Butch

Couple of links to a story which I have always found very intriguing. The initially attention grabbing headlines shouldn't be taken too literally, bearing in mind there's a lot of "maybes" "possibly" and "could be" type of language used... https://news.sky.com/story/amelia-earhart-disappearance-solved-claims-explorer-as-he-reveals-pics-of-missing-plane-13059741 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amelia-earhart-plane-possibly-detected-sonar-underwater-deep-sea-vision/

The UK has changed exponentially in recent years, and not for the better. I'll be very careful @tommy dee not to get into political stuff on your topic mate, and start blaming the govt etc. A lot has been since Covid, we have local councils who now spend a chunk of their budget on empty offices and paying self entitled individuals to work from home, right through to Teachers adding their own left wing agendas to school curriculum and poisoning the minds of the impressionable kids in their care. Add to this a politicised and overstrtetched Police force, no longer Policing by consent but policing by current trends and in many cases instead of applying the Law, allowing their own personal feelings and beliefs to cloud their judgement. We have the rise of endemic anti semitism , again, going unpunished when deliberate offences are done in front of serving police officers. There are housing shortages, massive pressure on the NHS, lack of places in schools for children, the burden of social care, a skewed and easily exploited benefit system by the usual suspects, crumbling infrastructure and urban decay. We also have Town centres taken over by money laundering operations such as Turkish Barbers, Candy Shops, Mobile phone repair shops and Nail Salons. Try finding a local Butcher, Habadashery, Hardware store or Bakery in any UK town Centre, and good luck with that. theft and shoplifting are no longer considered important by the Police, whereas something said which causes emotional pain to another is dealt with via a public order offence. we have Indians demanding reparations, we're always being told to be ashamed of our colonial past (oddly, always by those who have settled in the UK from said colonies and are happy to drain the UK and avail of its free public services) and having national pride is now deemed to be a"racist viewpoint" - all while conveniently forgetting that Great Britain was actually pivotal in ridding the World of a fascist regime in 1945. It is , indeed, a bit of a shithole in some places.

Stumbled upon these two...

Nothing more painful than a broken heart, but time helps to heal it. Odd how something emotional can be aligned with a physical lump of muscle beating away (hopefully) in the middle of out chest. Traditionally, as the heart is seen as the organ that gives and maintains life, it also has meaning attached to it, like "lion heart" for a brave person, good heart for a kind person, big heart, kind heart, as well as negative connotations, black heart, bad heart etc. It also transcends language, many cultures put their right hand on their hearts before a greeting, like the many of the Islamic cultures. When desperate people beg for food, they hold their open hands on their chest close to their hearts - it's very often how to read a person truly in need of something (plus the giveaway that they're not wearing a Rolex and pair of Ray Bans). It may be because it's the internal organ we most "feel" but can't see. When the adrenaline kicks in before an event which we're expecting to have to fight or flight, we feel the heart beating harder and faster, in the same way we feel it slow down post contact. Also, despite our modern knowledge of all things medical, we still "follow our heart" which is another way of following our intuition which may go against the sensible or most logical choice given a situation. As long as ours keep beating though, that's all that matters.

^^^^^ Excellent spot @maipenrai The Capstan winch is a very rare and optional extra as I understand it (might be wrong) and they are available aftermarket as well. That's a lovely old girl, I'll be keeping an eye out for it in the future if it's a local car.

Business cards you can order online, or go to any "Fuji" copy shop and they'll run you off a load. There are some funny ones out there, or general cards to hand out

Given this forum has more combined knowledge and experience than we care to count, I've been browsing elsewhere and read about a few guys who seem to think that spending and tipping to the point of excess somehow gets them respect from Thais - especially GGG's. Now, I'm sure the tipping subject has been covered, so I'm not on about amounts, but I'd like to ask what the Thais think of a guy when he throws around 500 / 1k baht tips for a meal, drinks service or whatever. The floor is open.

I enjoyed that, cheers.

Brilliant photo @john luke - the moon in shot as well. Awesome.

From what I'm reading they're only compatible with Samsung phones, I use a google pixel. I guess the only way round it is to get an apple one, link it to my daughters phone and get her to track it in the event of me needing to find it.

I don't suppose there's an android equivalent is there?.

Ahhh Another fella who's had the pleasure of Lucas sealed beam units, they were bloody woeful weren't they lol. I had them on my mark one escort, I did consider replacing them with a candle in each glass for better vision at night!.

Just a bump to this old topic, I've just awoken from a 10 hour slumber half hour ago. Now have a Coffee in hand & toast on a plate. I've no idea why I slept so long and without any interruption, I did have a couple of JD's last night but nothing huge. Maybe my body is catching up on the difficult week I've had. I do find in the winter months I tend to sleep a bit longer and fall asleep much more easily. Temp in the house at night most of the year is 18C pretty much all the time when the heating is off - unless it's really cold or hot outside.

