Help! My car is trying to kill me!

I have been driving around East Anglia for my Grand Touring project and I stopped off at the old fishing port, now yachting centre, Burnham-on-Crouch. My beloved 1968, British racing Green MGB GT had already broken down after 10 miles on the exit to the Blackwall Tunnel (a small nut had come loose and shorted out the electrics). I was getting ready to check out of the Inn where I had spent a lovely night and I decided to load my bags first. I took the holdall and my suit carrier out first, these fit neatly in the boot. The hatchback on the MG is a beautifully sculpted piece of steel and glass, designed by the renowned Italian company Pininfarina. It is held in place, when open, by two chrome arms that hinge like elbows and lock into place. I had my headphones on and was listening to Neal Stephenson's "Cryptonomicon" book as two members of staff went by, both admiring the classic lines and general beauty of the MG. I lifted the holdall in first and placed it to the left, then the suit carrier to the right, I went to spread the car rug over the top of the bags when the arms unlocked and the hatchback came crashing down on my head. I felt a resounding crack on my noggin and a flash of pain.

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Bye, bye Wordpress, hello Squarespace

Just a quick note to explain that the new blog look is because I have grown tired of constantly having to install updates to my Wordpress based blog and jumped ship to Squarespace.com, who do all of that tiresome maintenance for you.  Now I love tinkering as much as any geek but when I was spending more time on maintenance than on creating posts it is time to say goodbye.  Look for weekly updates from now on and some more tinkering on the look of the blog.

How much do I love my MG?

My MG in the Yorkshire Dales (with Thermos of tea on the bonnet)

Let me count the ways to paraphrase Elizabeth Barrett Browning. First thought I should apologise for the lack of updates for a while. I have not been well but whilst not fully fit yet I hope that I can get back on track with weekly updates. Second, I have been able to sporadically get out in my MG and I think it is about time to write a few words on the reality of driving around in a 40 years car.

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235 Reasons not to Drive in London

The MGB GT that is to be my GT project car

It really should not come as any surprise to find out that I love driving. The first clue is that I have a blog about my project to try and Grand Tour in the 21st. The second, if you know me, is my love of motorsport and Formula 1 in particular. Another clue is that when I owned a motorbike I used to get on it and try and put on a seat belt, when I remembered I did not have one I used to feel an emptyness inside, a car shaped emptyness.

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Emerging from Hibernation

I have been busy sorting out various matters in the offline world and that has drawn my focus away from the GT project. However, as spring arrives in Britain (okay, maybe that is a bit optimistic as it is snowing today) this project gets into top speed (pun intended).

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