Aston Martin Rust Oration

It’s always those who have nothing that tend to lose everything…

Redcross appeal.

Two great films on TV this week-end that made my big TV worth every penny. And both featuring my favourite countryside campaigner Edward Fox.

I defy anyone bloke of a cetain age to watch the  Battle of Britian without a lump in their throat.

The second film was the original Day of the Jackel. Apart from being a great film, it is excellent for spotting classic French cars.

At the moment my dream garage is a WARM one…

But this guy really has made his own dream garage!!

When showing a young american a photo of ROJ – pre-stripdown, he said “Oh wow, is that a Mustang!”

And I suppose i can see his point:

In similar vein I saw a photo of Labour Chief Whip Nick Brown MP and thought “Johnny Vegas???!!”

Happy 2010….

Had a wonderful week in Cologne with Angus and his friends, walked the legnth of the city and visited every Christmas Market. Saw all the sites and even climbed the 156 metre bell tower!

Chuffed with all the classic cars out on the streets too. No Astons sadly, and some I wasn’t fast enough to photograph – but here are a few:

Cold, clear but lovely – had enough of Chrismas markets for at least another year….

Ordered some nuts and Bolts from Namrick and like a dolt put my home address for delivery. Tried for three days to contact Interlink via their website and the phone numbers they gave – no answer on the phone, and no voice mail facility, and the website tells me no record of my parcel. So It’ll go back to Namrick who will have to send it out again with another £8 shipping fee… Grrrr.

Perfect timing!

I got an email this morning suggesting I take my loved one for a romantic Christmas in Paris… on Eurostar! great timing by the e-marketing folks…

St James’s Park looks lovely in the snow. Although I did mistake a swan for a pile of snow in the dark.

Poor old Michael Crick - had to leave his dinner early at Inn the Park to get back to present Newsnight this evening, Nick Robinson and the rest of the BBC Westminster team carried on happily.

Not sure where my invitation to the Today Programme Christmas bash went this year…

As a professional writer I should be able to make anything sound interesting – even the rather dull task of finding and fitting sound-proofing material to a thirty-six year old Aston Martin V8.

The original engine bay insulation consisted of sponge backed thick vynyl material – which soaked up the moisture like, well, a sponge.

I wanted to replace it with something more practical but that looked similar – could I find something? Could I not.

Aston Martin still supply the spongey stuff, but at over a hundred quid for three pre-cut pieces  I was not tempted.. Instead I am using the same insulating foam I put round the fuel tank (remember the fuel tank folks? – that was three years of blogging ago!!)

As my eye is taking longer to heal than it takes for an MP to pay back their expenses, I couldn’t do too much this weekend – so I cleaned up and painted the door hinges and fitted the aircon controller Now, wasn’t that interesting?

While blogging I tend to surf You Tube for interesting music, the Yoshida Brothers are my latest discovery.

Good end to a hectic week….

I spent yesterday afternoon with Shadow Minister for London Bob Neill MP  looking at the proposed World Heritage site in Bromley where Darwin did much of his research.

One of the best things about living in London is discovering interesting places where you’d least expect them. In the space of two hours we saw Darwin’s bog – where he studied carniverous plants, Wilberforce’s Oak tree where William Wilberforce declared war on the slave trade. the remains of a 2,000 year old hill fort and a wonderful medievel tile kiln only discovered relatively recently when someone fell into it!

It takes a trained eye to see these embankments for what they were – the ancient ramparts of a 2,000 year old hill fort.

Some of the tiles still have the finger prints of the men who made them imprinted on the surfaces.

Follwed an eventful day with a splendid evening at the National Theatre – The Pitmen Painters is a very entertaining play, and superbly acted.