The whole of Europe has been rendered immobile and isolated by the fallout from a volcanic eruption in Iceland, however if only people needing to travel internationally bought a MG car then the problem would be resolved. Having dug Bridget out of the mountain of volcanic dust burying her on the driveway, she started up first time and moved off without hesitation on the first leg of our UK tour.
In the past seven days we have covered the first three locations for the ‘An Evening with Miss Bridget’ talks at Abingdon, Loughborough and Bedford. In total, and after expenses have been removed, we have made around £850 which I think is very credible. Once again, and no surprise to me, it demonstrates peoples generosity when the opportunity arises.
The venues were varied, the first being held in the brand new John Thornley Suite at Kimber House, the second in the car showroom of Luffield Cars of Loughborough and the third inside the church of St Marks, Brickhill, Bedford. The latter was the first time a car had been inside the church and was also a first for Bridget! Our special thanks to the Vicar of St Marks for this special occasion.
Bridget is running very well and now has a new speedometer, the old one having broken, and had her tracking corrected following un-even tyre wear. However on route to Bedford I noticed a knocking in time with the wheel rotation rather than the engine beat, but after stopping and looking for a cause I could see nothing wrong. The knocking got louder as we proceeded and I stopped again, but there was still no obvious sign of a cause so we proceeded. Then as we entered Wing, in Buckinghamshire, it became so bad I had to stop. Noticing the noise and vibration appeared to cease as I braked, I decided to jack up the front of the car and check the wheel areas.
As I lifted the jack from the boot I heard a voice say “Do you need any help?” I looked across the road and there was the chap that had called out. “It’s a bit dangerous there, but if you would like to pull across the road into my drive I have all the tools you could want to sort out the problem, and also most of the expertise.” The gent turned out to be the proud owner of an AC Cobra and justifiably so as his motor is a beautiful example of the marque. I told him what the symptoms were and we jacked up the front of the car to remove one of the wheels and to our surprise discover that all the wheelnuts were loose. A quick check discovered the other front wheel was the same. There would be no reason for the garage that did the tracking to remove the wheels and it is over three weeks since I had then off whilst replacing the shock absorbers, since which it has been through an MOT and covered nearly three hundred miles, so how and when they became loose is a mystery. However once again I mused how it was that we stopped opposite a classic car enthusiast’s house rather than 300 yards before or after.
I wonder what unexpected events the remaining 11 locations of this tour will hold