I was getting worried for a bit last week. Hadn't spotted the family on my regular walk through the park for a couple of days. Must have been lurking in further flung parts. But they are back now. Which is good.
Tuesday, 8 June 2010
Gheluvelt Park swans update: Monday 7th June, 2010.
I was getting worried for a bit last week. Hadn't spotted the family on my regular walk through the park for a couple of days. Must have been lurking in further flung parts. But they are back now. Which is good.
Evesham Cat's Protection, Sunday 6th June, 2010.
1) Let's start in the medical ward. Two sweet kittens who, as soon as they are fit and well, will be re-homed, no problem. Not quite sure what is wrong with them exactly. A touch of kitten flu perhaps? A chance for Ann and Derek to perform wonders with a syringe.
2) Tiddles?! Cowin' Tiddles!? Is this the best name that the combined expertise of the CP can come up with? Fergawdsake somebody, adopt this cat forthwith and give it a decent name.
3) Vicky, Derek and Ann all said this one's a bit bit squiffy. Squiffy? David is righteously appalled. He's lovely, he retorts, and any cat who likes a rub just behind the ears is alright by me.
4) Prisoner of Cell Block 5 Update, pt 386. We've always thought this one was a fella but it transpires he is a she and her name is Gemma (with a 'G', so as not to be confused with Jemma with a 'J', obviously). Don't tell the CP but we have secretly re-christened her 'Hattie'. She's starting to get used to us after over a year of monthly visiting orders and is quite happy nowadays to use a thigh as a handy head rest. It's progress. Not much, but it is progress.Monday, 7 June 2010
British Hill Climb Championship, Shelsley Walsh, Saturday 5th June, 2010.
To hell with the hay fever. It's two hill climbs knee-deep in pollen two weekends running. Some folk are gluttons for punishment.
1) An appropriate motif for a hill climb car when we will be at the Cats Protection tomorrow, don't you think?
2) Never realised until today that Will Hall's 1600cc Force PC is powered by a bored-out Suzuki Hayabusa engine and it's by no means the only one in the 1100cc - 1600cc racing car class. Hmm, must get chatting to folk in the paddock more often. It's amazing what you can find out that way.
3) Derek Bell trying out the Ash Mason/ Steven Day (I think) 4 Litre Pilbeam MP97-01 for size on a demonstration run. David is pleased to tell Vicky that he's seen Derek Bell drive in the '70's, not the '80's, the '90's and now the...er......whatever it is they're calling this new decade. Vicky is pleased to listen (oh yes).
4) This is Colin Dodge urging his 760 Triumph Bonneville out of the Top 'S'.
6) Howard settles down for a bit of hill climbing action and the much appreciated chance to catch his breath. A wheezing David and Vicky (thankfully) just out of shot (oh, the cowin' humidity).
7) OK, 'Films' have been replaced by Memory Cards, so we can understand that one. So what or who has done for 'Sweets'. We can only conclude that the Food Police have recently visited here (the swines).
8) It's well gone lunch time and Martin Groves (l) and Paul Ranson (adjusting him - more tea vicar?) have only just unloaded their 3.5 Litre Gould GR55B-NME from the back of their trailer after spending a week rebuilding it after Groves pranged it at Gurston Down last weekend. So, they probably won't do very well this week then, eh? Actually, FTD and two Top 12 Run Off wins. Pretty outstanding effort then.
9) David is pleased to try out Shelsley's new Paddock Toilets. Er, Vic, there are no urinals. No Dave, you pillock, you've just used the Ladies. Ah, good job no-one else was caught short then. Note to self: must concentrate and pay attention to door signs in future.
10) Higher! Lower! Alright m'loves! Good game, good game! Bruce Forsyth enjoys a weekend's down time helping out at the Shelsley start line. Well, he does look quite a bit like a (slightly) younger version of him.
11) Humiliated by a pillock who can't differentiate between the gents and the ladies, Vicky is pleased to announce that it is time to go. Well, she says, we have been here over five and a half hours.
1) An appropriate motif for a hill climb car when we will be at the Cats Protection tomorrow, don't you think?
2) Never realised until today that Will Hall's 1600cc Force PC is powered by a bored-out Suzuki Hayabusa engine and it's by no means the only one in the 1100cc - 1600cc racing car class. Hmm, must get chatting to folk in the paddock more often. It's amazing what you can find out that way.
3) Derek Bell trying out the Ash Mason/ Steven Day (I think) 4 Litre Pilbeam MP97-01 for size on a demonstration run. David is pleased to tell Vicky that he's seen Derek Bell drive in the '70's, not the '80's, the '90's and now the...er......whatever it is they're calling this new decade. Vicky is pleased to listen (oh yes).
4) This is Colin Dodge urging his 760 Triumph Bonneville out of the Top 'S'.
