspension cans then on to Simon for a better left front wing in Cam. The old one had too many rust holes and was too bad to repair. Next moth there will be more on the van.

I had my laptop with me and did more on my family history for the grandchildren. T hey had given me a Christmas present a sort of diary to record all I could remember of my family and their activities in a book “Dear Grandad from you to me”. This will more than fill the book. I have 20 years work of regular articles in the LE club magazine, nearly 300 postings on my blog and that is only about bikes and cars. I have written nothing about my working life in NHS Pathology.

On Wednesday Barry, Adrian and me went to Bristol and visited Vee Shed which is situated in Bristol docks with the “Matthew” moored in front of it. A brotherly expedition to the cultural centre of local history. It had become a more people oriented museum and less of local industrial history.

 They still have some displays like the Peckett steam engine, a Douglas Dragon Fly, a Thanet bicycle, the Brabazon made at Filton also where Concorde first flew from. I saw it take off from where I lived on Shortwood Hill. I could see Mangotsfield in the valley and across Filton all the way to the Severn Bridge and the Welsh hills beyond. All of the old stuff was in storage and we talked to one guy who was restoring a goods van that had become weather damaged. He was hoping to have it repaired for the up and coming event on the docks in about a weeks’ time. We paid a visit to the Brompton shop for Adrian to have a look at some new bicycles and then to Weatherspoons for lunch before making our way home on the bus.

An uneventful journey home the next day and the week finished with me refitting the weather shields to the under wings which was more difficult than taking the off. I had to make an extended spanner to reach the nuts hidden by the wing and the length of the plates. My hands are bigger now and not as flexible to get in the space available and hold a spanner.

August 2025

 

August 2025

 

A few things I forgot from last month but need to be recorded in my things done one was repairing a bangle. The string had become detached at one end so the securing crimp needed opening up, the string repositioned and crimped up again. It is not much, but it is fiddly.

I have a need to fit cameras to the Kawasaki. They are to record my journeys to give a snapshot of where I am. I have a cheapo Kitvision which is almost disposable and used on the bike in India and a more expensive Sport DV that I have had for years and works very well on Windows Ten which it never did on Windows Seven. The problem is where to fit them on the Kawasaki. I have decided to use the mirror stalks which seem to work for both types of camera. A special one had to be made to match the shape of the stalk for the Kitvision. I fashioned a suitable shape from glass fibre filler to make it more stable and less bouncy.

Observed Sunday was a little different this month having the meeting at Normandy Village Hall. This is near Guildford and further to go for me but it unleashes more country roads to practice on. It also meant we had to bring the Club shop with us. John managed it perfectly whereas my input was minimal having had Tom-tom fail through poor connections I needed to use my phone. With road closures and no idea where to go it was a fraught journey and I arrived an hour late. I did my photo shoot to capture the day and returned home to replace the in-line fuse and holder for the power socket on the Kawasaki.

The following weekend we took a trip to Chipping Sodbury for Folk Night at the Beaufort and staying with my brother for a few days. Another enjoyable event although traffic slowed the journeys to and from.

A few days later it was time for the British Motor Show at Farnborough Airport. A massive event and with incredible hot weather except the Saturday where no sun was seen or even blue sky. I had committed to showing the El Cid for the three days and delivered the car to the show on the Thursday with Gita picking me up and delivering me back there on the Sunday to collect it. I was there Friday and Saturday going on the Kawasaki and Sunday and met some remarkable people among them was Celia Watson a spritely octogenarian who is editor of the Triple the official journal of The Motor Cycling Club. She is also member of 2CVGB as am I. Celia gave me a copy of the Triple and I sent her my “To the top of the world” article. I have now read the Triple and found the exploits of members with standard and modified to be inspiring. Perhaps I will do a trial myself. At the show there are always people who want to know about your car and your escapades with it. I walked around the show many times and took lots of photos of things that interested me like the AA stand with its historical vehicles, the Army Motorcycle stand, Disabled Bikers, and the 2CV racing stand.

Service of the Kawasaki at Traxden Motorcycles. Done in a few hours and picked it up that evening. Hopefully all will be well for the MOT at the beginning of September. Adrian bought a Brompton bicycle on eBay and I agreed to pick it up as it was Hounslow. Then there was the C3 service in Aylesbury then a Chieveley swop to deliver the bike to him coinciding with an evening meal at Ye Olde Red Lion. Good meal too. I took the EL Cid to Blackbushe airport on Saturday morning for the French Car meeting.Many of the people had been at the Motor Show exhibiting their cars and an opportunity
to have a post mortem on the event.

