New Year, New Car

"Jade" my last Singer at the Centenary Rally

I mentioned here that I was contemplating purchasing a new car, well maybe not a NEW car but at any rate a different car. I have actually never owned a new car, I was very lucky when I was younger to often drive my father's cars, and as he worked for Rootes Group and then Chrysler a major car manufacturer he always had new cars, sometimes as many as three in a year! In consequence I have always had a great affection for the cars of the Rootes Group, Hillman, Humber Sunbeam and Singer, I have owned several Hillmans, three Singers, a couple of Humbers (and quite a few Commer/Dodge vans) but never a Sunbeam. 

When I started thinking about buying a classic, and more specifically a sports car my mind naturally turned to Sunbeams, I could quite fancy an Alpine or a fastback Rapier, but cost and practicality reared it's ugly head, one way or another excluding both of these. So I have made a decision, whether it is a wise one or not remains to be seen, but in the end I decided on an MGB GT. Strangely it almost felt like a betrayal buying a Leyland car, the only one I have had before was quite horrible, a 25 almost without any redeeming features - the best thing I can say about that car was that it was a nice colour!

I am also being a bit reckless and am keeping my boring Honda, while I hope to drive the MG regularly for some things it is simply not practical, and one of those is carrying multiple large instruments!

When I have an interesting car I tend to name them, that does mean that the Honda remains unnamed! but I feel the MG will be acquiring a name as soon as I have fixed the wipers and got her back on the road, my only limitation is that there is no way I am going to call her "The Flying Banana"!

New Year new stuff?

Yesterday I wrote about some of the problems I had last year (2024) with my health that impacted my ability to play music, I should have said that I also played in some great concerts with the Croydon Symphonic Band, and the London Gay Symphony Orchestra, as well as being a regular guest with a few others, I enjoyed conducting the Phoenix Concert Band and Croydon Brass and although I have now stood down as MD of Croydon Brass I am looking forward to new challenges to come!

But, my life isn't just music (although looking at my diary sometimes you wouldn't believe that!) At the end of only my second full season of motor sport I am once again picking up the first in class award for the All Circuit Sprint Championship, and am looking forward to another season. After much thought and discussion we have decided to stay with our existing car, it may not be very competitive, but we do know our way around it, and hopefully can still extract a bit more performance from it. ~ Same car but I think we may need some new tyres!

Since retiring in September I have been slowly disposing of many of my tools, lawn mowers, strimmer's, chain saw, pressure washers etc. and now I no longer have much of these it has dawned on my that I no longer need the car that I specifically bought to carry them around in. My Honda is inoffensive, it is comfortable, reliable, has sufficient performance and surprisingly good performance for an SUV, ~ I just find little to love or get excited about ~ and sub 20 mpg is no fun whatsoever!

I am thinking new year, new car. I have always fancied a sports car but for one reason or another I have never been able to have one, so now I am once again thinking "If not now, then when" so I am looking around for an enjoyable sports car that I can carry a tuba in, there aren't many options, but I'm hoping to find something that I can take on a tour, use as my everyday car, and maybe use for a bit of motorsport as well. Like they say "Watch this space!"

As I'm actually writing this on the 31st, the last day of last year I have only to wish you all a very Happy New Year, may it bring you all you wish for.

All Change

This morning the Knackers came along to take away my old car, and this afternoon I took a little trip to pick up my new one.   For some of my wealthier readers perhaps I should define what new and old mean to me since at my end of the automotive food chain these are rather loose terms.  My old car was a Rover 25 from the first half of 2002, with a recorded mileage of 111,115; my new car is a Seat Leon from the second half of 2002 with a recorded mileage of 135,000.

Having said that, although similar ages and shapes they are very different prospects, the Rover felt like an old car, bits of imitation polished wood and acres of boring black plastic. cloth roof lining that was falling off and and a serious lack of design input. It was a reliable car, but difficult to love.   I have to say that there was nothing wrong with the Rover, it just lacked sparkle, or indeed anything to love, I suspect with very little extra effort it could well have been a great little car, maybe they saved it all up for the MG version.

On the other hand the Seat feels like it was conceived and built in the 21st Century. It has lots of nice touches, those bits of design input that make life more interesting, I am particularly struck by the variable speed intermittent wipers, a great idea for anyone living in the UK! So far I have only driven it home from Basingstoke, but am already liking it, a lot.

As I was collecting the car I used public transport to get to Basingstoke, these days I am using public transport a lot more, but not often for journeys that far, the train is great and the journey was painless and uneventful, just how I like it! It always amazes me that it seems to take longer to get to Clapham Junction than from there to Basingstoke, from my local station it seems that every train going anywhere stops everywhere.

