My battle across Britain
It should have been epic, but.......well, read on.
On Monday the 14th of November I flew From Edinburgh down to Somerset to buy Stewart's car. It's a Midge, which is a kind of hand built car, and it's based on a Triumph Herald 13/60. The flight from Edinburgh to Bristol was uneventful, except that everybody, barring the flight crew, seemed to have brought a child with them. I envisaged a noisy flight, but they were well behaved, as were the children. Picked up at the airport by Sharon within minutes of landing, I was engaged in conversation for most of the journey. I wasn't doing more than half of the talking, a habit I am trying to cultivate, but you'll know it does go against the grain. Sharon is a teacher, so I suppose two hours of commuting to and from Cheddar each day in the rush hour was a relatively stressless part of her day.The drive went well, in spite of the rush-hour traffic, and I arrived at the Stew's house just after dark. Picturesque doesn't cover it. I was very jealous. Holford is quite rural and it's delightfully dark as the street lighting is sparse. Sadly the cloud cover hid the stars, but it meant the following day should be warm (for November). The unanswered question was what the weather would do on the 400 mile run North?The matter of the meteorological future was put from my mind as I was presented with an excellent meal, wine, conversation, and, later, a comfortable bed. I was beginning to think that the car would be a disaster area, since all had gone so well so far, but a quick look at it after the meal didn't bring out any horrors,The following morning, refreshed and sober, I examined the car. From previous discussions I knew it had no roof or heater, so I knew what I was letting myself in for. It was, after all, 400 miles due North and you'll have noticed, while Somerset is summery, it gets colder Norther.Apart from a rather narrow space for my right foot, swiftly sorted by bending the brake pedal a bit to the left, the controls all did what was expected of them. I noted that the engine had a nice burbling note as I set off toward Bristol on my first leg home, it was 8 in the morning and all looked well.-------------
And that's about it really, sorry. The weather held fine and there was not a drop of rain fell on me. The tank is rather small, so it needs to stop regularly at service stations, and tends to dribble if overfilled, I know the feeling. It will do 55 all day, excepting comfort breaks, and is similar to it's new owner in several other ways too, most of which you will have to guess at.
I had thought I'd have to stop off overnight, but although I was getting a bit cold around Carlisle and having put on my long-johns around the lake district....,...that doesn't sound quite right but I'm sure you'll get the gist of it.....
I found I wasn't tired and so made a run for home, getting there as my neck and shoulder muscles started to lock up. Not too surprising after a ten hour journey, but I was back in time for my tea and a well deserved whisky. Purely medicinal of course.
Since then I've taken the Midge about twenty miles out to check out some rather fancy wheels and had a few runs around the village. Those of you chaps who have a Midge will know how women react, it's just one of those things you have to put up with. I think I might have to make up a badge or something that says "Happily Married, But Thank You". I'm happy with Photographs (of the car), but I think the underwear thing is a bit over the top.
Here they are, safely home. Suggestions for names are welcomed, (so far it's the silver one and the green one,) but the judge's decision is final. Happy Motoring.
Jim
