Yesterday was ANZAC - public holiday in Australia honouring our war veterans
& those that didn't make it through.
Now, in Melbourne, we've had days and days of rain - broken a 4 year
drought, really, for most of Victoria. Anyway, ANZAC day dawned a little
grey, but soon cleared to a glorious autumn day. Melbourne in Autumn is
possibly the most beautiful city in the world (says me who's never been
overseas!). Now, the other day, I'd tried to start Ladybird, but wasn't
getting a spark. It had been pissing down at the time, so rather than sort
it on the spot, I left her, and took the tram to work. Better for the
environment anyway ;)
So, getting back to the point of all this, with the first sunny day
happening on a public holiday, I went out, opened the dizzy, and found the
culprit - fouled points. (Add another thing to the list - new dizzy & go
electronic when the engine gets pulled)
Quick rub with some sandpaper, wipe it out, check the dizzy cap, turn her
over, and hey, presto! She's alive! And loud! (Add to list - new headers,
talk to Lou about reproduction? Or go hard core custom? decisions,
decisions...)
Well, it's sunny, it's a holiday, what to do?
Well, drop the roof, and blast along the river boulevard, that's what!
Now, it's a great piece of road, twisty as you'd want, but it's fairly built
up, and there's joggers and cyclists all over the place. Nevertheless, with
care, you can still give it a good squirt on the tighter corners and have a
bit of fun. Come up behind a motorbike. I knew he was thinking the same
thing when I saw him turn on to the boulevard ahead of me. But he was a
total WUSS! Yeah, fine in a straight line, but every corner, he had a
roadster filling his mirrors (that's an exaggeration, ever since my brother
died on a bike, I've always tried to be careful of those guys - they've got
even less protection than we've got!). One right hairpin especially - you
know when you get that feeling, the wheels are all talking to you
(especially the rear ones), Ladybird's motor's singing at ~5000, and LIFE'S
GOOD! He didn't get rid of me until he got around a slower car. There's
nowhere for a car to overtake, but bikes can do it safely (albeit illegally)
in a couple of places.
Never mind. Get to the end of the boulevard, nick around to the freeway for
the quick way back - sun shining, roof down, 80mph, and grinning again!
Geez I love this car. Just had to share that with you guys. I know you'll
understand 8^)
Cheers,
Steve
FHROC (Happy Roadster Owner Club);)
& Ladybird - 1968 2000 Solex
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