After the train I had a short walk to a bus stop and then a short walk from the bus. It was the bus that became the challenge. Every town seems to have a different system, from the bus stops in Basingstoke I couldn't even work out which side of the road to get on! When the bus I needed came along the driver was very helpful and told me what I needed to know, so I got on and tried to pay, using my contactless bank card. Can't do that there, had to use cash. Now in London I have got used to the idea that I have to use a card as they won't take cash, so I ended up having to give the poor driver £10.10 for a £2.10 fare.  He was very helpful and very long suffering, but at least he'll have something to talk to his mates about tonight!

Life would be so much easier, and maybe more people would use public transport a bit more, if we at least had the same system for bus stops and fares across the whole country.

Now I just have to decide whether I'm going to drive to the pub and show off my new toy, or walk and have a drink.

Fictionmania mania

I have had a lot of hits on the blog recently, and I mean a lot! two or even three times more than I would normally hope for, and it seemed to happen almost over night.   A closer check on my Blogger stats shows that most of these hits are coming from web searches for Fictionmania the transgender fiction web site.   A while back I wrote a post about my views on transgender fiction and how most of it seemed to be fantasy rather than illuminating.   That is where all these fresh searches are taking viewers, since it seems that the main Fictionmania site has disappeared.

Following that post I did have a go at starting a short story where the central character is transgendered, but without using the first person, forced femininity, bondage, sissification, or any of the other fantasy aspects of most of those stories, just showing a little of what it can be like for a cross-dresser.   I never got very far and it has sat on the back shelf of my computer for all those months.   I now feel prompted to get it out, dust it off and offer it to you for our comments and advise.   Personally I did not feel adequate to the task I had set myself, and sort of stalled when I got to the point of trying to express the internal conflicts being felt by the main protagonist.   Please let me know what you think I shall decide whether to try to carry on, or bail out accordingly.   As I was writing for a "civilian" audience please try to read from that point of view.

Philippa was going out, it seemed like a long time since she had last been out and right now she was very excited about it.   Having already spent some time shaping and painting her finger nails, she had just had a long shower and shaved so that her legs and armpits were now as smooth as her face, this gave her a great deal of pleasure, the tingle of the warm water on her smooth legs gave her a thrill of joy, and since she only shaved when going out this was a pleasure to be enjoyed, to be savoured in a leisurely fashion.   She took her time and a great deal of pleasure getting dressed, enjoying the touch of her clothes, the softness of the material against her freshly shaved skin.   Now she sat in front of her mirror applying her makeup, she wanted to look perfect, she knew that unless everything was just right she would lose confidence and not go.   Finally satisfied she put on her blouse and the final part, carefully put on and pined in place her wig, she was pleased with how it looked, not too long and just the same shade of grey as her own dramatically thinning hair, it looked good, she looked good, she felt good.

The drive to the station was uneventful, not the local station, after all she didn’t want to be recognised, but another suburban station far enough away that no one there would know her, and on a different line, so there would be no neighbours travelling on the same train.   All went well until she arrived at the station car park she had to gather her strength, tell herself it would all be OK, that no one would notice her, once she was out of the car and buying her ticket it would begin to get easier.   It was always like this when she went out, keen anticipation, the sensuous pleasure of getting dressed, followed by the nervousness of actually getting out into public view.  

Today was a first, Philippa would be travelling on public transport, this meant leaving another safety zone, up till now she had always known that her car was nearby to be used as an escape route or as a refuge.   Travelling by train meant that she had to see the day through to the end, the whole day, out in public, without refuge, without a bolt hole.   There was that familiar sense of excitement building up, along with fear in almost equal measure.   Looking round there was a man smoking a cigarette leaning against his car on the far side of the car park, no one else was around, she got out of the car glanced over saw the man watch her, she walked across the car park to the station, as she went in the man was still watching her, up to the ticket office window the cashier barely glanced up as she asked for her ticket and handed the money over.   Of course she could have used a ticket machine, but talking to someone, that human contact with a real person was all part of the experience.   Her heart beat returning to normal she made her way onto the platform to wait for the train.   This was going to be the biggest outing yet, the excitement was beginning to overwhelm the fear, soon she would start to relax and enjoy herself.

Looking around on the platform no one seemed to take any notice of the tall well dressed middle aged woman, after only a few minutes the train arrived, Philippa got on found a seat and got a book out of her hand bag.   She tried to read, but worried that she would be spotted she couldn’t stop herself from glancing up to see if anyone was looking at her.   No seemed to be taking any notice of her at all so with her confidence increasing she glanced back down at her book, and had a sudden thrill as she saw her own finger nails, carefully manicured and polished to match her lilac dress.   She couldn’t concentrate on the story, just the thought that here she was out in public, manicured, well dressed, looking forward to a day at the national gallery and a bit of window shopping, on Regents Street, and no one knowing her secret.

