News

10-01-16 The Christmas holiday is over and we are back to work. I had a great time, lots of food and obviously a lot of drink. The best of all was the time spent with family, we played silly card games like cards against humanity and exploding kittens. Both of which are perfect for the whole family, especially children and grannies. I suppose we are lucky though, the youngest child there was 25 and all the grannies are dead. So no horrid screaming kids (dont like kids) and no smelly old people. Hang on Lynda and I are in our 60s, another 20 years and we will be old and smelly as well. Speaking of smelly with all the mixtures of turkey, crisps, after eights, cheesy footballs, mince pies, parsnips, prawns, roast potatoes, quality street, pringles, christmas pudding, brandy butter, nuts, dates, stuffing, sausage meat, avocado, smoked salmon, gammon, yorkshire puddings, Christmas cake, stilton, brie, crackers, guiness budweiser, red wine, bucks fizz, port, mince pies (did I already say mince pies) well more mince pies with double cream and custard, stollen, cheeselets cranberry sauce etc. it does tend to play havoc with ones innards, we gave up blaming the dog and just owned up. Got some great pressies, got a fondue set (very 70s), a new blender and a turntable so I can play my old records, including some Rod Stewart and the faces stuff. The reason I mention this is that thankfully no one bought me the new Rod Stewart album. Which is bland soulless poo. Oh so its a bit celtic? If you want diddly i music listen to old dublinners records, I do and they are great. When I was 18 me and a mate were hitchhiking around Ireland we went into a bar in a town called Kilkey in county Clare. Luke Kelly was sitting at the bar and I was star struck. Luke Kelly of the dublinners had one of the most beautilful voices. If you dont believe me then youre wrong... Joking aside, listen to a track called Tramps and Hawkers. Oh yes, presents, I also got a Teddy bear with a recording inside of things I say a lot. But most confusing for me was a bottle of bread dipping oil. Now I must admit I did not know what it was. But it seems the young trendy people sit around dipping crusty bread into flavoured oil. I am sure it will be very nice and being oil, low in calories which is just what I need considering that by the size of my tummy I might be pregnant. I always think I will do a lot of nice things over the Christmas break. Read a couple of books, learn some new recipes. Do some research for new models. Finish a couple of odd jobs left over from last Christmas. But I end up turning into a blob and doing absolutely bugger all. A couple of days I managed to get out of bed at about 1.30 in the afternoon, put my dressing gown on, collapse onto the sofa and watch tv all day. All the while stuffing my face with crisps and chocolate. At one point I had to watch 5 minutes of east enders as the remote was on the table and I could not be bothered to get up and get it. Lynda thankfully came in with beer and pies and changed the station. She is such a love. We only have one Christmas tradition in our household (besides presents and dinner) and that is to watch A muppets christmas carol. The best telling of this wonderful Dickens story and Michael Caines best acting role as Scrooge. And Gonzo as Charles Dickens is inspired. The whole holiday past off with no hassle and no arguments. I guess we all like each other, they even like me. Last Sunday (Jan 3rd) we had a three hour race at our track which was a great success and we came third. This was a big surprise as we have not been racing seriously for more than about a year. We were racing some experienced racers and when we say them practicing we though, oh dear, we are well off the pace. I did not bother practicing, my first go of our car was when it was on the grid. To our surprise the track was rubbered in with all the use and our Matra was up there, we even won a heat and tied another. I think everyone enjoyed it and thanks to Graham R for organising it and Graham P for building a good smooth and reliable slot car. Just a couple of pics of the workbench to prove things are in progress. The next news will have more on slot cars, promise.