So much for the good intentions of getting back to updating the site monthly again then. Clearly been too nice to be stuck indoors and the daily trogging over hill and down dale with Polly the Collie is proving most therapeutic unlike ride-on mowers. Anyway a most warm welcome and thanks for checking us out. We took a whizz over to Ireland to visit Aidan Murphy and partake of the black stuff with Leo Forde and more recently to Bremen which is a truly lovely place, a bit of a miniature York but with trams. Bazzer and I eventually met up in Oxford to partake of the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride, a write up will follow. Suffice to say we got drenched and ‘The Breeze’, as the BSA is now known, only stopped a few times! It was actually a really fantastic experience and if you have something Old and Rusty or ‘permitted’ then I can’t recommend it enough and its all for a good cause. Talking Old & Rusty, thanks to a brainwave by Andy Rawson and the organisational skills of Lucius Peart we managed a rather lovely tether to cheer up Tessa Tennant who has been a bit off colour of late. The weather couldn’t have been kinder and it all turned out to be a bit of wheeze. Once I’ve managed to get some piccies we’ll put a piece up. Big thank yous to the BBM&L and Trevor Read for the loan of the balloons. On the home-front HS2 have now started trial bores in the back field following a visit by speedy archaeologists rampaging with a geo-phys bar. Not sure if they found anything. They were here, there and gone, bit like Piltdown man. Shame that all this sort of stuff that HS2 is doing isn’t in the public domain. Now after probably the most spectacular and longest drawn out autumn on record the leaves have finally nearly all gone and what was a copper woodland floor is now turning brown. Means the deer and squirrels can be spotted by Polly earlier so she is well happy.
In the News is the very sad news of the tragic accident in Africa in which a three passengers were thrown from the basket during landing and one dying later as a result of her injuries. Our thoughts go out to all those affected. From darkest, deepest Gatwick the CAA have issued a rather readable booklet/paper on acronyms but to read it you’ll need to know some not covered by it NCT then. From Bristol comes news that Camerons have announced that Fedor, chuffed with whizzing round the planet, is now having a crack at the hot air balloon altitude record sponsored this time, it would appear, by Mother Russia! Quite a few articles get interesting comments and enquires which is always nice but occasionally we get a response the likes of what we could never imagine so it was with a lovely surprise that we heard from Lawrence Copp and also his sister Margaret the son and daughter of the pilot of Pregnant Pig, the Liberator that put down in a field in Ashill, updating us on the event and their dad. Brings it all to life. There’s a bit in there about it. Wendy Rousell penned a quick report on the One Man Meet whilst Old & Rusty participant Steve Roake took advantage of the inclement weather and checked out the rather lovely Crich Tram Museum. Meanwhile on the continent Neil Iveson and teams various attended both Warstein and Ferrara and returned with a case of pig beer for us for which we thank him very much. Following our visit to see Aidan he kindly sent us a rather appropriate piece on Dis-owning Disability. Our Pete recently lost the sight in one eye having been hit in it by a stone thrown up by a passing car. A most timely reminder then,
I reckon, on the power of perseverance. In preparation and coming up soon will be the article on our day out in Lymington where they sell the most expensive beer on the planet. There is also a lot going on in the world of instructors, inspecting and safety so hopefully over the winter we’ll be putting together a bit or two about training for licences even though it may all change very suddenly come the EASA revolution. All stuff to look out for over the next couple of days (OK maybe weeks).
Now ever since we became tenants of the Crown we have had problems with the electric especially in the Dark Barn. Now though we have the power back on in the knick of time for those early evenings of darkness so now the workload has dropped off like what it does at this time of the year, so much so we are taking a week out, we may be able to get some of the more delayed projects done and sorted. We have been trying to get some bits for the Puch we inherited. Not my cup of tea but nostalgic in a way. A sort of alternate FS1E. We won’t be restoring it but it now has tyres and a back light and hopefully soon a twistgrip and throttle cable. The Terrible Terrot has a new engine, or at least a better, less broken engine, so that will be on the bench. We found a Bima engine in France and the nice bloke that had it posted it over. Blinding. 
Barry’s bikes seem to be behaving themselves but the short evenings and cold is taking its toll so one is now in bed for the winter. I must get on and re-build me shed down the garden over the winter to re-house the growing collection which I fear may have to be slimmed a tad. But what to sell? Maybe I’ll just loan some of them. You see I’d rather like to ride the Sunbeam S8 in next years Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride, then again I want to get the Standard Companion sorted and the Eight back on the road. Well that’ll do for the moment, just a big thankyou as always for dropping by and giving us the time of day and of course your business for which we are most grateful. We hope you enjoy your visit. All the very best from Jane, John, Polly and chris. Main piccie is the new computer face-saver picture of Polly courtesy of Bazzer. Piccie from the OMM courtesy Sandy Mitchell. So long leafy trees.