Arriving at Charing Cross it was just a short walk across to her destination, the National Gallery.   Not being in any hurry Philippa decided that there was time for a coffee, having bought her latte and resisted the pastries, she found an unoccupied table and sat down.   Looking around, just enjoying being out she didn’t notice the approach of the middle aged man in a grey suit.

“Excuse me, is this seat free?” he said

“Oh, yes, please feel free”

Thanking her and settling himself down, to Philippa’s surprise he carried on,

“Are you here to see anything in particular or just passing through before shopping?”

“I wanted a closer look at the Monets, last time I was here it was far too crowed to get a proper look, anyway what makes you think I don’t work here?” – what was she doing, almost flirting with a strange man, but it felt good, just to engage with someone.

“Well, you don’t look like you work around here, for one thing you’re far to well dressed, most of the girls who aren’t in uniform will just wear jeans.   I think it’s a shame I like to see a lady properly dressed, why don’t women wear dresses much these days”, Girls!

“I don’t know, I always feel a little bit special when I put on a dress, I suppose it’s the difference from the normal, making the effort” if only he knew.

“Well I think you look lovely” how could she react to that, this was the first time she had had a proper conversation with anyone other than shop assistants.

“Thank you, you’re not so shabby yourself” Where did that come from, yes she was flirting, why?

“Well I work up here, so I have to make sure I look fairly smart, sort of goes with the territory; look I have to go and talk to some students now, but I have enjoyed meeting you, will you let me buy you lunch?”

“I’m not sure,” holding up her left hand so that the wedding ring showed, “you know…”

“Just lunch, and a chat”

“err….OK”

“Right then, I’ll meet you here about quarter past one, see you then, oh by the way I’m Michael”

“Philippa”

“OK Philippa, I’ll see you at one fifteen then, bye” with that he stood up and left a rather stunned and confused person.   What had she done?, how had she let this happen? This was meant to just be about wearing the clothes, enjoying the feminine side of her nature, to get away from the humdrum world of being Philip.   When all was said and done though Philip loved his wife, his children, he didn’t want to do anything to hurt them that’s why he kept Philippa quite, that’s why he could not be open about his cross dressing, hid the thrill he got from going our dressed as a woman.   Philip was worried about what had been done, but Philippa was thrilled, someone had noticed her, and liked what they saw, better still they had talked and he had still liked her.

Philippa wasn’t the only one who was confused, Michael was also unsure about his lunch date.   At first he had just thought Philippa was a typical middle aged woman come into town from the suburbs for a bit of shopping, but there were one or two very interesting things about her.    He did like to see a lady properly dressed, there just wasn’t enough elegance around these days, and he was sure he had noticed the tell tale signs of suspender clips through the thin material of her dress, but there was something else.   She seemed calm on the surface and their talk about the paintings had been easy enough, but there was some unease, the way she had kept playing with her wedding ring, then when he asked her to lunch, the way she had just held it up, but still accepted the offer, Michael wasn’t sure about this woman at all, but he was interested.   Sure she was a little tall, nearly as big as he was himself, and very strong features, handsome enough but not pretty, but it was the apparently easy way they had chatted with that undercurrent of nerves, that attracted him, still there something he couldn’t quite put his finger on that said stay away.

It was quite difficult for both of them to get through the morning concentrating on the job in hand, it was probably a bit easier for Philippa, she could lose herself in the landscapes of northern France, if not quite totally in the lily ponds while Michael had to stop thinking about her and concentrate on guiding his tour on medieval art.   Some of the girls on the tour were very attractive, but today Michael barely noticed them, he was just thinking about how long to lunch, and should he even turn up?   As the morning wore on they were both getting more and more nervous, Michael becoming a little fearful, despite telling himself it was only lunch the more he thought about it the more he felt that somehow he was getting into something that was going to be very difficult, in ways he just didn’t yet understand.   On the other hand Philippa’s worries became more and more practical.   First was the fear of an early five o’clock shadow, how could she use the electric shaver she had brought with her in the ladies? The noise it made was sure to get attention, and probably not for the right reasons.   At what point should she tell Michael the truth about herself, if he hadn’t already worked it out.   If he knew she was a man then what did that make him? There were men like that she knew, she had read about them and been warned to be careful by friends.   Was that an avenue that Philippa wanted to explore? Indeed was there any avenue she wanted to explore with a man?   She told herself it was just lunch, but in her heart she knew only too well why a man asked a woman to lunch.   Maybe it was not too late she could just leave and no one would ever know.

CLOC

I have just got back from my weekend in Cardiff, this is my second trip down there this month and my third of the year, with a couple of other little trips that is something like 1,000 Motorway miles so far this year.   I am staggered that in all those miles I have yet to witness a single accident, it is to the credit of the many good drivers that they manage to avoid the collisions so nearly caused by the multitude of bad ones.

