Tell us something really trivial about your life (Vol 26)
Discussion
Timmy40 said:
I have purchased a bow and arrow. Move over Erol Flynn there's a new Robin Hood in town!
You are mad jack https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Churchill
This guy was almost more impressive to me, landed on D-Day with nothing but his bagpipes and a knife
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Millin
Saw his bagpipes and a load of stuff about him in Dawlish museum the other day
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Millin
Saw his bagpipes and a load of stuff about him in Dawlish museum the other day
Long term followers of the Trivial Thread please look away now. You've heard this story before.
My brother wanted a Gold Leaf Elan and when his career turned a corner in the late seventies or early eighties he found he could afford one. He pored over Motor Sport every month and eventually one turned up in a rather superior sports car emporium in Sussex. He phoned to make an appointment for a test drive with a view to purchasing the car on the Saturday. Saturday arrived and Pete had a think; these people are obviously enthusiasts I shall eschew my company XR3 and take the Cooper S to show them. He arrived and announced himself. The salesman was decidedly offhand. He grudgingly showed the car but when Pete asked for his test drive he was told it wasn't possible as it looked like rain. Pete said okay and left. He realised they were not enthusiasts; they hadn't seen a road going racing car arrive, they seen a bloke in an old Mini. What they also didn't see was that Pete, who has always hated haggling, had a Banker's Draft for the full asking price in his pocket. £12,000 IIRC. Whatever it was, it was a lot of money at the time. I asked if he was tempted to wave it under the guy's nose - or his boss's nose - as he left. He said no, it wouldn't have done any good.
I'd have been tempted, I can tell you.
My brother wanted a Gold Leaf Elan and when his career turned a corner in the late seventies or early eighties he found he could afford one. He pored over Motor Sport every month and eventually one turned up in a rather superior sports car emporium in Sussex. He phoned to make an appointment for a test drive with a view to purchasing the car on the Saturday. Saturday arrived and Pete had a think; these people are obviously enthusiasts I shall eschew my company XR3 and take the Cooper S to show them. He arrived and announced himself. The salesman was decidedly offhand. He grudgingly showed the car but when Pete asked for his test drive he was told it wasn't possible as it looked like rain. Pete said okay and left. He realised they were not enthusiasts; they hadn't seen a road going racing car arrive, they seen a bloke in an old Mini. What they also didn't see was that Pete, who has always hated haggling, had a Banker's Draft for the full asking price in his pocket. £12,000 IIRC. Whatever it was, it was a lot of money at the time. I asked if he was tempted to wave it under the guy's nose - or his boss's nose - as he left. He said no, it wouldn't have done any good.
I'd have been tempted, I can tell you.
No, you're right, he didn't. Neither of us have ever owned a Lotus. Bizarrely, he bought a magenta GT6. I think it may have been the preference of his girlfriend at the time. When the GT6 was pissed all over by a Dolomite Sprint, itself not a new car by then, he got shot of it and bought the 911 he had promised himself before the Elan diversion. It was a '78 911SC. It was marvellous. He used to agonise over it; was this right? was that right? I've never told him but I must have driven it harder than he did as I knew that if you gave it extra beans the clutch slipped. That would have driven him up the wall.
Times like this I wonder why I picked code-monkeying as a career.. you fix one bug only to run smack bang into another one that's, if anything just as perplexing as the last one. Ever increasing difficulty works in computer games where you can just throw the controller across the lounge and flounce off when you've had enough, not so much when you are just trying to get a bit software working or you're going to get your ass kicked at work 
te weather. I'll just sit here with a cup of tea behind closed curtains.Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff