A Very Sad Car History

 OK, so during the coof thing, and not being allowed to mix much, Facebook has been a bit of a thing here and my feed has been filled with some wonderful old cars, some American ones as well but generally pretty nice.

This got me thinking about Top Gear (the original one) and the guests they had one. During the pre drive bit the interview usually included a bit about the guests car history and this got me thinking about mine. Oh dear, my car history is a bit hit and miss, so I thought I'd share it with you.

Obviously when you are at school transport is usually mums taxi (my dad would not drive) and my independence needed a bike so my first proper transport was a Moulton Stowaway. For those not of a certain age, this was one of the first proper folding bikes but had incredibly tiny wheels. I lived in Somerset at the time near Longleat before it went quite so mercenary and with my mates used to cycle around the then new Lion enclosure on this.

When I left school and went to college, part of the time I was in Frome and part of the time in Radstock so needed something a bit more powerful so got myself a Vespa 90. The college had a lot of Engineering students as well and they had big powerful motorbikes , they found it quite amusing to totally surround my baby Piaggio with big BSAs and Nortons, One of them even managed to jump start it, crashing it into a wall. Fortunately his dad ran the local bike repair shop so I got it fixed (and updated a bit) for free.

Got my first job in a bank in Bristol and was living in digs with a relative. My uncle had an Austin Gypsy (a lot like a Land Rover and He promised I could buy it cheap if I fixed it up and painted it, which I did, however when I came home one evening I found he had sold it to another relative and I was stuck as I had a holiday booked in a caravan in Cornwall the following week. I managed to sell the Vespa for £30 ( I know, simpler times) and buy a Car for the same amount. It also cost me £30 to insure it (Bank employees got special deals) It was a Ford Prefect from 1952 so a year older than me and it worked brilliantly as long as it wasn't raining when you went up hills (Vacuum Wipers you know) 

I kept this for a while before an MOT failure meant it had to be scrapped so I then bought an Austin A35, I'm sorry if you like these but I hated it and soon sold it and replaced it with another 100E.

This one got the full treatment, I painted it Foxy Brown, had a blower intake on the bonnet (not connected to anything you understand, just for looks) Metalflake bumpers, electric aerial, high back seat covers the whole bit. My mate had a new Vauxhall Viva and I raced him from Radstock to Frome one weekend and beat him by several mins..

As is the way of all cars from this era, the rust bug finally got too much and I sold it and replaced it with a Mini. No ordinary Mini of course, It had an Austin 1100 engine fitted, a steering wheel the size of a sixpence, it was lowered and painted bright orange. It also had a short gearstick which whilst not unusual today, as anyone who remembers the original mini knows, the gearsick went through the bottom of the firewall straight into the gear box. Herein lies the problem.. I bought the car in London and was driving it back to Hemington in Somerset, a distance of just over 100 miles and the new M4, It took me just over 12 hours, the battery kept discharging, it was dark and raining and I hit a fallen branch which shattered the connection box for the remote gearstick, It was never the same again.

 I also got tired of being followed and stopped by the police as I was usually driving it around Somerset and Bristol at night, I was back in Bristol but my dad lived in Frome., So I got rid of it. This was exchanged for a 1965 Cortina 1500 which was fantastic, best heater ever but it got crushed by a left turning Truck and had to be written off. I briefly had a Vauxhall Viva estate and yes it was this exact colour, Yellow.

I replaced it with a Hillman Imp but my mother had a Corsair and it was too big for her and so we swapped. The Corsair was fantastic, Auto, 2000cc and went like a train, all the great features of the Cortina but more powerful.

The Corsair was replaced with another Automatic, Vauxhall Cresta, also powerful but a Bent propshaft eventually caused this one to go the way of so many others. I had fun in this when the wheel bolts sheared off and a wheel and tyre rolled under the rear wing, shot into the air and over the car following me. The following car was one of those white ones with stripes down the side and blue lights on the roof.

I replaced the Cresta with something quite unusual, I found a deal on a beautiful Humber Sceptre, which I just fell in love with, Big, powerful, beautiful comfortable leather seats, and just floated along. I had looked at a Ford Anglia 107E with a Escort Mexico engine fitted, but as it scared me witless, I decided comfort was a better option. It finally died on me but not before some wonderful trips to the South Coast for music nights.