For the moment I will ignore the sexually insecure men who find that their penises shrink when they are overtaken by a woman driving a Transit van, but I won't ignore the several cases of tailgating I have witnessed or the loads, upon loads, of semi-conscious idiots occupying the centre lane regardless of speed of traffic conditions.  

Today the CLOCS (Centre Lane Owners Club) were out in strength, some where maintaining a steady 60 mph, others would drive at the same speed as the car in front of the, until it turned off or changed lane, then they would accelerate until catching up another car and then staying behind that one.   Worst of all was one particular BMW that would slow right down to around 50 mph for while, then the driver would wake up and accelerate up to around 80 or 90 mph before drifting off into Laa Laa land again. I passed that particular car three or four times while all the time I was maintaining a steady 70 mph.

Of course this sort of behaviour is not only inconsiderate and dangerous it is also illegal, a while back the Government realised just what a problem these idiots are and changed he law so that the Police could issue on the spot fine notices for drivers who were not using motorway lanes properly or driving to close to the car in front.   Much though I hate to say anything good about this Government this was a good thing.   Only one problem ~ in all those 1,000 plus motorway miles I have driven this year I am yet to see a single Police Patrol Car.   How can the police enforce the laws in they are not present?

I can't help think that if the Police can resort to using a Scania to catch HGV drivers using mobile phones then they could put out at least few cars at the weekends

Since I am typing this on Sunday night this is my Weekend Wobbly as well as my rant for the week.

Thank you and Good Night

Qoute of the day

About three years ago I gave up driving a car, I have a van for business so the car was a little bit of a luxury at a time of great financial strain.   At the time I had a Volvo and a nine year no claims bonus.   I have, of course continued to drive my van and have a little no claims bonus on that insurance, but that bonus can only be used on one policy at a time.

It looks as though I may soon be hitting solvency again and am hoping to once again buy and run a car.   I have always fancied a Saab, a 3 door coupe, I love the line I like the engineering and it is a hatchback that should give me all the space I want.   I have seen one I quite fancy at a price I can afford, but before doing anything rash I thought I would check the insurance.   I did the usual trick of checking on line, but to see if I could get a better deal I called the AA, the insurance brokers I had used before.

The nice young man I spoke with confirmed that yes, I did indeed have nine years no claims bonus, but was worried that since it was more than two years since I held any car insurance the various insurance companies they deal with may not accept it.   He checked and no they wouldn't, the best quote he could come up with was over £4,000! for a £400 car with a driver well over 50 years old who has been driving for nearly 40 years.   Sure I had a little accident three years ago, but they might as well have just told me to F*%k off!

By the way, on line quotes ranged from £650 to £800 ~ I don't think I will be going back to the AA

Update

I think it must be time for an update, I seem to have been away from Paula's Place for some time, I keep thinking of great ideas for a post, but by the time I get home, or have a chance to sit down and write something it's gone.   It has to be said that I may have been lacking a bit in motivation.

I have had a couple of trips to Cardiff over the last few weeks, loads of rehearsal meetings and a couple of Gigs.    I have made some progress with the flat, and even managed to get some work done. Do I dwell on these positives, no, I just keep thinking what a nuisance!

I have just realised that this is one of my friend Sue's buzz words, and it perfectly sums up those things, or situations that although no major problem we can well do without.

On Friday morning on my way to an appointment I was involved in a car accident, no one was hurt but my car was no longer quite the shape it was when it left Cowley.   I had to drive it to Cardiff the following morning, and so wanted to get things underway as quickly as possible.   When I got home I started to write up a report of the incident, explaining everything as fully as possible including the photos I took at the scene. I feared that responsibility would be contested and I would end up losing both my car and my no claims bonus.   But before I had finished I got a call from an Insurance Company telling me that their client had reported the incident and accepted responsibility.

Since then my car has been taken away assessed, and, condemned as beyond economic repair, and now after a couple of phone calls returned to me, while I await an offer from the Insurance.

Given that I don't actually like this car much and was planning on replacing it later this year anyway, I should be glad that it looks like I may well be saved the effort of selling it, instead I just can't help thinking "What a nuisance"

No fun with the new toy

I mentioned yesterday that I have bought a new car.   The term "new" may be a bit inaccurate perhaps "different" would have been better a better term.   What I have bought is an old banger that I hope to use to build up my no claims bonus again, it is a 13 year old Rover 25, as I observed to a friend yesterday it is a bit of an old ladies car, I was a little worried how readily she agreed!

