Saturday, 27 November 2021

 

More of November 2021.

 

It is cold and showery out there, I’ve been trying to connect my Honor 7 phone to the PC and it won’t connect. Hi-Suit has gone so far beyond my phone software it will no longer connect because my phone is too old. If I ignore Hi-Suit I can get in. Advancements that don’t include legacy software are a retrograde step especially when I’ve had it for only 4years. I’m not a consumer sort of person.

Sadly Valentino Rossi has had his time in MotoGP and I have followed MotoGP and later him for much of his career. When I received a book “Never say Never” by Nick Harris for my Birthday in September it took me some time to work my way through it. Only because I need to set time aside to read it. I have numerous magazines and journals to get through each month having a lengthy read needs to be planned as I am on permanent holiday  and busier than ever in retirement. I did manage to read it and it was not so much a biography by Nick but a history of events that I had seen through his commentary. Events that reminded me that I had seen most of them in real time and could repaint the picture in my mind as I read his words and bringing back the emotions I felt at the time. In his words it felt like it was my words he was using to describe what was going on. I’m not sure everyone would enjoy it but I thought it was well written and conveyed the tragedies and success over the years.


When I finished the book I had completed other projects one was interesting and that was how to construct a replacement plastic nut on the Kiddo tricycle that spares were no longer available for. I thought about machining something but how do you make the right thread that fits?  The answer came from my friend Bob in that don’t do it; in his experience he suggested casting it with araldite. That might be difficult in that the epoxy resin will stick to things that you don’t want it to.  I ended up with using glassfibre resin, a little matting and filler to cast a new nut in a plaster mould. It wasn’t tidy but did the job and now I have made two so I have the original as a pattern.






While I had the glassfibre handy I did a few bits of repair and filling on the van body and well as wiring in the fuel tank sender unit completing the wiring for the back half of the van and joining up the cab to the rear. My compliments to Westgate composites who did the repairs to the van body for me and Cotswold Classics for the renovation of the cab with many modifications because the two halves became a perfect union when they came together. So close a fit there is no daylight between the joint.




Having got bigger tyres the wheel cover did not fit so well and needed a bit of modification which was done over an afternoon with Gita’s sewing expertise and I learned a bit about a sewing machines mechanics when it jammed up. On more sewing I have been trying to get a cover made for the trailer without much success so in the depths of my garage I had an old cover which I recovered the elastic from and material from a gazebo. We now have a made to measure cover.  

It may not seem a big deal but our folding camping table needed a repair. It is one of those that has an elasticated cord running through it. It had broken and I made a quick repair by tying the broken ends together losing some of the spacers in the process. It was a bit loose and sloppy so I found some replacement bungee cord on the internet and replaced it. Sounds simple but threading 3mm cord through a 3mm hole has its challenges when it has to pass through a narrow box section. Job completed with the aid of some garden wire. Now it snaps open like Arkwrights till. My next project is to make a larger wooden table top for it in ply so it is long enough to get your legs properly under the table. While I was searching for the bungee cord I bought a double length table which was on offer for when we have family gatherings and a catering sized double burner cooker that I will need a transit box for. I have also had a hair cut and no longer feel like an aging rock star. I did get to a Classic Moped AGM with its traditional ride out and it was great to see some very good examples of what people went to work on in the fifties. Included with the Mopeds at Peace Haven Farm near Oxford were a Honda  Benly, Velocette LE, BSA Bantam, a James  and a Corgi.




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