 By this time I had decided that big cars were the way to go, Petrol was expensive but therefore big cars could be bought for peanuts, I got a Triumph 2000 estate also Auto, a bit of a theme was developing here, and wow what a powerhouse, shlepping over the Manchester Ship canal at over 90, I mean 70 of course.

Perhaps my driving style or perhaps the very high mileage finally caused this one to pump black smoke, a lot, dollop of Redex seemed to temporarily cure it so I quickly traded it in for a GT6, Dog, I loved that car, bit wayward at the backend, it was a Mk1 but It would blow most MGs out of the water, Just not the MGC 3.5Ltr.

I even kept this one through my first time marriage but as my then wife was under 25, she couldn't drive it for insurance reasons (actually I couldn't afford to insure her) She had a Renault 5 which we could afford so I sold my GT6, reluctantly. and we traded her basic 5 for a 5GTL

It was this colour and over here in Spain the few GTLs I've seen are all this Old Gold, so maybe that's the only colour they came in.

Eventually new job and needing a newer car, Wife had been made redundant, She wanted a Volkswagon Polo the first one had just come out and of course the only one the garage had was that reddish Brown that is marginally better than British Beige..It was a very deceptive car, I was a bit like the Tardis, bigger on the inside, it seemed to swallow loads that you would normally need a Volvo estate to cope with but it was a bit gutless and of course Volkswagon brakes !!.

I traded it in for an XR2, which did not go down well in the household but wow, talk about a train on rails, it was ace, apart from a leaky sun roof which I didn't discover until I got a lap full of water lowering the sun visor one day.

Again Life gets in the way of fun and with a baby on the way we discovered that the pushchair/Pram contraption wouldn't fit in the boot with the massive spare tyre so the baby pocket rocket had to go.

We replaced it with a Rover, and I also acquired a Ford Fiesta basic for Mrs D but the Rover was mine.

Unfortunately I had a coming together with a bus that was right across the road in a country lane on the way to work and, as is the way with Rovers they are a bit fragile on the front end and it got written off.

Fortunately the local garage had a blue one and, as I was paying cash got a great deal, discount and a tow bar fitted free, this became the replacement.

We had friends from Wales and had been on a great holiday with them to France but, as we both now had babies, to do it again we needed something a bit bigger, so nothing ventured, I tootled off down to Southport and acquired a Toyota Spacecruiser, 6 up plus a mahoosive tent and all the paraphernalia needed for a fortnight in France for two small babies and off we went. I was lucky with this one, It had the mileage to the moon and back but was fairly unthirsty and didn't need a drop of oil the whole time, we did France and Wales in it, CB chatting to people the whole time (yes simpler days)

Eventually of course it was a bit too thirsty around town so it went for slightly more than I paid for it so a win there,.I was now living  in the Midlands during the week so was using the Rover to pootle back and forth at weekends and then Divorce reared it's ugly head and I was stuck in a bedsit in Cannock with a Rover as my transport and fell out of love with it.. Traded it in for a Sportrak which was much more fun. It would pull my boat out of the water which the Rover wouldn't do and the rear section and roof came off for that lovely summer day that we get in England.

Once the financial situation became a bit clearer (read dire) this had to go and I was pushed to buy something really cheap so got a scruffy red Astra, paint peeling off as they do, but this one looked like paint stripper had been poured over it but it was only £200  so it had to suffice. 

That was stolen, yes really, and at a most inconsiderate time as I was due to drive to Reading and Maidenhead that day for work so had to hire a car, bosses were not well pleased, when recovered by the police it had to be scrapped so I got a series of Sierras, again due to price drove them until their MOTs ran out and swapped them in.

As I was now living in Castle Donington, the age of these cars was becoming a bit of an issue and I couldn't keep using the Vectra belonging to my new wife as she needed it over the weekends when I was visiting my daughter so I bought a Peugeot 308 but there were issues with it from the off and had to return it quite quickly.

 I bit the bullet and went to a local dealer in CD and with the new Mrs Ds blessing bought a boy racer MG ZS in British Racing Green. This was unfortunately involved in a very low speed slide into the back of a Ford on ice and again the fragile Rover front end caused a write off (PS I wasn't driving)

I replaced it wit a beautiful Laguna, a car I'd lusted after for a while and it was an absolute dream to drive so stable and sure footed. 