The cat went in the Cattery on Bank Holiday Monday and Tuesday Gita and I were on a plane to Barcelona to be with the grandchildren who were on holiday there.

July 2025

 

July 2025

 

The third Tuesday of the month is the LE Club night. It was just me and Anthony or was it June? I now have to write things down or I forget when I do things.  Anthony has newly passed his test for a big bike and it was opportune to discuss riding techniques. I was horrified at him being told not to use his front brake. I recounted an incident I saw in Delhi where I saw a guy desperately trying to stop on back brake only and promptly collided with a car ripping its front bumper off as he failed to control his skid. Tossing himself and his passenger into the middle of the road. Totally avoidable, had he known how to use his front brake he would have stopped in good time and avoided an incident. My advice to Anthony was to practice using the front brake. I question the training practices of some of those who are trying to make competent riders. After passing on some of my knowledge we parted with Anthony having to great deal to digest.

July started on the Tuesday. The first Sunday of the month is Observed Sunday with the Wey Valley Advanced Riders. It is also Bike Day at Brooklands. I spend the morning at the shop and leave early to join the Wey Valley stand at Brooklands. There were lots of road closures around Cobham and messed up my route to Brooklands. It took me ages to get across Weybridge and finally to Brooklands. When I got there the test hill was being used so I could not get to the Wey Valley stand straight away having to wait for everyone to go up the hill. I was great to see the junior trials club taking turns in blasting up the hill. What an event to be at for those kids!

As the stand is to encourage new members I talked to many people, but I am not sure if my talking achieved the objective. I went off to find some food and found old friends and colleagues. Before I got anywhere I got asked a question “Do you remember me?” If someone is out of place it takes a little while to recognise them. A biker a bike event it is almost instantaneous but someone who is not normally associated with bikes takes a bit longer. It was Cammie who I had worked with at Ashford before moving to Hillingdon. “I catch up after I’ve eaten”. She was on the Junior Trials Stand doing her bit for that club. I was well past one and there was limited choice. I ended up with a burger. While waiting for it to be cooked I was accosted by a mobility scooter with a familiar face. It was Steve a former member of the LE Club. We exchanged Covid medical history and complained of the damage the vaccine had done to us. From fitness to invalid in a few short years. He said he would come to a club night soon. It started to rain and we both headed for cover but in different directions.

Junoir trials course behind stands.

After the rain and most of the burger I went in search of Cammie. I continued to eat my burger while doing catch-up. She had a new life with a ten year old son. A family keen on motorcycles. The young lad was in the group doing the test hill when I arrived. What an introduction to Brooklands! We spent an hour talking when I realised I should be back on the  Wey Valley stand. No sooner I was back there Phil from the LE Club stopped by. He was on his way tom find John, also a Club member, on the Royal Enfield stand. At the end of the day everything from the display was packed in our van by the time I was ready the heavens opened and I took shelter in the Cambell garage until it stopped. Just to keep me dry I wore my waterproof two piece bike suit I bought from Lidls. A £25 bargain to replace the useless one I used in India earlier in the year.

July was the time to see my dentist. A crown to repair a broken tooth and an extraction to remove a broken tooth that could not be repaired. I got a job lot over three  appointments and I suffered for it. The first appointment was preparation for the broken tooth. Just a little anaesthetic outside of the gum and inside into the roof of my mouth. This injection was not that successful as more anaesthetic came out than went in. I swallowed most of it. The rest of the procedure was fine and I went home feeling OK. The next morning when I woke I was feeling a bit off and when I tried to speak I could not string two words together and I had numbness in my face. Gita phoned for an ambulance. Have I had a stroke? The ambulance arrived then I was duly carted off to Northwick Park hospital to be checked by the Stroke Unit. I spent all day waiting to be assessed. At around 10:30 after many tests it was announced that I had not had a stroke and could go home. It was also LE Club night that I missed. I know where I would rather have been. I still do not know what caused the episode. A few days later I had a wisdom tooth out. No real problem except for pain and I took antibiotics to get that under control. A week later I had the crown fitted and that was OK post anaesthetic. The only real problem is with the anaesthetic in that it affects me for three or four days making me feel lethargic. After this episode I did a little investigating and found the method of clearance is via the blood and liver. To clear it from the body it requires to get into the blood stream first. A number of unanswered questions arise among them are how does the anaesthetic react with stomach acid? How is it absorbed and where? What does it do if it is in the wrong place? Your answers on a post card please?

