What have you done today with your Austin Seven

[Duncan Grimmond]

Brilliant parking by the Citroen driver, right in the mouth of an opening. I see similar stupidity regularly as people park , two wheels on (and blocking pedestrian, wheelchair, pram passage) the pavement directly opposite the entrance to the pub carpark which is also the entrance to the caravan park behind and for the articulated dray wagons. Reversing onto a main road from a blind entrance is rife. 
Is it me? Should I just chill while they threaten my life and limb?
As I get older and more cantankerous I seem to see more and more "drivers" who cannot see beyond the front bumper and can only react rather than anticipate.   
Does anyone have any pills to cure my pedantry?

[Malcolm Parker]

Yesterday I fired up my RL saloon which has been side-lined over winter whilst I have worked on the Pytchley.   It hasn't run since October and was left with the radiator drained and the tank half full of Tesco Momentum E5 petrol.  I charged the battery about three weeks ago.   Having turned on the fuel and battery master switch, I turned on the ignition, pulled the choke and pressed the starter switch.  The engine turned slowly at first then speeded up and after about ten seconds the engine burst into life sounding as sweet as a nut.   Whilst it was idling I filled the radiator and let it run for ten minutes to get warmed through.

It is the same every year but it still gives you a glow of satisfaction!

[andrew34ruby]

It's not just you Duncan. The only cure I know of is alcohol. Plenty of it and you won't notice the idiots around you.

[Chris KC]

What have I done today with my Austin Seven?  Well, actually it has been yesterday and part of today and the answer is serviced it.

David, I'm glad you seem to have sorted out your brake squeal (for now at least) anyway.

I confess I do very little servicing... and almost no washing! (car wise, at least!!)

[Howard Wright]

Hi All

What a lovely day for, mowing the lawns for the first time this year  .

BUT.. Enough time to have a trip up to Radnor Forest and back over Castle bank, stopping by the lake in Llandrindod for a quick circular walk.  You might just make out the dragon sculpture in the lake, whose head has just been reinstated after nearly two years!

The Brookfields was not running quite right, hesitating when flooring the throttle and beginning to knock with the slightest advance on the hand advance retard lever.  Found out why when we got back….the points gap had mysteriously closed up to almost nothing. It’s a wonder it ran at all.

Cheers

Howard


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[Steve kay]

"Brilliant parking by the Citroen driver, right in the mouth of an opening. I see similar stupidity regularly as people park , two wheels on (and blocking pedestrian, wheelchair, pram passage) the pavement directly opposite the entrance to the pub carpark which is also the entrance to the caravan park behind and for the articulated dray wagons."

Duncan, usually wholly agree with you, and certainly I should have better things to do just now. However, the Citroen in the picture belongs to the dear lady wife, and is parked directly opposite the drive to allow cars reversing from the workshop or car port to turn in either direction. The pavement was required by planning  when the four houses on the other side of the lane were built after the railway closed in the 1960s, it runs in front of them and nowhere else. 

Other than such arcane details, you are wholly correct about some drivers unable to park or undertake any manoeuvres without beeping or flashing sounds. Owners of SUVs without tow balls but with personalised numbers invariably suffer from serious insecurity which causes them to behave very badly when they see a 2CV.

[Duncan Grimmond]

"to allow cars reversing from the workshop or car port to turn in either direction". Reversing from a driveway into the traffic flow?
To quote Victor Meldrew "I don't believe it!"
Cars are infinitely more manoeuvrable in reverse (forklift trucks have their turning wheels at the back) so if it's a tricky entrance/exit go in backwards and come out forwards with full forward/all round vision.

I obviously have nothing better to do than to vent my spleen! I'm still looking for a rolling chassis with engine and gearbox to re-build so my excess energy is frustrated...

I heard a comic on the wireless the other day making the comment "The only time most SUVs go off-road is when they park on the pavement"

[Steve kay]

Duncan, are you saying that you do not put you machines nose in into the workshop so that the doors can be wide open? Or do you have a huge extractor fan to remove exhaust gasses when trying to get the little darlings to run smooth and sweet. Anyway, on our lane tractors or horses can usually be heard approaching. As for the Seven turning circle making it “infinitely manoeuvrable” even with the stop ground off it is still pretty dire. My excuse for poking this keyboard is late breakfast after an early start, that and any forum mutterings can only be better than p*lit*cs. Good luck with finding the parts for your next project, should have managed that by the end of next week.

[Dave Mann]

I find authorities stand on parking is bonkers, they want us to leave the car at home and walk where, the footpaths are full of parked cars. Many years ago i was walking on the footpath of a narrow street in Stockport when a wagon passed me and promptly parked on the footpath, so I stepped out into the road to walk past it. the following transit was most upset and the ensuing altercation caught the attention of a member of he constabulary which got the wagon removed. Another occasion with a number of cars blocking the footpath I walked across their bonnets in my muddy boots. Today it's normal to park anywhere.

[AustinWood]

I asked a delivery driver why she'd parked half on the pavement when the road was plenty wide enough for a parked car to be safe. She said it was because of the double yellow line. She was half on the road so still parking on a double yellow. That's not illegal for deliveries.
They just seem not to know the rules.