A new image!

Can't wait to wear my new kit! (Brooklands)

Pre-op!

With only two days remaining before my hernia operation I thought that yesterday was a good opportunity to have a little pootle in the Morgan, because after the op I don't know how long it will be before I can contort my wracked body into the restricted confines of the cockpit.

The weather was set fair so, after picking my lovely wife up from the hairdressers, we set off via our favourite pie shop to Cockerham, an area bordering Morecambe Bay.

Looking west across the salt marsh towards the Bay...

It is an area that offers expansive views across the salt marshes, where happy sheep nibble away at the salt laden grass, before being summarily despatched, to end up on a Sunday dinner plate!

...and south east towards the Bleasdale Fells

As I lie at the mercy of the surgeon I shall be praying that the scalpel doesn't slip and I suffer a similar fate!!

Anyway, it was a good drive and as I said, I hope that it won't be too long before I get out in the car again.

Wonderful.....

....a couple that really use their Morgan!

It was lovely to see the picture of the 1990 White Plus Four on the August page of the MSCC Calendar for 2014 and to read that the owners, Dennis and Sylvia O'Neill,  have now travelled over 160,000 miles in their car.

That is surely what Morgan ownership should be all about, using the car at every available opportunity.

Well, that blew the dandruff away!!!!

Following our recent travels, the time had come to give the Morgan some attention. That would include getting the wheels off to clean them, which I always do after around 1000miles, at the same time as launching myself under the car to grease the sliding axles.

When I say launch, that does sound a touch dramatic and is frankly, a blatant lie!

The reality is more of an overweight geriatric trying desperately, in the first instance, to get down on his knees in order to place the jack under the car and from a virtually prone position pump up the jack to get the stands underneath the front axle.

Whereupon, he rolls on to his side, trying to ignore the painful reminder of his recently diagnosed hernia, and then shuffles on his back to a position where he can contort his wretched body sufficiently to see the appropriate nipple, at which point he decides that he shouldn't have worn his glasses and will be able to see better without them, so then has to effect this removal operation with greasy fingers and try to place them well away from the area where the action is taking place.

Finally the grease gun is attached to the nipple and with withering strength the thing is squeezed and the injection of the grease finally takes place.

Now, for the next wheel!!!!!

I did promise myself that I would in future just take the car to my local garage, 'cross their palms with silver' and get one of the chaps to do the greasing for me. On the face of it, this would have been a good idea, but it wreaked a bit of 'chucking the towel in' and, also of course, the wheels would not be cleaned either. So I decided that while I am physically able to do the job I will continue.

Actually it is quite therapeutic and I can take pride in the fact that although we are covering a lot more mileage than many owners, our car is just as well cared for, and looks just as pristine, as those mollycoddled cars with ridiculously small mileages!

Anyway, the reason I mentioned dandruff is that it is vital after such a gruelling maintenance session, to take the car out for a quick run, primarily to make sure that the wheels don't drop off, but also because it's such bloody good fun and immensely exhilarating, driving a Morgan without a cap and with sidescreens off, in a very fresh Blackpool breeze.

'Wilson' est mort !!!!

My many readers will be shocked to learn of the demise of the fish 'Wilson' who featured in my post of the 19th May 2012, entitled 'A fish called Wilson'

'Wilson' in happier times, although he doesn't look very happy!!.

While my wife and I were swanning around Herefordshire in the Morgan, the 'Grim Reaper' paid a visit to my youngest daughter's home and reeked his vengeance on our poor defenceless friend.

He had endured solitary confinement, for a couple of years at least, spending his time in a glass globe on the kitchen windowsill, separate accommodation provided by us from a florists shop, to avoid him being summarily executed on possibly unfounded charges that he was 'doing in' any new fishy arrivals in my daughter's family fish tank!

Nothing was proved, although thinking about it, he did have a somewhat sheepish look in his eyes. However,  he must be regarded as an innocent until proven guilty and treated with all the formality, dignity and sincerity that such a quality demands.

Olivia

Olivia, my beautiful grandaughter was very upset by his passing, as she had shared five years of her young life with the little fellow. She decided with her mother that a two minute silence was therefore justified and this took place with due diligence to the strains of classical music.

Rest in Peace

Following this sad performance, Wilson was finally committed to the compost heap, dust to dust, ashes to compost, at which time he will serve to enrich the garden and his memory will linger on in perpetuity.

Another 1000 miles!....

.....bringing the total mileage we have completed in 6 glorious years to 24,100.

The call for our babysitting services came from two fronts with the proposed dates close enough to justify making a holiday out of it. What is more, the Morgan factory Centenary Celebrations on Sunday 13th July was an added bonus that could be incorporated into the sandwich!