Sadly life usually kicks

 in just when you seem to have the perfect life and I lost my job so the Laguna had to go, we managed with the Vectra for a while but I need a car for travel and Mrs D needed one for shopping when I was away.so I just got the cheapest thing I could, don't laugh. Yes it's a Daewoo Lanos, basically a rip off of the Vauxhall Astra I had stolen in Leicester. 

Finally I started working for myself and was able to replace the Laguna so was happy again, but health issues then arose fr both of us and the Laguna had to go,. and while I was in Hospital Mrs D spotted an absolute bargain, got the train to Birmingham and drove home in one of the best cars we have ever driven..

The mighty Audi A4 V6 Avant Auto, what a mighty machine, we both loved that car and often had to Rock -Paper-scissors about who would drive.

2016 rolled around and we decided to move to Spain, I parted with the Audi, again reluctantly but as everything here in Martos is very local and the bus is ridiculously cheap, we didn't have a car.

I hired a Panda when Mrs Ds son came over for a visit and we hired a Fiat Doblo to get to the house from the airport and visit other towns to buy furniture but that's it for 9 months.

.

Finally realising we might use a car occasionally I bought a Citroen Xsara Diesel (this will be important later), It was Ok but good grief it was underpowered, Some motorway hills I had to change to third if I was 4 up. Fortunately or perhaps unfortunately, I leant it to a newby here in the town to move some stuff and he filled it up with petrol, destroying the engine, so scrapwards it went.

It was replaced with a Hyundai Accent, smaller petrol engine but 50% more HP., It was again OK but Mrs D was never comfortable in it and when the head gasket finally blew and wrecked the engine, she wasn't unhappy.

Finally we come to the present day, and I have to confess this is not actually my car, It's registered to Mrs D and she loves it, I might actually drive it a bit more but I'm sure that wont last much longer. She calls it Bluebell due to the colour and it is beautiful, stupid milage (kilometerage?) under 60k and it is a Mercedes A190 Avantguard. Bits a tad pricy, (New key is over 300 Euros) but it drives fantastically and we have a couple of great garages for servicing so Ok on that score and a friendly Mercedes Garage only 20klicks away.

So, Not counting the bikes that's about 30 cars, very few of which I would ever have again, The XR2, the GT6 , The Laguna and the Audi are exceptions. The one regret I have is travelling to London to see a Lotus Europa Lotus special for £1000 which I couldn't afford at the time and they are now totally out of reach, but hey, it's been a ride. (when they didn't break down)

Sorry, couldn't resist

What I did in our Lockdown

Welcome everyone, Glad you're still here.

We are now in Day 63/64 of Lockdown and one week in from having moved from Fase 0 to Fase 1 so we can at least meet friends, limited in number and maintaining Social Distancing but not much open yet, hope this might change next Monday.

What have we been up to? Well lets begin at the beginning.

Firstly literally just as total lockdown started, we were asked to take on some foster pups and a slightly older pup that was scared of everyone, The pups were bottle fed every 2/3 hours  so that was fun! Our local rescue ran a fundraiser to name them and they became Lewis, Santos and  Snoopy.

Once they got onto soaked food and the new poos had settled into something we could pick up rather than mop up, they became  very good and by 6 weeks all three had found new homes.

At the start we already had one faster pup called Cola but Marta from the Shelter took him and we swapped him for a young guy called Leo (They had called him Lion)

Now Leo had a problem, he was found with some litter mates, semi buried in the Olives and whilst his siblings were fine, Leo was so scared of everyone he either hid or snapped at the carers, hence the name. He was getting worse and as usual Casa Dunbar was requested to come to their assistance.

Never ones to turn down a challenge with a dog, Cola went and Leo arrived. Poor thing was terrified but we popped him in a huge cage but left the door open and our brood (of which later) wandered round and investigated him and generally sniffed at him so much until he came out to check out what
was going on, found the food and water and a soft bed from which to keep an eye on everything, especially the hoomans.

He found the top patio and discovered it wasn't scary, he found the sofa and discovered that at least Mrs D was nice and whilst he is very suspicious of me, he can be bribed with cheese, chorizo, chicken, biscuits, in fact anything edible and my fingers always are worth checking out for smells and nice tasting juices.