I bought the car on E-Bay sight unseen so when I picked it up on Thursday I was a bit worried about what state it would actually be in.   At that point I was reasonably pleased, almost everything seems to work and most of the panels are more or less that right shape, but I am going to struggle to like this car.   It handles OK has reasonable performance, and is fairly comfortable but somehow it is just bland and boring.

Yesterday I took it on  a bit of a run and noticed a couple of little problems, at one point the ignition light came on, at another the radio would momentarily switch off when the headlights were switched on, but it seemed to recover and got me home without any real drama, I made a mental note to check the fuse boxes and wiring as much as I can when I have a chance.   Then using the car this morning it cut and refused to start again showing all the symptoms of a flat battery.   Eventually I managed to bump start the #@$%ing thing and got it home.

There are no obvious faults with loose wires or drive belts so I am now charging up the battery and will have to investigate further before taking her to Cardiff next month ~ I don't want to be stuck on the hard shoulder of the M4 at 6 O'Clock in the morning.

So much for making life easier!

Advent Calendar IX

 

After last night's concert I was musing about the passage of time, and how it only feels like a few weeks ago that it was 2023 and now we are almost at the end of 2024, some sympathetic souls pointed out that I have had a busy and eventful year so it should be no surprise that time has passed quickly, other less sympathetic but more realist pointed out that it is a factor of age! We all experience aging differently, many of my contemporaries have varying health problems, many are grand parents, some are embracing retirement while others again are resisting any pressure to retire. Some will have a comfortable old age as their accumulated wealth (for many based on the outrageous increases in property value) while others will struggle to keep the wolf from the door. I'm not sure that I fall into any of these categories but I do know that I plan to grow old disgracefully! 

Punishing the tyres at the Lotus test track
in August this year 

A couple of years ago I bought myself a new tuba, my rational was that I have probably got up to another twenty playing years left, I wanted a decent instrument to spend that on, not an old one that I had to work around ~ and I had lusted after this particular instrument since it was first introduced. There comes an element of "If not Now, the When?". I am finally solvent and am in a position to buy myself these sorts of thing every now and then, what else am I going to use the money for? I have to accept that there are activities that I can do now that I won't be able to for much longer. This is very much the same rational that got me started in motor sport. Next Month after only my second season of sprint racing I will be collecting my second first in class trophy! This isn't as impressive as it sounds as there are only three of us in the class, and the chap who actually won the class, came third overall in the championship and is only allowed one trophy! 

I am looking forward to another season next year, we still have to decide if we will carry on with the same car in the same class, or buy a new (bigger engined, more powerful, faster) car and step up to a more populous class. We don't need to decide for a while yet. However I am thinking of replacing my current road car, I have an inoffensive SUV, it does everything I need a car to do, it is comfortable, has acceptable performance, and an enormous boot (trunk for my transatlantic readers), yet it has failed to endear itself to me, and it drinks petrol at an alarming rate, often slipping down to around 20 mpg. Now I no longer need something like this for work I think it is time for a change, yet I am struggling to make a decision ~ I have always wanted a sports car and have never had one, maybe this is another case of "If not Now, then When"

What I do know is that I still have plenty to look forward to, regardless of age we all have plenty to look forward to, and for me that is a large part of Advent as we look forward to Christmas, whether you are just looking forward to some time off, seeing family, sharing gifts and celebratory meals, or whether you are also looking forward to celebrating the birth of Christ and the message of hope that goes with it whatever our age we all have something to look forward to.

I'm in Love

Sunbeam Talbot Alpine

007's Alpin

The other night we watched one of our favorite films, "To Catch a Thief" as well as a couple of excellent stars in Carry Grant and Grace Kelly there are also lovely outfits by Edith Head; add all that to a good story well told and what more could you want.   That is a view I think most people would share, but for one or two of us there is an added attraction.   A rare cinematic outing for one of my favorite cars, the original Sunbeam Alpine, or more accurately the Sunbeam Talbot Alpine.   This is a special coach built version of the Sunbeam Talbot 90 sports saloon, and the first to bear the Alpine name commemorating success in the Alpine Rally

This is a very different car to one used by James Bond in Dr No. that was the Sunbeam Alpine based on the Audax or Hillman Minx floor pan.   Still a very good and under rated car and one of the prime British sports cars of the 1960s.

You may gather I am a bit of an "anorak" on these cars, if I was to do Mastermind I think my specialist round could be on Rootes Group car of the 1960s and seventies.   My Father worked for the firm and always had one of their products, later when he started to  get Company Cars provided he had a lot of Sunbeam Rapiers, the fast back sports saloon based on the Hillman Hunter .

H120 Rapier

As a bit of a fan I have had several Rootes Group cars, including a couple of Humber Scepters, Several sundry Hillmans including at least 2 Avengers, a few Imps and my first car a 1965 Minx.   I have had 2 Singer Vogues including my beloved Jade and a Chamois. But as yet no Sunbeams.   I feel the lack of this and hope one day to complete my set.