A light lunch near Much Wenlock

The drive to our first port of call took around five hours instead of the usual two and a half hours, as we decided to avoid the Motorways and went via Shrewsbury, Bridgnorth, Kidderminster, Redditch and then to Warwick and Leamington Spa.  Longer, but at least our brains weren't assaulted by the motorway traffic noise and on that point it is interesting to note that the new surfaces being put down on the motorways seem much quieter.

'Hooks Barn' near Roson-Wye, our hideaway.

The garden area and beautiful valley beyond.

Forest of Dean boundary marker by our front door.

After a couple of nights we moved on to a cottage on the fringes of the Forest of Dean, via Alcester, Worcester and the Malverns. Lovely, peaceful accommodation, just right for a romantic getaway!!! Who am I trying to kid!

Sadly, under a leaden sky

Bonnets

The day after our arrival was the Factory event which was heavily supported with a fine display of Morgans, factory visits, a fairground, food and drink stalls and entertainment. Whilst there I purchased two rear indicator assemblies as we had been experiencing problems with both units.

What a beast!!!

As Lucas no longer exists, these are 'imitation' items made in Taiwan or somewhere and so instead of being able to buy the offending  innards you have to buy the lot. The problem is not unknown to Morgan and is caused by a 'fabric' washer eroding allowing a short circuit to occur at the bottom of the bulb. It used to be made of 'Bakelite'......such is progress!

Ledbury

Anyway, having enjoyed the visit we returned to our hideaway, having stopped for a look around Ledbury and my wife said, why on earth hadn't I arranged to have the job done by the factory on the next day? Good idea, so I phoned them at 9am on the Monday, got an immediate appointment, so made another trip to the factory. After a couple of hours we were on our way with reliable indicators we hope! The factory are sending my old units away for inspection by the manufacturer.

Hereford Cathedral

Hereford Cathedral and the 'Mappa Mundi' was next on the agenda, followed by a drive to Hay-on-Wye in Wales, the home of the annual Book Festival and countless bookshops.

Hay-on-Wye

The river at Hay

After a swift pint we then made our way through the 'Golden Valley' which, on the day of our drive was a most appropriate name, as the sun shone on fields of golden wheat, that in the Morgan were annoyingly hidden, along with much of the rest of the scenery, by the sort of banked hedgrows very much in evidence in Devon.

In the 'Golden Valley'

Cheating, surely!!

En route we stopped at the ruined Border Castles of Grosmont and Skenfrith.

Grosmont village

Grosmont Castle

Skenfrith Castle

Next day we drove through parts of the Forest, on roads that probably hadn't been surfaced for decades and which would have given my best friend ample fodder, as he regards us as masochists for wanting to drive around in a Morgan! When we finally got to Westbury-on-Severn to look around the National Trust garden and have a welcome 'cuppa', I was beginning to agree with him!

The garden at Westbury-on-Severn

Goodrich Castle is a beautiful ruined medieval pile that has sufficient of it's walls still standing and elements within those walls still recognisable, enabling a good impression to be gained of the lives of the residents there. We enjoyed our visit there very much on our final day.

Goodrich Castle

Bridge close to Ruardean, taken from Goodrich Castle

Ross-on-Wye

An early start the next morning found us battling with the rush hour in Gloucester, as we aimed for Swindon to pick up the M4 to Bracknell and thence to Camberley in Surrey for a few days with our daughter. Great fun especially as it was the Farnborough Airshow and from her property a good view of some of the aerial activity is possible.

The homeward trip was broken at Warwick for one night and then it was a very quick blast up the M40, M42, M6 Toll, M6 and M55 to our home.

The Morgan behaved impeccably and we are already thinking of a possible next trip, will it be the road from Belfast to Londonderry via Stranraer or maybe even the Route Napoleon from Grenoble to Cannes across the Alps.....we shall see.

At last!!....

....a respected motoring journalist whose ideas about modern car design concur with my own.

John Simister reviewed the new BMW M235i in 'Octane' magazine, entitling the piece 'Better than it looks', the first paragraph was as follows:-

"Something has gone wrong with modern car design. There are three areas of concern. One, sheet metal is forced into shapes unbecoming of the medium. Two, there is too much fussy detailing and weird, over-ornate angling of visual components. Three, the resulting mish-mash  of slashes, bulges and distortions is neither memorable nor beautiful. That's the tragedy. Beauty has been banished, replaced by a sort of disposable brutality."

Perhaps a good example of this would be the Nissan 'Puke'....sorry 'Juke', and there are so many others, SUV's and 'Chelsea Taxis' possibly being the most notable.