Drawing

                           Reality                                     

In spite of these hindrances I have done lots of tidying up in the garden moving plant and stands around and doing an interesting plant stand from two folding chairs replacing an old cat ladder. I have replaced the downstairs extractor fan that stopped working and changed the kitchen sink from a modern material cast one to a conventional double bowl stainless steel one over a couple of days. With the help of plumbers' grease and silicone sealant gaps were filled and leaks cured. After this month I wait to experience the delights of August.

 

June 2025 Second Half

 

June 2025

Second Half

Too much going on in June to get it into one posting when I catalogued it. The third Tuesday of the month is the LE Club night held at The Land of Liberty, Peace and Plenty. It is a traditional pub with traditional beers and a member of CAMRA. I have only once been able to sample the delights of the ales. All the other times I have been riding or driving and do not imbibe. It was a special evening as I was eager to get feedback from Anthony about some of the advanced riding techniques we had discussed at the last club meeting. It was gratifying to hear that he had taken things on board and saw the advantages using them in his riding. Although not an Observer it is good to relate to people and pass on my information.

Having got the MOT o the Burton and discovering the braking problem it was time to deal with it. I had about two weeks to fix it. I removed the disc pad and discovered some brake fluid behind the pad. I ordered new seals and pads from ECAS that arrived in a few days. In between I removed the calliper, which was difficult, having to jack up the car and using a torque wrench to loosen the bolts from underneath. It really needed more flexibility than my body wanted to give but managed it with the  bolts screaming in the  process of being undone.

 As I had already replaced the seals on the callipers for the van project I pulled them from storage and fitted one to replace the one that was leaking. I had real problems with the hand brake mechanism. The inner lever fitted fine but the outer one would have the correct adjustment but as the main securing bolt was tightened the adjustment disappeared and the pad would lock up the disc. A problem I had to sleep on. When I inspected the original hand brake pad it had worn at an angle. I is all supposed to be parallel. The lever was out of shape putting uneven pressure on the pad and was never going to sit properly. Exchanging it for a better one it took only a morning to get it working and just in time for the French car day at Blackbushe airport near Blackwater. I took it to Tesco to do brake tests in the car park before filling up with petrol ready for our Sunday outing. It was an outing and Gita came along. I used the same coordinates as the last French Car meeting at Blackbushe. At the point of getting off the M3  but thereafter it was not the same route. Tom reroutes you to avoid traffic. Not only did it do that it took us to a different destination. Another case of technology failure. Why me? I reprogrammed it and it took us there but not without drama on the way. Just before the airport we were faced with a blockade of police cars. It was the final stages of a chase and there were two cars and a number of people detained. When the operation was finished the police cars moved and we were allowed to continue. The car meeting was from 9 to 12. We had left at ten anticipated arrival eleven. Tom’s misrouting and correction meant we arrived at 11:40 just in time to be part of the meeting. Parked together in a grassed area there was lots of chatting and photograph taking before we went to the cafe for an all day breakfast.

The next weekend we were in Chipping Sodbury for the Rotary Club Classic Car run for the third time hoping for a less eventful run from last year when the battery died on the Burton. Another early start to join the other entrants to be waved off by the Chairman of the Rotary Club. Joining the throng of people who had come to see the show in the High Street.

Courtesy of Mike on Facebook

 I wandered around to see the other entrants and saw two sidecar outfits. One was a modern Triumph, a very pretty set up,  and the other was a Dneiper. This was a nostalgic moment as it was close to the Ural outfit with a Dneiper sidecar. A bike that I had for twenty-six years before I moved and London traffic made using it a nightmare. I did get more information for Pikaloo about Sunbeam parts. Stuart Engineering Sunbeam has a parts website and the parts needed to get it running again.

 After a bacon sandwich and our start number approaching Gita and I were back in the Burton. Our mission today was to go in convoy to the half way stage and then return directly to enjoy the entertainment. Our line up was Torr and wife Trudy in the Jaguar, Adrian and Barry in the Dolly and me and Gita in the Burton. 

We lost contact straight away but I soon caught up with Adrian and it took a bit longer to catch Torr. I did have a little problem in that due to the work I had done on the Burton I had disturbed the retaining grommet on the throttle cable and  suddenly at a junction I had no throttle to pull away. A quick pull on the choke to give enough throttle to limp to a place I could stop and jump out to relocate the throttle cable and we were on our way again. Now in convoy we had 2CV’s that handled the narrow country lanes well. Torr not so fortunate in the Jaguar. 

