October 2024

 

October 2024

 

I am writing this at the end of the month thinking I should have written something sooner. Wey Valley Observed Sunday was the first on the calendar. It was quieter than usual with less bikes in the car park more because junction 11 on the M25 was closed than the prospect of rain during the day. It was just me and Louise on the shop. Louise had the card reader for sales and the appropriate software on her phone. I just moved the gear as required. Sales were reasonable and I was still able to take some photos of the day on my phone.

A bit of necessary DIY making a new bracket to hang the stick vacuum cleaner in the understairs cupboard. A little aluminium job to replace the moulded plastic fitting that I knew it was never going to be man enough to last.

I paid a visit to Whitewebbs Museum in the El Cid To give the car a test run in preparation for taking it to Norfolk.  It was also as test for me as I had been having trouble with my right knee and wanted to see how it stood up to being in the car for hours. I was able to test the seating position and found the recliner seat not as upright as I needed for painless driving. It made the journey to Norfolk bearable. The Museum was undergoing refurbishment on the top two floors but the motorcycle display was still open and expanding. I saw some new bikes on display and one I had not seen before  A Motom a purpose built moped  with a nice little four stroke engine reminiscent of the Ducati Cucciola. It was built in Milan and the engine was designed by the Lancia engineer Sola. The collection under the guidance of Chris (LE Club London branch leader) has developed an interesting display with more bikes being on show. I looked forward to my next visit to see the new arrivals.

 

I pack and set off for Norfolk and a rendezvous with my Brothers a few days later. I head for Martham Boat Yard with a three hour drive with most of the time spent navigating the M25 traffic clogged by a stranded lorry. Once beyond that the M11 then the A11 and the A14 for Norwich the driving improved, but not the weather. I did finish in the dry. I’ll write this as a separate posting along with my visit to the Norfolk Motorcycle Museum.

The return journey was drier but with just as much traffic making just as slow a journey. I was pleased to get home early afternoon in the sunshine. Over the next few days I did some work on El Cid. Checking oil levels, lubricating clutch and throttle cables and fettling the heater controls. They have wire cables and needed a bit of de-kinking. The drive shafts got some grease too.

Back from Norfolk it was time to get the Buell sorted. I arranged to drop it at Snobbs on the Friday. Friday came and the Buell failed to start. I jump started it and had to fill it with fuel. I would not risk taking it to the Petrol station and it not starting again. It did not run very well and would be a pig to ride in traffic as  it is so bad on the A40 to hangar lane in the road works. Repair day aborted. Snobbs is now having to collect it next week.

In the build up to Halloween we have the grandkids. Their mum, Ivy, tackled the first two pumpkins and I was in charge of the last one to entertain the kids while they were with us for a few days. The kids soon got bored with the tedium of scraping out the middle of the pumpkin a soup spoon at a time. Neither of them were strong enough to scrape out the core. After I had done the relief carving, which seemed to take all day, there was a demonstration after it got dark. Can you guess which one I did?