When the puppies became more mobile, it turned out that Leo was brilliant with them, he made it his mission to train them, teach them about outside and poo pads and play, he was wonderful and gentle with them. He is going to Germany eventually and we understand that a special trainer is going to work with him to get him more trusting of hoomans and hopefully make him more adoptable.

Right, let me introduce you to the permanent family,

At their head is Sophie, officially Sofia Diamond Princess, a small, Miniature Poodle, she may be the smallest but rules with a rod of iron, a proper abuela you might say, her word is law and all the family respect her. Her super power is the loudest snore in the house and that is saying something, we would never tell her she snores as she would be mortified but on full song we do have to up the TV volume !

Next in pecking order is Marty, so named because we aquired him just after we decided that Martos was going to be our home. He is also a small Miniature Poodle, of the type known as a Parti Poodle due to his black & White coat, his father had a beautiful Tuxedo Parti
colouring but Marty is a bit more random. After we lost Jasper our bigger poodle just before we moved to Spain, Marty decided he had to be the Alpha Male and Sophie lets him believe that he is boss.

Logically the next one would be Billy, Proper name Billy Cotton as he was a second wedding anniversary present to us both  in 2009 (Cotton is the material for 2nd wedding anniversary) but unfortunately a couple of weeks ago his his joint issues spread into his spine and he crossed the rainbow bridge. Billy was special to us, he was a rescue, as a Poodle, bought as a present for an elderly mother and brought back the next day as she couldn't cope, we turned up and were told he was a pure blood poodle, they had seen the mum and dad, he clearly wasn't nand still had incredible blue eyes so may be 4/5 weeks old at best, we took him home and decided to keep him ourselves. At under a year he qualified as a PAT Dog (Pets as Therapy) one of the youngest ever to do so and was always a proper gentleman, he will be missed.

Those are our English Dogs, since we came to Spain we help out at several rescue centres and the others all came from them.

First to come was Heidi, she arrived with a smaller Podenco type called Pixie but Pixie was adopted
very quickly. Heidi unfortunately is totally unadoptable, she had sever Leishmaniasis, which took a year of meds to get under control and is now manageable, however she was in a right state when she arrived, nearly hairless and scared of everything but particularly doors and loud noises. To get her through doors for the first few moths she lived in a harness and had to be physically liffted through but is now a bit better but they do have to be fully open, partly open and she really doesn't want to know. Loud noises, in Spain, land of perpetual fiestas, is a bit more of a problem, Fireworks and Thunder scare her rigid, we have Pet Remedy and a ThunderJacket and that helps but in the early days a loud bang would send her into a corner or onto the bed for 2 or three days until; we got it a bit more controlable.

Next to arrive was Tutu (Long name Tucci Two (but that's another story) Tutu was a rescue from down south a bit and her brothers are all much bigger but fortunately Tutu stayed tiny but is a wild child, she lives for tummy tickles and if you just say the word "Tummy" she will throw herself onto her back for attention. She has goggle eyes, mismatched ears and an undershot lower jaw with a tooth on the left that sticks out and we love her to bits. She has one of the curliest waggliest tails you have ever seen, especially if you talk to her.

Next was yet another rescue a tiny Dachund GSD cross we called Milly. Yes
GSD really is a German Shepherd, if you can imagine a GSD on short fat hairy legs. She got quite big but still thinks she is tiny, still trying to teach her to lie down the length of the bed ( A Super King Size mind you) rather than across it. Since we lost Billy, she is pretty much the only one wanting to go out of the house for walks, usually only to the bins at each end of our road, (50mtrs from front door your honour)

Milly has giant ears that hear eveything but when running they lay flat and can swivel through about 180 degrees, independently.


Last to arrive was Evita and possibly the oldest dog we have. A rescue some distance away put out a call for washing machines, we didn't have one but did have a surplus to requirement tumble dryer, when told of this they said yes please so off we trundled. Of course when we got there, there were a lot of dogs and there was this little old lady, a bit overweight and getting very upset at all the younger ones wanting to play, so of course we brought her home. She quite likes walks, gentle ones, but having a very small head, has to be in a harness as  collars just fall off her. She is a bit grumpy with the younger dogs but they soon learn to leave her alone as she likes to sleep a lot and if you say "bed", she is standing at the door wagging her tail to get down to the bedroom, so she can get under the quilt,


So, that's our family at the moment, Leo is wearing the cone of Shame as he had just had "The Operation" and as soon as Lockdown eases a bit more he will probably be off to Germany and the
puppy rescue /Foster will start all over again.

