Going wild

I have been out and about but have just not been on the blog keeping it up to date.

On 4 July, Murray and Christine had some good friends visiting from NZ and they were keen to take a trip with me so we drove into central London to collect them from their hotel and then set off to see some lovely English villages. The 'tour' started at Denham then Chalfon't St Giles, Old Amersham and Wendover where they had chocolate cake and coffee and I had water.

On to Startop End, where they had lunch and I had water; then Aldbury; back through Chesham and Beaconsfield, where I had more water and they had nothing; and finally to return John and Robyn to their hotel in London. We all had a great time.

Today we did not venture quite so far afield, just a little way north, nearly to St Albans where the Future Gardens have recently opened. The wild flowers on the drive in were simply fantastic.

Over the fence but down a long country lane is the Royal National Rose Society garden were I was met by one of my more modern cousins, an RV8, then it was home again for another fill of water.

Murray has purchased a new thermostat and housing and will get that fitted soon so hopefully that will stop me boiling away my water so rapidly and reduce the need for the contual filling of my radiator will cease.

Off to the Nether regions

Late on Tuesday night, Murray ordered a new regulator for me from Holden Vintage & Classic Ltd and it was on his desk first thing Thursday morning. Murray thought that was absolutely first class service.

So, on Friday afternoon he removed my original regulator and fitted the new one; a reproduction unit that looks exactly like the old one but made of newer materials. When he had finished, we went for a quick spin around the block and it appeared to be working as a regulator should.

So, today we set off from London for Nether Winchendon, in Buckinghamshire out near Aylesbury. It meant we got to go out past the Chalfonts along the A413 which is one of my favourite routes out of London.

And, if I may say so myself, I performed superbly. The new regulator worked as it should, even coping with a spell of rain requiring the windscreen wipers to be used. In fact, the rain was quite heavy for a time but the new regulator meant that my battery could cope with the extra load and the new wiper blades that Murray had fitted recently meant that he could see to drive.

It was a great day out; it is such a shame that this problem was not resolved before last weekend so that I could have enjoyed the Spring Run.

Murray still thinks I drink too much water: 2.5 litres for the trip today.

Oh no! Not again

It was time for me to meet up with the gang again at the Annual Spring Run. Murray had been very diligent and with the aid of the lads at Bewley Motors had decided that the rough running was due to my regulator not working and not allowing the battery to charge, thus not providing enough oomph to allow the spark plugs to perform properly at higher speeds.

On Saturday morning he collected me and the regulator was working fine. So, we all set off for Winchcombe where the dinner was to be held. We got as far as Oxford when my regulator stopped working and the rough running returned.


It was clear I was not going to make it through the weekend so Murray turned me round and we headed back to London.

And then, horror of horrors, they went off to 'my' weekend with that ghastly new upstart 'Crystal'. Oh the shame of it all!

Apparently they had a great time, there was wonderful weather and a great turn-out of Y Types and new friends to be made. Murray and Christine did the Y Spring Run in the TF and thoroughly enjoyed themselves even if they must have looked horribly out of place in the wrong type of car.

Clara girl, Clara girl, where have you been?

Not to London to visit the Queen, but to Windsor (where she happened to be in residence, but I did not see her) to see HRH Duke of Edinburgh. To celebrate 85 years of the MG marque, the Windsor Rotary Club and several MG clubs organised the Royal Windsor MG Heritage Festival to as fundraiser for The Prince Philip Trust Fund and other Rotary charities. (They raised over £50000 I'm told.)

The aim was to get a representative of every MG model from 1924 to 2009, the very newest 85th Anniversary Edition, which was unveiled to the public today. The earliest models that made it were two from 1925. Apart from the war years 1940-45 and 1947 & 1962 every year up to 1980 was represented by at least one variant. After that, with the fickle fortunes of BMC, British Leyland, MG Rover etc the representation was a bit lumpy.

However, it was a fantastic turnout of some extremely beautiful examples of the MG Marque down through the years and I was lucky enough to be chosen to represent 1950 and the sole YA.

We had to assemble bright and early for security checks and what-not and to get organised into the specific running order. I was number 77 out of 221 cars that had the rare priviledge of driving up Castle Hill and through St George's Gate into the private area of the Castle. We then drove around the Royal Quadrangle where HRH gave me a cheery wave and then out of the castle and through the private grounds into Frogmore Drive and down to a parking area by the cricket grounds.

Once we were all assembled there HRH drove himself down in his Range Rover and planted a tree, as did Mr He Xiaoqing the Chairman of MG Motors UK. Mr He then presented HRH with the keys to a brand new MG TF LE500 which will be auctioned as part of the fundraising. HRH then got back into his Range Rover and drove right past where I was parked on his way back to the Castle.

With the formal bits over, the public were allowed in to look at the cars so I sat there and soaked up the admiring glances and posed for hundreds of photos. I even had two young lads ask if they could sit in me for a while; they seemed quite amused by my opening windscreen.

Home again, is it summer already?

Murray came and got me from the car hotel this morning and look what I found in my carpark when I got home!

Apparently she is called Crystal. “Crystal”!!! What sort of poncey new-age name is that for a car? She has probably got power steering, ABS brakes, air-conditioning, air-bags, seat belts and all sorts of other stuff that we real girls never had and don’t need. These modern things … I don’t know.

She’s a 58 reg; 58 years younger than me – will she keep her looks for 58 years and turn heads the way I do? I guess I may not be around to find out.

Her older siblings were prone to head gasket failure (HGF) but that apparently has nothing to do with the letters on her number plate.