Overall it was a nice outing on country lanes before our stop at Doughty Sports Club for tea and a piece of cherry cake. It had taken about two hours to do this forty-five mile leg and to return by the main roads took only an hour. We were back by two and had the last chorus from the Ladies Rock Choir from the first act of entertainment. I missed that one as there was so much interest in the Burton at the start, at the sports club and at the finish. A ploughman’s during the afternoon completed our day out in the sunshine enjoyed by all.

June 2025 First Half

 

June 2025

Glorious June has allot to offer, long days, balmy evenings and motorcycle gear to be cooked in. Time to be out and about but for me it has been a time of aches and pains looking at jobs that need to be done and not being able to do them but I have managed to do some. As usual I was at the Wey Valley Advanced Motorcyclists Observed Sunday for the shop and to take photo to record the event.

 It was also a special day as we are to inspect the alternative meeting place for Observed Sunday and the club base. It was Normandy village hall, much like Cobham with space to put our club storage sheds. This was a decent run from Cobham after closing the shop we had a convoy of three bikes. Me in the middle of John leading and Piers making sure I didn’t get lost. It was a busy run with detours to miss the traffic  to get on the A3 then  a blast down the A3 beyond Guildford taking the Puttenham turn off and wiggling our way to Normandy. The plan for the day for Observed rides was to depart from Cobham and finish with debrief in Normandy giving everyone a chance to see the possible new venue and enjoy more less restricted riding. 

There are allot of speed restrictions in the Cobham area and the grip of the Council by residents to reduce speed limits is increasing with the volume of traffic I feel that any advantage gained by being farther away from large towns will be short lived. I see the challenge for the Club in how to do progressive riding with these restrictions. It is also an interesting place having lots of parking and a cafe on site for other meetings.

 

I took lots of photos then made my way home via the Hogs Back. The A3 junction on the M25 was a nightmare and I hope the road works will soon be completed with the slip road not having traffic lights but I feel that may be too much for the planers.

The water at home has become almost unpalatable to drink. It smells so strongly of chlorine and has a very brackish flavour. Affinity is not doing a very good job for its customers. Privatisation was supposed to give us a choice. We have no alternatives with water and sewage and no control as there is poor investment and disregard for pollution they generate. What I have had to do is fit a water filter to the cold tap inlet side to get round this. It was easy enough to fit and the result was chlorine free water that no longer tastes of chateau sewage. The water has a lighter feel and is nice to drink. Success for me, I even feel better.

At the same time the tap was dripping. Was it hot or cold. The filter decided it. I replaced the hot side cartridge some time ago and the repair kit included the cold cartridge. I just had to fit it. That did not take that long except for removing the lime scale on the inside and outside to clean up the screw treads.

Other than greasing the kingpins and drive shafts and checking the lights worked on the   Burton I did nothing for the MOT. Always fraught as I have to pay ULEZ on it I set up the auto pay for it. I set it up to cover going away when I know it would be difficult to pay. This has its downside in any registration clocked with a G I get charged for. I get refunds but I feel I am persecuted by TFL for having a non compliant car. So much so when not taxed I remove it from the auto pay system. The Burton passed and good for another year. On the way home it had the feel of pulling to the left. This needed investigating. I had other things to do with my garden fence that was disintegrating and arranged with my neighbour to get it done. The preferred supplier had delivery problems in that their lorry had to have remedial works carried out and no orders were taken until it was back in action. It was delayed for three weeks. My neighbour did the appropriate cutting to size, painting and arranged with his brother-in-law to fit them. I would only have to refit the trellises and resecure the plants and shrubs. I agreed to dispose of the old fence panels. Trellises had suffered too and I had to buy two new ones. One I managed to carry from B&Q. It was not good quality so for the larger one a trip to a garden centre was needed. I measured up the car and no matter what I did it was not going to fit. So it was cut in half and it did fit. Cutting it with the saw I had brought specifically for this purpose. Gluing it back together when I got home. 

 Breaking the old panels down was easy enough, any rotten pieces of wood would be disposed of by burning in my chimenea. That was a good idea until picking it up was too much for it and it broke in the middle. Another repair job. It had three plates and six screws hold it together had rusted away. I only had that to do to  restore it. I made the three plates and drilled them. I had to drill out the existing screws as they were rusted in. I had 6mm nuts and bolts in my store of things and within an hour or so the chimenea was ready for action.

We had a plea from our daughter Ivy for baby sitting on a Friday. We went by tube and train to Hackney. The journey took about one and a half hours. Just as quick as the car but less stressful. While there I assembled the bench I had repaired the sides for. A quick, but awkward job of securing ten bolts and wood screws. Assembled it was stronger than ever. There is still half the month to enjoy.