Friends,
I made the short(ish) journey from my home on Thursday to Coventry and
spent an hour or so having "a swift half" (or two) in each of the four
pubs that still border those 95 acres of former plant. Shouldn't
really have done any of that as booze and medication are strange
bedfellows
and the plods take an understandably jaundiced view of
this mixture and driving a car. The prime objective of the exercise
was to photograph these boozers for an article. The whole trip
culminated by driving through the site from the approximate location
of the former Main Gate at Canley and out through a metaphorical 'hole
in the fence' at Fletchamstead. Paused to take a pic of the new ST
Memorial and thought of you all - known and unknown - oil
be-spattered, frustrated with rebuilds, trailer queens and puzzlers of
obscure problems.
There is no doubt that Standards and Triumphs live on through your
valiant efforts and I'm pretty sure a few ghosts who were on the site
at the same time as me, appreciate everything you're doing in keeping
things alive and resurrecting from the dead.
When I eventually got home and aimed my car through the gateway
without hitting either wall, the view of 'Canley Girl' parked in her
garage, spurred me to ensuring this REALLY will be the last Christmas
she'll be off the road.
Went into the house, got another bottle of beer and returned to my
Triumph. Whacked a cassette of Christmas Carols into the original
cassette player, started the engine and warmed it all through to let
the heater chill my aging bones. Sat there for a while listening to
the whine of the fuel pump and the hiss of the un-plenumed intakes
thinking about my trip that morning. Then, looking down that bonnet at
the brick wall facing me and listening to the strains of "The Coventry
Carol" I flicked off the bottle cap, shouted "Happy Christmas" to you
all and drank it all in one.
Happiness is sitting in (and driving) a Triumph that has come back
from the dead
Happy Christmas!
Jonmac
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