Author Archives: garymoore

Free Bird

When cleaning the van, I discovered that it previously had a name. Free Bird. I’m assuming that this was Lynyrd Skynyrd related, and that it’s a legacy of the van’s past life in the US.

There’s a trace of old lettering, facing outward on the dash. It has a hand painted look about it, although it’s very faint; I only spotted it when the sun was on the windscreen.

Another new discovery is that the reversing lights don’t work. On searching online for possible causes, it seems that, while the lights appear to be there, they may never have been wired (apparently, they didn’t always come as standard).

It’s nice to have a new interest.

Diet Coke

I have to confess that I’d always doubted the magical cleaning powers of Coca Cola. However, after watching a YouTube video about rust removal from chrome, I felt compelled to try it. After all, we now have a vehicle with a moderate amount of corrosion.

And it does work. Dousing the area with Diet Coke and rubbing with aluminum foil really does work. While more work is needed, this wing mirror was previously almost completely covered with rust.

Home

We picked the van up this evening, so went for a drive. It rattles quite a bit, the engine’s noisy and smelly, and there’s the obvious rust. But it’s just great.

Naturally, we took the van to its first pub on the way home.

And now it’s home.

Whitby

Van viewing on Friday evening prevented our planned trip to Kings Cliffe, so my second in command suggested Whitby as an alternative.

We only stayed the one night, but still managed to fit in a decent bike ride.

Northern Kin

I may be slow to mention it, but last weekend’s Northern Kin festival was surprisingly good. Very well organised, a great campsite with excellent facilities, and a nice atmosphere.

It was also a truly family friendly festival.

Garden

It may have taken a couple of years to get around to setting up properly, but we now have a camera on the back wall of the house.

It wasn’t a priority, since there’s no real access to the garden, but the blank display was beginning to irritate me.

Working for the Yankee dollar

The Skids. I loved them in the late 70s, but never saw them live. So, they’re back together again and I saw them, in the company of gentlemen, this evening.

And they were stupidly good.

The front man, Richard Jobson, is older than me, but he moves like a twenty year-old. I’m not jealous.