Journey 21st Feb 2015 - St Crispins School 1950's

Just Izzie to Judo & Gymnastics, plus to the gym  myself and a bit of round and about.

Today: Partly Sunny
Conditions: Bright but damp
Temp: 4-9°
Journey: Around Wokingham, Woosehill and Pinewood
Distance: 11 miles

Also dull picture of the day is outside St Crispins School.

Vague point of interest though is that the school was built between 1951 and 1953. Opening that year.

My Somerset is a year later in all respects. It was produced between 1952 and 1954. My one being a 1954 model.

So the setting is pretty contemporary here is the raw picture:

 

And couldn't resist some Photo-shopping:

 

 

Journey 17th Feb 2015 - Work

I'm driving Amy much less now - and intentionally so. I think I'll log each journey that I do.

Today : Sunny
Conditions : Bright but damp
Temp : 1°
Journey : To Work - the long way around!
Distance : 11 miles

Car Cover - Good (ish)

Today is the closest to a "nice" day that we are going to get for a while. 0° but partly sunny and dry. Since it is getting on for 2 weeks since I drove Amy last, I really wanted to give her a bit of an airing, just to work, around and back. Not really worried too much, but doesn't do her any good just sitting there. Learned my lesson, coat, hat gloves, nice warm, comfy drive to the office with the quarter lights open to stop me misting up!

The car cover is definitely doing it's job, it IS waterproof after all! Perfectly dry underneath after wind, rain, ice, snow. It flaps about in the wind, so allows a drying airflow but at the same time because it is shaped and elasticated it covers the whole car down the sides so keeps off the rain there, which the tarpaulin didn't. Down side is that its a little bit flimsy though. Lots of small tugs and tears, so not totally sure how long it will last. Better than the first effort which ripped off in high winds after only a day! Now that I installed eyelets to keep it weighted down at the sides it keeps it under control enough, but I'll be surprised if it lasts six months!

We'll see, will get a heavier duty one maybe, or if it DOES last for a reasonable time, then just keep replacing it from time to time. (At £10 a pop wouldn't be bad seeing as decent ones can be upwards of £70 and the first one ripping up was my fault really, should have seen it coming!)

First Snow!

Having owned Amy for approximately a year and a half, this morning was the first real snow she has endured. On one hand, bit of a shame about the petrol leak, if it wasn't for that she'd be indoors. The idea was that she wouldn't ever be exposed to snow!

On the other hand, the new cover is at least water proof and, unlike the tarpaulin, shouldn't let any melt water through.

Although after taking the photo I have now brushed all of the snow off! Just to be sure so I guess I won't know for sure.

 

Other than that, the atmosphere has been pretty dry over the cold snap so far, so I don't think this is doing her too much harm. Have absolutely no intention of trying to fix that fuel line pipe in this weather!

 

First pleasant dry day I know exactly what I'm doing!

Happy to have her back really

Saturday exactly as expected from a weather point of view. No brainer.

Now what boring place haven't I photo'd her at yet? Ah yes, the gym:

Changover of runaround

Becky's out :-( No real problem with her, but 112000 miles on the clock and around 12 years old she just wasn't going to cut the mustard with my current driving requirements. And using Amy as a daily driver has been firmly ruled out irrespective of routine. So in comes Roly!! My first boy car. It's a 2010 Mazda C3, only about 24,000 miles. One careful owner (my parents!!)

And back home again!!

Turns out Amy has a very small petrol leak somewhere. Not enough to cause a visible sign, but being in a garage for a week the smell of petrol has built up. No time to investigate properly and fix it, so she is coming home tonight and back outside on the drive. The likelihood is that it is such a small issue that it needs no desperate attention whilst she's outside as it will just dissipate. Looks like it is the flexible braided hose between the tank and the feed pipe. But will try to confirm and fix it in Spring of course, in the meantime she's come home and been covered over with the replacement lightweight cover. Have to install some eyelets and tether it down the sides before high winds return. Which is next weekend by the looks of things. Saturday is looking ripe for a drive in the meantime!! Oh well, it was never going to last, I'd have got itchy feet anyway, so I have an excuse to keep her running about after all.