One last thing, Mrs D bought a Tassimo Coffee machine and may have gone a bit overboard on buying Coffee, I'm saying nothing.

Stay Home, Stay Safe and see you on the Flipside.

The Celtic Union

Greetings from Andalucia.

Since last week, 23rd of July 2019, We have had a clown as Prime Minister in the UK. Comparisons have been drawn with another person on the other side of the Atlantic but I'm not going there as we have enough to worry about this side of the Atlantic.

In his first week,  Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (I'd rather be called Boris) has visited Wales where he was pictured with another cock, Scotland where he was filmed with an intelligent person and Northern Ireland where he was filmed with both Nationalists and the somewhat backward DUP. Now the DUP don't really seem to be on the same planet as the rest of us, they want Brexit, they want a deal but don't want the insurance of the Backstop, but then again they believe the Earth is only 6000 years old and dinosaurs roamed the Earth with men so not sure where they really belong.

Now the interesting thing is that Scotland and Northern Ireland both voted strongly to remain in the EU, Scotland was even promised that they would be better off voting remain in their own referendum as they would be part of the EU. Wales did vote to leave by a margin of 3.78% so not exactly overwhelming but hey, that's democracy.

On the 1st August, Brecon and Radnorshire are voting in a by election due to their previous MP being recalled due to Fraud over his expenses, now where have we heard that before, he is still standing however so we will see where that goes. Should he lose (and I don't know the result at time of writing) then the Conservative and Unionist Government will have only got a working majority of one seat which may make a No Deal Brexit problematic, despite having another 2 Billion pounds chucked at it (over and above the 4+ billion pounds already allocated!)

Where am I going with this, you may ask, well, the SNP, run by the very smart Nicola Sturgeon and the Northern Irish people (if they can ever get over their historic squabbles) and possibly now the Welsh folk, could all ask for Independence Referenda of their own and if they have any sense, come together as their own Union, possibly called the Celtic Union and ask to rejoin the EU as a Union, similar to the United Kingdom.

Hard to imagine? Well yes maybe, however the Scots still have oil,

power and Engineering, the Welsh have power, coal wind, water and also steel expertise and farming, the Irish have Engineering, Farming and power so whilst individual independence is possible but difficult, together they would be a formidable powerhouse.

Now, my own preferred outcome would be Revoke article 50 entirely, put this stupid Brexit plan in the bin where it belongs and continue as a United Kingdom , working with the EU to make it better and stronger. I know it has problems, it is a bit unwieldy and cumbersome but it has kept Europe free from conflict all my life and for that alone, I'm grateful. But, if this monstrous joke does play out, Deal or No Deal then let us consider how powerful a Celtic Union would be and leave England to its remaining industries, whatever those might be.

Quick addendum: https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2019-06-04/welsh-government-will-now-campaign-to-remain-in-the-european-union/?fbclid=IwAR0KQRsGZ615ou6EA8iWJKakGPU5VUlf_y20rdxI3FfUg_CVNdyIPNLL5qo

Thoughts from a "Happy" Half Scottie

It's been a while since I last posted and apologies to those who are still waiting for my Windows post, It will come, just not sure when.

I've been busy here in Martos had to change my car as some idiot that borrowed my old Diesel Citroen managed to put petrol into it so now have a Hyundai with air-con, what a relief. Also had to sort out our Residencia, became a pensioner and had to put up with the stupidity of Brexit and all the worries over future Pension Rights, Healthcare and becoming a Non EU Resident (potentially)

But and its a big But, I am confused and amazed at the other immigrants here, There are not many, Officially only 57 in our town, but some still profess to be Brexiters. Oddly enough several are Scots or of Scottish decent and I queried a few as to why.

