Boot Sale Boo

"Boot sale boo" by Booclick on audioboo.fm

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Shake yer booty

Just got back from a test run to the local boot sale. The newly set up clutch works a treat. Must remember not to drive in my sandals though. Bought a nice dab radio which I might cover in green fur. Made it up the hill in 2nd gear for the first time.

My newlywed American friends say they want to stay in Althea when they come.


-- Post From My iPhone

A stitch in time

Thanks to the clutch cable being badly adjusted (another corner cut Chris and Mucker) the old clutch gradually wore away and cost me £500 to replace. I spent about an hour today with a drill and a couple of spanners and set it up properly.

At one point I had released the tension on the cable and discovered the lever that attaches to the clutch was loose and rattling around. A phone call to Arthur the clutch man reassured me that it was normal and I soon had it back in place.

There were two positions for the pedal end of the cable retainer, one too loose and one too tight. I drilled a hole in between them and with a few little tweaks it was perfect.

The kit I bought on eBay was unnecessary after all but I'll keep it just in case.

Birthdays, blown up bass bins and blinded boys

On Saturday morning I loaded Althea with the amps, furry speakers, a pair of backup speakers, mixing desks, cables, lights and bubble machine and headed off to DJ at Jilly's 50th on Mersea Island. Althea drove better than ever with her new clutch and prop shaft all the way to Mersea Island which took us about two and a half hours including traffic avoidance. The leaky fuel pump meant that she still struggled a bit on long hills but nothing like it was and we averaged 55mph all the way. At 67mph she started to wobble a bit but it felt more like a wobbly wheel than the new prop shaft. The engine is sounding much healthier now it is working properly and not just spinning wildly with no resistance. I even passed a few trucks on the way up hills too. It was delightful.

I set up the sound system at the venue and decided to use just the furry speakers. I had left the sub unit at home due to the age of the buildings I was worried about doing structural damage. By 5pm I was playing tunes from the vast library of 70s cheese I had downloaded (by request I must stress not by choice).

There was a very nice woman who came and sang a few songs but apart from that I played pretty much non stop (barring a few momentary computer freezes) for 7 hours until midnight when thanks to my horribly over driving the poor furry ones they gave up and died. I'm pretty sure I can fix them so I'm not going to worry.

Earlier I had fused my Mackie mixer too thanks to a dodgy mains extension but again I'm not worried I know what's wrong and it can be fixed.

The biggest stress of the night was when little Max managed to burst a glow stick I had given him, right into his eye. The scream he let out was far more spine chilling than any I have ever heard especially as when he looked up there he was with one eye glowing bright yellow, and it went on for a good twenty minutes. His parents washed it with water but still he screamed. The paramedic arrived and washed it then put Vaseline on it and he was fine. Even though it said suitable for 3 years plus on the box I will not be doing that again.

Young Max enjoys a sticky chewy thing the next day

Next day I replaced the furry speakers, set up the system to run remotely controlled by my iPhone and we waited for "The Trafalgar Tarts"



This was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. The preamble was all about how without Tenalady (for older ladies with bladder problems) and powerful pain killers, all this would have been impossible. Then the dance started a little loosely and descended into chaos. I wished I'd had a video camera. Will have to get one asap.

It won't be long now before I have a few weeks off and there's The Big Chill in the middle of that too. Maybe I'll treat myself to a video camera of some sort soon.

She's Back!!!

I am sitting here filthy and wet having just put the new prop shaft on in the rain and dark. I took her for a spin down to Dulwich and back and she's great. She still struggles up the hill but not as much now and I think once the fuel leak and clutch cable are done that will be a thing of the past too.

I am one happy blogger

Freudian fun

The new prop shaft arrived yesterday and it looks very professionally done. It has the Ford Transit engine UJ on the front and the Morris UJ on the back now so I have removed the adaptor plate from the gearbox. The prop shaft guy said this might have been the source of the problem as it didn't have a centering pin and could have allowed shaking.

I have just returned from Clerkenwell Screws and Nuts where I bought some fresh nuts and bolts and tonight I will screw it all together, in the dark, wet greasy road. Hopefully the next post will be about how good it felt to drive Althea again. But regulars to this blog will not be holding their breath.