6) Howard settles down for a bit of hill climbing action and the much appreciated chance to catch his breath. A wheezing David and Vicky (thankfully) just out of shot (oh, the cowin' humidity).
7) OK, 'Films' have been replaced by Memory Cards, so we can understand that one. So what or who has done for 'Sweets'. We can only conclude that the Food Police have recently visited here (the swines).
8) It's well gone lunch time and Martin Groves (l) and Paul Ranson (adjusting him - more tea vicar?) have only just unloaded their 3.5 Litre Gould GR55B-NME from the back of their trailer after spending a week rebuilding it after Groves pranged it at Gurston Down last weekend. So, they probably won't do very well this week then, eh? Actually, FTD and two Top 12 Run Off wins. Pretty outstanding effort then.
9) David is pleased to try out Shelsley's new Paddock Toilets. Er, Vic, there are no urinals. No Dave, you pillock, you've just used the Ladies. Ah, good job no-one else was caught short then. Note to self: must concentrate and pay attention to door signs in future.
10) Higher! Lower! Alright m'loves! Good game, good game! Bruce Forsyth enjoys a weekend's down time helping out at the Shelsley start line. Well, he does look quite a bit like a (slightly) younger version of him.
11) Humiliated by a pillock who can't differentiate between the gents and the ladies, Vicky is pleased to announce that it is time to go. Well, she says, we have been here over five and a half hours.Tuesday, 1 June 2010
Tuesday 1st June, 2010.
It's the first day of the month and the men in fluorescent jackets clutching clipboards have arrived in Gheluvelt Park to give the recently completed water feature-thingy the once-over. Ah yes, splendid. Plenty of wet dodgy surfaces for little kiddies to slip over and hurt themselves and for parents to take out legal action against the council? Check. Carry on men, good job well done. (It'll all end in tears, mark our words).
Bank Holiday Monday, May 31st, 2010.
1) It's a Bank Holiday and as any fool knows, especially those twazzocks who clogged up the Salisbury Ring Road yesterday morning on their way to the DIY outlets when they should be getting a life, that's the day for those really big Do It Yerself jobs(gawd). We've put this one off for months. Bought the blind for the bathroom ages ago but, y'know how it is, even in winter there's always something better to do. But it has been hanging over us like a cloud. Can't put it off any longer. So it's out with the step ladders before wiping the dust and cobwebs off the tool box (such as it is). Of course, the step ladders a rickety and they don't fit into the confined space around the sink. David has just the two weapons in his arsenal: sweat and bad language. Each are used copiously to take down the old fixings and fit the new. And I've got a dodgy left elbow, he tells Vicky more than once. 30 minutes later, and having initially fitted it back to front, the blind is safe and sound in it's housing.
2) Now for the skilled bit of the operation. David must give way and Vicky takes over for the adjusting of the 'very fiddly' chords.
3) Another 15 minutes later and, although there are one or two unidentified bits left over, ithe blind is ready for testing. a) blind down and open.
4) b) Blind down and closed.
5) c) Blind raised and bottom window open. Good eh? Nearly 60 minutes have flown by, no blood was spilt, and it's time to put the ladders and tool box away again (for another couple of years, hopefully) before having a well-deserved cuppa and a rest. DIY 'r' us.
Salisbury Cathedral, Sunday 30th May, 2010.
1) After the hill climb we took a swift detour into Salisbury to have a look at the Cathedral. We took loads of photos of the exterior but you'll have to take our word for it 'cos we haven't used any here as the building was covered in scaffolding and sheeting. Lovely setting tho'. Spacious surrounds and some lovely buildings around its park. So that's another place to re-visit at some point.
2) Howard enjoying the quietude of the Cloister Garden after all those racing cars and 'bikes at the hill climb.
3) David caught doing the same. He's girding his loins for the long challenging drive back home. Vicky drove the dual-carriageway bits. David is soooo hard done by. It's a shame for him (oh yes).British Hillclimb Championship, Gurston Down, Sunday May 30th, 2010.
A lot of photos to get through this time. Only took 444, so think yerselves lucky.
1) Food Police Alert! Food Police Alert!! Only been here five minutes and already some folk (ahem, Paula and Tony) are at the deep fried scampi and chippy-chips. We are outrageously appalled, obviously. It's all we can do to resist 'phoning the Food Police Hot Line.
2) See Vic? I'm not the only one who takes loads of shots of the fastest car on the hills every time I see it. Tony's taking one as well. And there's Scott Moran, in the background, chatting to a journo-fella so it's a really interesting photo (oh yes).
3) We have been to five hillclimb venues over the years and each one is different. Gurston runs through farmland and where there's a farm there's bound to be an olde barns to explore, and where there's a barn there's bound to be some hidden treasure. Here Tony has discovered an old rusting Rover V8 engine. Hmmm, thinks David, now all we need is an olde rusting hillclimb car to put it in. Do a quick resto-job and away we go!