Apparently even though Scotland as a whole voted overwhelmingly to Remain in the EU, the ones

here voted leave on the basis that if the UK did leave then Scotland would have a strong case for leaving the Union (UK). The idea being that Scotland could then apply to rejoin the EU as an independent country. This is a charming idea and does have some appeal to me, particularly as My father was Glaswegian so I could claim a Scottish passport and remain as an EU citizen. Unfortunately it is also a path fraught with danger and risks, suppose the Scottish Independence referendum did not pass a leave vote, suppose the EU hesitated over Scotland joining and personally who pays my pension and offers my health care paid by NI contributions in England, previously the United Kingdom.

I am afraid that whilst the ideals are to be commended, the path is faulty and I remain a staunch European Believer.

More thoughts, Assuming we do leave and Deal or No Deal ensues, The UK Government has not promised to continue uprating our pensions nor have they agreed to continue honouring the SI to guarantee our health cover, all of which was paid for over more than 40 years of National Insurance contributions and agreed before the Referendum, does anyone agree that a possible class action against any Government that takes this away would be possible, particularly as it is a self inflicted contact breaker.

I moved (retired) to Spain on the basis of a European Freedom of Movement contract, the UK has broken that contract, might be refusing to honour its commitment to pay for my health care, which I have paid for. I know I'm only one (my wife is too young to get her pension yet as she is one of the 60s kids who have been cheated out of her pension till she is 67), of an official 300,000 pensioners here and over twice that many are younger working folk but hell, everyone is entitled to get what they have paid for.

There are a lot of younger, ie non pensioner folk here again who moved with their families and now run businesses, teach and generally contribute to the economy of Spain, I am not excluding other European countries like France and Germany who also have many British folk, but even they are feeling excluded, example, if a person has resided out of the UK for 15 years they lose the vote and yet 15 year olds were allowed to vote for the new leader of the Conservative Party and essentially for the Prime Minister, 15 year olds! they can't even vote in an election, some Conservative Party members even got 2 voting forms, of course no one actually voted twice because that would have been illegal.

I have a daughter, married with three children of her own, my wife has a son and also a Grand Daughter, Her son has often declared his desire to move for work in Germany at some stage, this will become more difficult. Who knows, my Grandsons might want to work someplace other than England

A Spanish Example, to move to Spain you have to show you have Health cover and either savings or income so that you are not a burden on the state, if you cannot do that within 3 months (90 days actually) you are supposed to leave, if you don't then you are technically "irregular", not really a problem but don't expect state handouts or any help, The UK could use these same EU recommendations but chose not to. Now as an EU citizen I had to show an income of about 7500.00 euros a year for the two of us. My pension covered this ( at least it did when the £ was reasonably strong, now not so much) and my Health (bought and paid for by NI contributions) was also covered. As a Non EU citizen, the income requirements are 4X this for one person plus 1X this for each extra person so a small family say three people moving to Spain after any Brexit would be required to show an income of over 30,000 Euros. Loads of comments on Facebook that people moved over before the EU and so they can move over after Brexit, of course they can if they have massive income, how many pensioners do you know retiring on over £30,000 a year.

Fortunately Spain currently has a reasonably benign government and has made concessions including a grace period for legal immigrants to change their status, but even there, issues, until you have been registered for 5 years you are considered Temporary and we as yet have not so will have to jump through more hoops to change our status from EU Residents to Non EU residents and then only until the 5 years is up, then we will have to do it again. It is not yet clear if we have to this every 5 years after that, all we can do is hope.

Well that's a rant and a half all inflicted on us by racist idiots, At Christmas for example one English lady here told me she had voted for Brexit as when she went to the UK, the Girl in the Bank was wearing a hijab, when I asked her what the hell that had to do with the EU she said leaving the EU would stop all these people from going to England. OK not all Brexiters are racist but I'm damn sure all racists are brexiters.

I haven't even mentioned Northern Ireland, some government comments on that have been disgraceful, clearly some have very short memories.

Well what can you do, well object, lobby and support Steve (The Stop Brexit Guy) and vote, #peoplesvote whilst you still can and over here enjoy the weather, the wine, the food the beer, the people, the architecture, the culture, the longer life spans and of course we can enjoy all our little woofs.  Yes we still foster and occasionally fail, the little Dachund Cross and the scruffy one are recent failed fosters and now have a permanent furever home.

  That's just a few of the lives we have changed forever for the better.

Good Night all, Sleep Well.