:: Diary - January 2018 ::

:: Monday, January 15, 2018 ::

There hasn't been much to report recently - a combination of pishing rain, freezing temperatures and gritted roads means that opportunities for classic car motoring have been a bit limited. I've had a couple of excursions to the shops etc just for a laugh, and to keep things turning over, but not much.

Anyway, today the weather forecast says it's going to snow heavily tomorrow, so I decide that I should get the car under cover along at the farm. So with a lift back duly arranged, I set off, and pull up in farmyard and collect the keys. I open the door, and there my space isn't! It has another car in it.

It belongs to the dad of the guy who rents the other half of the shed - he brought it in on Saturday. It's an American-registered Jensen-Healey and it's very nice.

Now that's all very well, but it's in the bit of the garage I though I was paying for. The bit where the Chevrolet goes.

Not much I can do about it today. I have to take it home again.

Later at night, I'm thinking that it's sticking so far over that I won't be able to get my car in and out past it. Various revenges are plotted.

:: Sunday, January 21, 2018 ::

I go back along to the garage to check out how much space I am left with.

With my sensible head on, it's not that bad. I can manoeuvre the Porsche or the TVR past it, but obviously not the Chevy.

I speak to the farm man, and it seems that the Jensen is only going to be there for a couple of weeks, he has taken the boot lid off to get it re-sprayed, and didn't want to leave it outside with an open boot. It'll be away soon.

It appears that I have caught a wee bout of "the Daves". Symptoms - instant jumping to conclusions and over-reaction to shit that doesn't matter. It's not the full-on version though - no casual slaps or anything like that - so the recommended cure is just to "calm the fuck doon".

I need to get the new wiper mechanism fitted to the Chevy anyway, and that involves dismantling half of the stuff behind the dash, and that would be easier if it was at the house where my tools are. So I order a proper stormproof cover for it, and everybody's happy.

:: Thursday, January 25, 2018 ::

Well, the new stormproof cover came on Tuesday, but it was raining so can't put it on the car.

So today, the car has dried out enough to put the cover on. Easier said than done. I unfold it, make sure the bit that says "front" is at the front, and pull it on.

It doesn't fit. It's like getting a sumo wrestler into a jockey's wet suit.

Bugger. So I fold it all up back into the bag, then email them. "Oh," they say, "we've sent you the wrong one... well send you the correct one, and collect that one. Fandabby

The interior is damp though. I see damp marks on the headlining, and the drivers side carpet is floating in water, probably because the inner door weatherseal, doesn't. I take out the mat and lay it on the garage floor to dry, then put the dehumidifier on the trans tunnel to extract some of the water.

:: Wednesday, January 31, 2018 ::

DPD arrived this morning to collect the old one. Apparently a different van will deliver the new one later...

Eventually the new one arrives, and guess what?

It fits!

Before I put it on, I empty half a gallon of water out of the dehumidifier. I'm not sure if that has come out of the car, or of it has been drying out half of the neighbourhood through that weather seal. I plug it back in and switch it on.

I'm a bit happier now. Well, less grumpy at least.