Updates

Still Going

I've been surprised to find that I have now owned my current car for over 6 years! For me that must be close to a record. I usually manage to get bored with a car after a year or two, sometimes less than that. To be honest I have tried to replace it a couple of times, but I simply couldn't find anything better for the small amount I'm prepared to pay. Over the last couple of years the cost of second hand cars has gone up much more than other inflation, indeed my car is now worth more than I paid for it 6 years ago, even with substantially more miles on the "clock" It has now developed a few minor faults that are beginning to annoy me so maybe later this year I will actually make the change. I even feel quite tempted to go back and have another "Classic Car", but now that I don't have a garage anymore I'm not sure that's sensible.

The other day I wrote that I had a "new" instrument and would be trying to sell one of my others, well I did put "Big Shinny" up for sale on a well known auction site, despite quite a few watchers I had no bids so I am now trying to work out how I can manage to keep all my instruments. The "new" B & S has been serviced and is even better than I first thought, somehow the extreme bottom register is not quite as good as y Conn, but everything else is substantially better. I spent quite a bit of the weekend playing it, on Saturday I attended a "Play Day" organised by the Central Band of the British Legion, a very good band based quite close to me, but unfortunately rehearsing the same evening as my beloved Croydon Symphonic Band. Sunday ended up frantic as I was conducting teh Allegra Concert Band in the morning, then back for an afternoon with the Central Band, before dashing up to central London for the final rehearsal before next Sunday's concert with the LGSO  

After all that I felt the need to take today off, I had planned to relax and catch up on the weekend's rugby, instead I somehow seemed to spend most of the day preparing the scores of some of my arrangements and an original work that I am submitting for publication. I don't have any expectations, but I will be highly "chuffed" if they are accepted.

Sometimes it can be really difficult

Some of you may just remember me writing about a small car accident I had back in January last year, the damage to the car was no more than superficial, (however it was written off as it was such an old banger!) and nobody was hurt, at all! The whole thing was settled very quickly and amicably, indeed what impressed me most was quick, efficient and friendly way it was all dealt with.   I replaced the car and considered the incident closed.

Now, over a year later I am getting hordes of unsolicited phone calls from "Ambulance chasers" trying to encourage me to make a further claim for personal injury.   I am refusing as there was no personal injury and just about all have left is my personal integrity.   I have had it suggested that since the car was written off it must have been a considerable impact, I have been told that I must have experienced some discomfort following the accident, I have been told that I may be unwise to not claim the "thousands of pounds owed" me.

It is never easy to resist the temptation to try and get money for nothing, and when, like me, money is in short supply it is even more tempting.   However I am holding out, I keep asking for the phone calls to stop and I will not claim for injuries I did not sustain.   Ultimately every one of us who insures a vehicle pays for this profiteering, I suspect that these sorts of fraudulent claims now represent a major proportion of the insurance premiums that we all are obliged to pay.

I'm holding out but it's not easy.

Buttoned up

I like motor-sport, and as is right and proper F1 is back as the prime motor-sport to watch.   The last few seasons have been spectacular with so many top drivers competing, overtaking on the track as well as in the pits, and dare I say it some big personalities involved.   Well this year we have six world champions on the grid, and they are all still very competitive.

With the rule changes this year McLaren are the only team who have eschewed the stepped nose, this means that without a shadow of a doubt they have the best looking car (I won't comment on whether they have the best looking driver as well ~ but they have) is it only coincidence that they also seem to have the fastest car.   For the second Grand Prix running they have locked out the front row of the grid, and at Australia they should have got a one two result if it hadn't been for the safety car.

I've now watched the KL Grand Prix and it was very interesting.   Jenson had all the bad luck, Peres was magnificent as was Alonso, but McLaren are still leading the constructors Championship.   I would love to see the best looking car win, in my book ugly design just shouldn't prosper.

A classic design

Matchbox model of the original BMC 1800

I have always had something of a passion for cars, back in the 1960s when I was growing up this was manifested by collecting toy cars.  One I still have and have always admired the styling of was the BMC 1800 Pininfarina.  So different and exciting compared to the dowdy but worthy standard "Landcrab" I was only to experience this design in the form of the "Matchbox" model.

Many years later in the 1970s the newly reformed British Leyland were to resurrect the design in the stunning Rover SD1.   With their all aluminum V8 this would prove to be a quite awesome car, whether as a mile eating luxury saloon, fast pursuit Police car or even as a Touring car racer.

As I became more and more aware I found this same design cropping up again and again.

