Tools and equipment needed for a miriad of quick fix car bodges:
I’ll try not to forget the mighty B.com but, if things are looking quiet here …you might be find me ranting on >>HERE<<.
http://www.roadtoriga.blogspot.com will follow our progress from Oxford to Riga in Ralph – the banger.
1. Cut the broken ‘live’ wire and replace it with a long blue wire.
2. Feed the long blue wire through the door and attach it to your cigarette lighter.
3. Enjoy your newly working, slightly bodged electric window.
Eddy.
PS, I hope you all noticed the smooth, somewhat pacifying, faux wood interior.
Everything needs a backing track and this tune is top on my list. Fitting for quite a few reasons.
This seems like an appropriate time to show you what I ended up driving last time I did something like this.
That little Ford Fiesta was amazing, the Rover really does have a lot to live up to.
Seemingly the time has come for me to write in my very own blog. I’ve resisted temptation to get involved in the web 2.0 over the past couple of years, mainly due to the fact that I honestly didn’t think anyone would really want to read my inane rantings.
Well we’ve got a plan, we’ve got a car, we’ve got the time off and hopefully the rest will fall in to place. The biggest challenge over the next few weeks looks like the Russian visa application, the process is a little bit confusing to say the least.
I’m really enjoying the build up to June 27th, just this afternoon I bought a snazzy set of racing stripes for the Rover, we are going to have fun fitting those I can tell you.
Anyway catch you later,
Pete
Oxford to Riga. The long, blonde, Russian way round.
I know it didn’t take long to come up with another plan but this time it’s no thanks to a picture of a bunker or a twenty pound bet – it’s due to the persistent (and somewhat intrepid) desire of a man called Peter Addison. The desire to drive a banger (colloquial English for an old and cheap or ‘shit’ car) as far as possible to a foreign land. His first trip was a ridiculous 5000 miles to Uzbekistan on the London-Tashkent rally and the next (on which I’d bravely offered to join him) was due to take us to Timbuktu in December.
However, a few weeks ago, whilst Sarah (Pete’s long suffering wife, previous co-pilot and fine chef) cooked a wonderful curry, Pete and myself put many facts, figures, hopes, plans and stupid ideas into a big trip-calculator and cooked up this:
Oxford to Riga via Russia, through the middle of Scandinavia, in a banger and for almost nothing.
Behold Route V1.jpg
Who?: Me and Pete
When?: The first two weeks of July
Where?: See the map
Why?: There are many reason but, for brevity ‘Why not?’
What?: I’m asking myself the same question.
How?: Well, the details are yet to come (it’s only v1 of the .jpg for Christ’s sake) but the ‘for next to nothing’ bit requires the help and hospitality of the fine and friendly members of www.hospitalityclub.org.
Expect further news as we dream it up.
Woohoo, the DIY is over, the paint has dried, the paper is still on the wlls (just) and the house is ready to sell. Given the news this week selling it may be the hardest part.
With the house done, I junped at the chance to visit an old Slovene amigo in one of the few cornes of Europe I haven’t been to – Northern Ireland. Rightly or wrongly (and I’ve been challenged on this many times) I didn’t include NI as a European country as, strictly speaking it’s part of the UK. However, free from the constraints of my previous bet, the offer of a free bed and a home-made lasagne was too much to resist and last weekend I hoped accross the channel to Belfast.
Arriving in Belfast was weird. I’m old enough to know better and i’m fully aware that the situation in Belfast is nothing like it was a few years ago but I couldn’t help feeling a little nervous. The sort of feeling I’ve had sitting on a bus or train on route to somewhere your friends, hosts and newspapers say you shouldn’t be going. I suppose it’s underst