4) Vicky is being tested to the limit. Two blatant violations of the Food Police Code of Conduct in one day. Do I ring 'em, or don't I?
5) Tony ponders another diabolically complicated example of motorcycle engines powering four wheels. We've grown used to single-engine variants. There's even a Suzuki Hayabusa V8 that regularly makes the Top 12 Run Off. But this takes some beating.....................
6).................this one's got two Hayabusa's running on a single crank (presumably). A straight eight across the 'frame'. It sounded good too. Like a deep-throated two-stroke. Probably due to how high it can rev or something.
7) Some 'bikes just naturally draw you in. This was the first one we spotted when we arrived. Poor Vicky has to listen to David telling her that it was the 'bike that any self-respecting rider aspired to back in the day. Especially those who could only afford a Honda SL125. It wasn't being ridden particularly quickly but then, having thought about it for a minute or so, it was being ridden a damn sight quicker than David would have managed. All things are relative, eh?
8) Vicky tells the rest of our little group to carry on without her: she could be some time.
9) A stoppie in a car? Well, it has got a 'bike engine. This is Adam Steel in his Martlet AS1 missing the sane braking point and indulging in some ridiculously late braking at The Karousel. Of course he missed the apex yet, amazingly, he was still the fastest in the class! That's determination.
10) Zooming. Leaping. Steering. Landing. All in the same instant. All the time staying focused on the next bend which, as it happens, it about 50 yards ahead. This is Martin Robbins on his 590cc KTM cresting Deers Leap.
11) This is Paul Jarret doing roughly the same thing, but in a slightly less animated way, at the same place on his Aprilia SXV500. So, which one was the quickest? Answer: Jarret. Robbins was third, about four tenths slower. Makes you wonder where he lost out, eh?
12) On the way back down we spotted this group of fellas swarming out of their nest in a handy tree. Not many folk hung around to count 'em all but, being brave, we did. 2, 376 if you were wonderin'. So, all-in-all another great day out at a hillclimb. Here's to the next one.
1) Food Police Alert! Food Police Alert!! Only been here five minutes and already some folk (ahem, Paula and Tony) are at the deep fried scampi and chippy-chips. We are outrageously appalled, obviously. It's all we can do to resist 'phoning the Food Police Hot Line.
2) See Vic? I'm not the only one who takes loads of shots of the fastest car on the hills every time I see it. Tony's taking one as well. And there's Scott Moran, in the background, chatting to a journo-fella so it's a really interesting photo (oh yes).
3) We have been to five hillclimb venues over the years and each one is different. Gurston runs through farmland and where there's a farm there's bound to be an olde barns to explore, and where there's a barn there's bound to be some hidden treasure. Here Tony has discovered an old rusting Rover V8 engine. Hmmm, thinks David, now all we need is an olde rusting hillclimb car to put it in. Do a quick resto-job and away we go!
4) Vicky is being tested to the limit. Two blatant violations of the Food Police Code of Conduct in one day. Do I ring 'em, or don't I?
5) Tony ponders another diabolically complicated example of motorcycle engines powering four wheels. We've grown used to single-engine variants. There's even a Suzuki Hayabusa V8 that regularly makes the Top 12 Run Off. But this takes some beating..................... 
6).................this one's got two Hayabusa's running on a single crank (presumably). A straight eight across the 'frame'. It sounded good too. Like a deep-throated two-stroke. Probably due to how high it can rev or something.
7) Some 'bikes just naturally draw you in. This was the first one we spotted when we arrived. Poor Vicky has to listen to David telling her that it was the 'bike that any self-respecting rider aspired to back in the day. Especially those who could only afford a Honda SL125. It wasn't being ridden particularly quickly but then, having thought about it for a minute or so, it was being ridden a damn sight quicker than David would have managed. All things are relative, eh?
8) Vicky tells the rest of our little group to carry on without her: she could be some time.
9) A stoppie in a car? Well, it has got a 'bike engine. This is Adam Steel in his Martlet AS1 missing the sane braking point and indulging in some ridiculously late braking at The Karousel. Of course he missed the apex yet, amazingly, he was still the fastest in the class! That's determination.
10) Zooming. Leaping. Steering. Landing. All in the same instant. All the time staying focused on the next bend which, as it happens, it about 50 yards ahead. This is Martin Robbins on his 590cc KTM cresting Deers Leap.
11) This is Paul Jarret doing roughly the same thing, but in a slightly less animated way, at the same place on his Aprilia SXV500. So, which one was the quickest? Answer: Jarret. Robbins was third, about four tenths slower. Makes you wonder where he lost out, eh?
12) On the way back down we spotted this group of fellas swarming out of their nest in a handy tree. Not many folk hung around to count 'em all but, being brave, we did. 2, 376 if you were wonderin'. So, all-in-all another great day out at a hillclimb. Here's to the next one.
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