Citroen GS

Citroen CX Prestige

Renault Megane

Seat Leon

Now I have bought a car again after a break of several years, looking at it I find it hard to get much pleasure from the image, but at the same time I wish the same amount of design effort had been put into the interior that has been put into the exterior.   Or maybe it just needed longer to mature.

Finding it hard to love the new baby

I have a mental list of cars I want to own, not an unattainable list of Aston Martins and Bentleys, but cars that when they came I thought "that would be nice". At one time or another I have owned most of the cars on that list, Mercedes estates, the Renault 20, Humber Scepter, Mark I Ford Granada Coupe, Opel Senator, Peugeot 405 Estate, The Rover SD1 V8 is one of the few on the list that I have still to own. ~ Maybe one day.....................

It's not unusual ~ oh actually yes it is

It's not unusual for me to be busy, and this year it is looking dangerously as though I may have bitten off a little bit more than I can chew work wise, I seem to have committed myself to slightly more work than I can actually manage.   Add to that my active music life, selling the house and all the extra stress and occupation of transition, and it's not unusual to find me stressed out, flaked out, and sometimes even passed out!

I thought I was more or less copping, but on Friday evening I found myself playing at a May Masked Ball, this should be a fun filled, fabulous event, one where I can be as flamboyant as I like, and still not be the weird one.   Yet I found myself rather going through the motions, I was not a lot of fun and even playing music felt a bit of an effort.   Then on Saturday I was gardening and that just felt like work ~ I think I need a holiday, I just can't see when I am going to find the time, never mind the money.

All this (and one or two other things that have happened) put me in mind of how our ordinary is other peoples weird.   I used to drive what I still think of as my car  a 1966 Singer Vogue Estate, at the time I bought it is was the only one on the road (in a Clarkson voice) in the world.   This was my day to day car and most of the time it was not a show car but simply our family car, so sometimes I would find myself driving down the road and becoming aware of people looking, often my first thought was "what are you looking at" and then I would realise!

Being trans can be a bit like that, when I first started going out I felt as though everybody was staring at me, if I heard any laughter I assumed that I was the object of amusement.   Now that this is my new normal I am used to presented as the woman I am it is just me going about my everyday life.   So when somebody reacts to me as anything other than just another woman, I need to remind myself that my normal is not necessarily theirs.

Those of us who do not conform to society's expectations need acceptance and understanding, but we also need to exercise that self same acceptance and understanding.   I am not suggesting that we put up with transphobia, verbal, or physical abuse, simply that we are going to surprise a few people, and we need to give them time and space to understand.

Baby it's cold outside

The other day I mentioned Silver Halide Dreams, another blog where I hadn't seen a post for some time.   Well low and behold Bunny has made a post! Maybe I should do this more often and then even Meg might come up with something!

~~~

It has been cold, maybe not by Siberian stand, but by Surrey standards it's cold.   Yesterday I planned to work around 10:00 but the frost was still hard.   By around 11:30 I thought that I should at least show my face, so I went out to the van and found I had to scrape f the inside of the windscreen!   I managed hours useful work at my customer but much of the garden was still covered with frost so was very restricted in what I could do.

~~~

My flat faces north, so it gets no direct sun and is pretty cold most of the winter. It is lovely and cool in the summer but there is always a trade off.   In November I bought myself an oil filled radiator which I have been leaving on at the lowest setting all the time, it certainly takes the edge of the cold and doesn't seem to be costing me too much.   Mind you with EON still not playing ball with my meter I am spending more than I should be.

~~~

The cold has also got to my wife's car, yet ait has suffered with a flat battery, I popped round today to give a jump off the van and a quick once over. Driving it around the block I was struck by just how much fun it was, after my van and the Sher little Polo felt like a sports car, small, nippy, taught suspension and very direct steering and brakes. I won't be rushing out to change as my tuba doesn't fit in the boot, but it did remind me why I like that car so much.

~~~

I always used to look forward to winter, as for me that was the best part of the Ruby season, I don't enjoy the winter quite so much now, but I am enjoying watching the European Rugby of TV, and am now looking forward to the Six Nations. I certainly wouldn't want to engage in that level of physicality now, but still enjoy watching. Indeed I have now decided that the best way for me to enjoy exercise is vicariously.

Traffic

Yesterday coming home from taking my daughter to school I eventually got to the front of a long queue of traffic waiting to turn right, when a car stopped to let me go.   This is nice, but what was very nice is the the car was a soft top Mercedes driven by a good looking blond.    Like most men I have a few fantasies about blonds driving convertible Mercedes, unlike most men I have a few fantasies about being the blond driving a convertible Mercedes.  

Not the Blond in  Mercedes I had in mind

Maybe it is an age thing but somehow an attractive blond and a convertible Mercedes is the perfect combination of elegance, and power there used to be something about a sexy woman, controlling a powerful beast of a car that added to the sexiness, now the sports cars are mosty tamed, but there is still something very sexy about the combination.

