Vintage Minor Register

Now that we know one another a little better, I am sure there are many interests we share in common (or maybe not), and this thread is for all things exclusively NON Minor or VMR related. Feel free to post here controversial items, although it is probably sensible not to include religion, sex or politics (what else is there?) but maybe Grumpy Old Men rants (replace 'old' with whichever category you fit into) or simply a whimsical thought.
Here is an image to kick things off. I spent 10 minutes watching this lovely bird at work on a dead elm tree in my garden earlier this week and thought I must try and capture this for posterity - and it worked. The image wont win any awards, but it is beautiful non the less.

Here goes... Dear vmr, why oh why oh why? rant, rant, rant. Actually my week has been shared by someone who in doing things terms, must be 128 years old. He was funny to begin with but I hate him now! He spends all day doing nothing while saying he only works to keep busy. He's been in the sbs, customs and excise, holds a pursuit licence from his time in the police (still got his warrant card, handcuffs etc.) and owns a slightly singed solid gold door knob from Windsor Castle. Aaggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Nice picture though Chris, it's brightened up the end of my week.

Lovely picture indeed - these are called Sapsuckers where we are and they drill holes in our wooden sided house. The sides of the house are glorified plywood, and these birds sense voids in the ply and think there are bugs in them (and there may well be), so they drill holes - all in a line, following the voids in the sheet ply.

Well, I just got back from the italian where William and I had a drink and some pasta. He actually had a water as he is under 21, but he will be 21 next week and so next time we go out, Dad and son will be able to have a drink together - just like we have been able to for the past three years at VMR rallies in the UK...

So, we get back to the house (Jayne is working at the hospital tonight - she is a nurse, for those who don't know), and William puts on his new air band radio (he's a trainee commercial pilot). He dials up Grand Rapids ATIS (Automatic Terminal information Service). The recorded voice tells us that the temperature is minus 8 degrees at the airport - and that's Farenheit. I don't even want to work that out in Centigrade. All I know is that it is BLOODY COLD out there! And I have to go out again at midnight to pick up Jayne. I can cope with the temperatures, except for the fact that my Mercury Sable has black leather seats, which are too hot to sit on in the summer and freeze your a**e off in the winter!

Hey ho - such is life.

Oh, did I tell you about last week? Tim Pratt and I (Tim is an ex-pat like me and lives in the village - he has a lovely 1927 Austin 7 Chummy which he has had since University days in England in the sixties) popped up to the Cannonsberg Inn for a beer and a chat. He was at our Summer Rally in Dorset. I happened to mention the rally to him and whimsically said that, if he was at a loose end that weekend, he should join us. He did just that and I bumped into him at the lunch stop on the nav rally. Anyway, they have all the usual awful Americal beers at Cannonsberg, but the one redeeming factor about the place is that they have a very passable draft Guinness. Well, one pint led to another and we had a very convivial evening, during which we discovered that we have a great deal in common. He has just boguht an enormous 1925 Sunbeam in Carlisle and he is shipping it back here with the Semi-Sports and the Mac in March. I can't wait to get my hands on it. Anyway, so I get up next morning, feeling slightly second-hand. I get to work, pull out the receipt from the night before - we got through 14 pints of Guinness. Just like University days, I guess.

To follow up the theme! These have appeared in the garden today, thought it might brighten up the snowbound expats across the pond?

Blimey! We don't see bulbs until about April or May here. Currently under about 18" of the white stuff, although the forecast is for 40 degrees by tomorrow. I'll believe it when I see it.

eBay
I have had my BMW R850R up for auction all week on ebay and it went to a new eBayer (26th Januaury Registered) who it transpires has an address and postcode that are miles apart and a phone line that is unobtainable. What p****s me off more than the fact that I've been done out of a sale, is that to contact eBay by phone you have to use a premium 0905 line at £1.50 a minute. The only alternative is via email and their customer service department who respond when they feel like it. I see this arrogance in all organisations that don't have any real competitors. Anybody want a nice tidy 2001 BMW?
Chris
PS I have just discovered that I could have removed his bid

Springtime in Michigan...

Dear Ian - The evil of drink!!!! 14 pints is very good. I have had a week of Burns suppers and on Friday night between 7pm and 3am three of us gor through 2 bottles of Highland Park - a single malt whisky - we ate and danced a little as well!!! Taxi home as the Police can stop you at any time without reason. Happy days, Aye Alister.

My BMW Motorbike has found a home via eBay thanks to their 'second chance' option where the next highest bidder is given the opportunity to purchase the item at their top bid price. I take back some of my earlier wrath.

Nice to hear some good news!

A photo of a visitor to my garden today in sunny Bedfordshire.

Trevor,
That is amazing - what a fantastic photo!

I was in a pub in Tewkesbury last night with my mate and chatting to the landlord. He asked us what he could buy the landlady for Valentines Day. We suggested the usual things, Roses from the garage up the road, a tub of Maltesers or perhaps a large bottle of Babycham. He said we were cheap skates and asked me what I had bought the love of my life. So I told him 'she' was getting a brand new, very expensive, hood and that the wife was getting a small box of Cadburys Milk Tray and, was cooking me a special dinner!
Chris

Cold in Suffolk!

Last night the temperature dropped to minus 6 C in this part of Suffolk leaving some beautiful early morning sunlit sights.

The night before last the temperature dropped to -9 C in this part of Bedfordshire, too cold to venture out to take photos.