But this one, for me, takes the biscuit. I was sat in the pub, minding my own business, reading the Daily Mail when a slightly elderly lady came up to me and said "you have a very negative aura and are surrounded by bad spirits". Being the kind of guy I am and polite, I didn't tell her to f**k off, but retorted "the only spirits I'm interested in are the ones behind the bar - sorry, can't help you love". "you really need to be cleansed - you need to banish them all before they hurt you". Now ,bearing in mind this was a Tuesday afternoon, and there was me, this "mystic karen" and two barstaff (off doing other stuff) there. Slightly random, but all I wanted to do was read my paper. I paused, looked at her and said, "if you can see them, they're probably angry because you're disturbing me reading and enjoying a pint. Take the hint please and leave me alone". She looked at me and told me they're going to do me harm, then she f***d off as instructed. I asked Becky (bar manager) who this nimrod was, and she told me she'd been in the pub all morning, saying its cursed and has a portal to another dimension in it. She was going to ask her to leave but as there were no other customers, she allowed her to stay (weather was shite). I put it down to her being on the sauce a bit too early, but apparently she was drinking water all morning. There are always oddballs, to some people us lot here on the forum might appear odd to them , such as @Nightcrawler going out dressed in lederhosen to the local gents lavatories on a friday evening, but bad spriits?. not sure if I'm buying that shite.

Apart from yourself.

LOL, yep that's the problem with a few restorations, they're more or less a new vehicle carrying only the physical identity markings of it's former self. There's 2 types of restoration, full / partial or sympathetic . Full / partial uses new parts to bring the car to either as good as new (full) or roadworthy (partial) condition, sympathetic uses as many of the original parts as possible either refurbished or, in the case of bushes and brake lines, replaced using "NOS - New Old Stock or parts following the same original specs as the old ones (so replace all the perishable / consumeable stuff). Personally I like to see a sympathetic resto done, especially on vehicles of this status. Retaining the patina, the battlescars and the wear and tear and the character of the original vehicle. Having a car that you can eat yur dinner off the floor of is all well and good, but at that point it's function of being a car changes to that of being an ornament, in a few cases.

That's a contradiction in terms.

I noticed that as well. It did seem a bit draconian in comparison to other bars. Wasn't there a faff with the license as well when the guy too k it over?. It's a bloody shame because I've always liked the Triangle. As I understand it, the guy in the video is the new owner and took a fairly big risk with his savings to open it up post covid. (Might be wrong on that though - I just seem to vaguely recall a vloggers video about it). I make a point of going there for a few beers every trip, great atmosphere , great crowd of blokes and always had a really relaxed time with no issues on my bill etc.

Following on a bit, my biggest fashion disaster was in the 90's when I went out one night with a suede waistcoat, black shirt and blue jeans and a pair of cuban heels. I looked a right c**t. Even my mates laughed at me and I ended up getting a taxi home to get changed! 🤣 It was my fault, I wanted a change of "look" and decided upon the worst possible combo.

Was it easy to get bolt to and from the DS mate?

Brilliant story, I'm going to order the book next weekend. "Oxford" is still running, it was found dismantled by a Yorkshireman who's a Land Rover "eccentric" and restored, I think that it's actually done the trip again, but in "reverse". "Cambridge" is still lost, possibly at the bottom of a Ravine somewhere in Iran after a crash, but more than likely dismantled and scavenged for scrap by now. I love this kind of "overland" trips and videos from the 70's. I recently found a few on YT about a UK company called "Astrans" who used to drive from UK to Saudi / Iran / Iraq back in the 70's. Really interesting stuff.

Kappa Sport Ski Jackets were also pretty popular iirc. I stuck to my Flight Jacket though, the colours didn't suit my pasty complexion lol. Here's a great link BTW: https://creaseslikeknives.wordpress.com/2016/12/28/guest-post-bring-back-the-donkey-jacket/

I really want to buy myself an Alpha Industries flight jacket, they're warm, comfy but arguably I'll look like a muppet wearing one to the pub. It's going to be one of those frivolous purchases I'll never wear, like my suede waistcoat I got when I was 22, thought I looked the bees knees, when actually I looked like a 22 year old who'd raided his Dad's wardrobe lol. Can't beat a pair of Brogues and a pair of stay pressed either.

Pringle diamond pattern was a regular sight for the casuals iirc, along with Lyle and Scott roll neck or a Lyle and scott jumper. Farahs for school, or a pair of light blue or yellow farahs for going out. Into Mintz and Davis Saturday morning with my mates spending all their YTS money of a single item.

Glad I wasn't a "casual" I'd hate to think of the prices of Sergio Tacchini Tracksuits, Kappa Sports stuff and lacoste T shirts etc.