It's nice to feel needed

I had been looking forward to a night off last night, I have been so silly busy since getting back from holiday I have had something on pretty much every night.   I did have tuesday evening to myself, but that meant laundry, washing up etc.etc.   So I had an evening of pizza wine and a film planed, untill I got a call from my wife.

Her car was playing up, could I help? the immediate problem was just a flat battery so we managed to get it charged up, then the car wouldn't start and the battery went flat again, so charge the battery again and try again with the aid of a jump.   We got the car started and all seemed well.  I have now had another call that although it has started it is not running well, could I take another look.

I quite like tinkering with cars so this is no problem, and I am more than happy to help.   Indeed it is nice to know that my wife still feels free t call on me, I ust hope that I can find and fix whatever is wrong.

As an aside I try to avoid inflicting my feminine side on my family but it wasn't until I got there that I realised I had burgundy nail polish on

Advent Calendar III

Now that I think about it, having an advent calendar looking back is a truly bizarre idea. The whole point of Advent is looking forward; looking forward to Christ's birth, looking forward to his ultimate redemptive act, looking forward to being reconciled to God.   Having said all that I find I am in the Magnus Magnuson position of "I've started so I'll finish"

Back in February I see I was very much concerned with my transition, and was beginning to morn the loss of the bloke I had been, I now understand that this was something like a bereavement, for others as well as myself, and a process that had be gone through. I also see that I was mourning the late great Leonard Nimoy, and remembering the evenings when my brothers and I would have our tea watching Star Trek.  

Those were strange days for our family I was changing school, my eldest brother was about to start A-levels and my other brother O-levels, my Father was working away all week, and my Grand Father, who had been living with us all of my life, had recently had some severe strokes and was permanently in a geriatric hospital.   All of this was a tremendous strain on my Mother who would visit her father daily, as well as looking after us and the house, and teaching two or three days every week.

My Father would be away from Monday morning till Friday evening, and then would often have to visit his Mother during that precious weekend time, so in many ways family life was difficult, at the same time we had no mortgage or rent to pay, my father's career was progressing nicely and by then he had a company car so we were a two car family at a time when many families still did not have a car at all, I Suspect that it may have been around this time that we first got a colour television; a vast box in the corner that dominated the whole room and even made horse racing interesting for a while.

I always knew which uniform I wanted to wear

This co-incided with the time I found myself becoming more and more interested in feminine attire, I often wondered if this was all linked, the absence of both my Father and my Grand Father, my Mother' busy schedule, causing my eldest brother to take on a deal of the caring role for me. I consider all this a lot less now, I tend to adopt the position that my parents did what was best at the time (and did work out to be the best!) the situation was what it was, and I am what I am.

Going back to Star Trek, and Google picture search of "Star Trek Christmas" throws up some interesting images, these a few of my favorites.

Live long and prosper.

Meet Callie

On arrival

So far I have spent most of this year a little obsessed with my "new" car. Callie arrived in my life back in January, like most cars over 40 years old she did not have an MOT, but I was assured that she ran and stopped and went round corners. I knew she had not been on the road for a couple of years but had been driven up and down a drive so all should be OK, or thereabouts.

My initial assessment was that everything was there but needed refreshing, the only real problem was that the wipers didn't work. The switch was OK but wiring was a bit of a mess and I assumed this was the problem, oh if only it had been that simple. A total swine of a job but in the end I had to fit a new motor and a new wheel box ~ but now I could legally drive her on the road. So far I have

• Full Service with new engine oil and filter, new plugs, points & condenser.
• New fuel filter
• New gearbox oil
• New Horns
• refreshed reversing lights
• Fitted sound deadening (carpet underlay)
• Cleaned out and adjusted carburettors
• Adjusted rear brakes
• Cleaned overspray off windows
• New mirrors (inside and out)
• New heater control valve
• Flush and replace coolant
• New hoses, thermostat and housing
• Tighten up steering wheel mounting
• Replace bonnet catch spring
• New clock and cigar lighter unit (for phone charging)

Visiting friends

I am currently engaged in trying to replace the front engine mounts before she goes in for an MOT tomorrow, and then a trip to France on Sunday ~ only four days from now, when I plan a round trip of around 1,200 miles.

My rational in buying an MGB GT was that there are loads of them around so there's no need to be too precious, I want a useable car not a show pony! Spares are readily available, indeed, you can buy everything needed to build a complete new car, and, I thought it would be reasonably easy to work on. Well two out of three isn't too bad, but just about every job I have done so far is way more difficult than it should have been, too much is virtually inaccessible, things are at stupid angles and often there isn't space to use the correct tool. But all in all I am having fun with it.