Anniversary Run to Beer

Married 43 years and still smiling - No! not at the Morgan - To the Misses of course.

(The Morgan makes me smile too).

What a journey up hill and down dale its been.

Early morning duty as  flag officer saw me hooting the hooter and setting a course in the Teign Estuary with the Yacht Club.

Home again by midday and then off we go together in the Morgan for fish and chips on the beach at Beer. A pootle along the coast with autumn leaves blowing in the wind.

Most visitors have left for home, but the Indian summer a very real trade-booster.

Dawn minus one hour at Cockwood

A calm scene at Cockwood Harbour as the sun is coming up and the dew still falling. The clocks go back one hour but sunrise is on time.
The drone of a fishing boat engine is heard across the water going to sea and the only other sounds are cries from a squabble of  gulls.

At The Warren House Inn

Yesterday Helen and me took ourselves over Dartmoor from the direction of Exeter, Longdown and Moretonhampstead. Hoping to see some autumn colours, Stopping off at the Warren House Inn for a light snack. We sat down beside the open log fire which was well alight and throwing off a warm glow. At the bench table was a couple there before us, but making moves to leave. I began to make some polite conversation. He responded in a broad local accent, saying he was up from near Bodmin, Cornwall, and on his way to see his mother in hospital, "She is 101 ;  and me I am 81", he added. I asked if he had been a miner, thinking of the Cornish clay industry, but no, he had been in the army, an infantry man. He said he used to be a good shot and his mates would send him up ahead. I asked if he had been shot at or shot anyone. "Yes". he said "many, many times"; to both these questions. "I used to drive tankers as well, and been a boxer". Opening his mouth wide with a great gnarled grin, he showed off his last three remaining front gnashers.

I asked if he would do the same over again. "Oh no - Not again". He replied. "I don't think I could be brave enough another time".
Now the conversation was getting somewhere and all the while his sweet wife had been in the ladies room, but suddenly she re-appeared ready to go on their way. She listened in for a moment or two and added: "His father died at 21"...

"Hit on the head with a cricket ball", he confirmed. At which point his wife piped up once more. "He was brought up by his Grandmother".

Then off they went together, out through the front door of the Inn, proud of each other for having reached this place, quite happy and still well together for the journey ahead.
Oh for my camera! 

He and his dear wife (even all four of us) would have all been happy to sit for a photo call, adding a thousand words to this page.

Coombestone Tor

Hawthorne loaded with red berries

The twisted trunk exposed to the four winds

Morgan has radiator transfusion

Revived in the cooling department ready for the road and slightly lighter at the front end, my preferred conveyance is sporting a nice new aluminium radiator. Mulfab are to be saluted for producing a superior quality piece of kit that arrived on my doorstep on Tuesday as promised, very carefully parcelled up, complete with all necessary nuts, bolts, brackets and hoses.
Re-filled with the red, anti-corrosion coolant, newly greased up sliding pillars and a wash and brush up. With the forecast set fair I feel a gentle drive across Dartmoor the best option after an initial warm up over Haldon Moor.
Not a difficult task, with a rating of about two spanners.

Fan shroud no longer required

Uprated radiator has about 15% greater area

No mesh added behind grill as yet

All up and running again - Road tested -  Jubilee clips tighted - Anti-freeze topped up.

Taking temperature reading from top to bottom of the radiator after a run, the bottom 1/4 is quite cold indicating the thermostat is sipping  coolant through well within the capacity of the radiator to supply. The  metal return tube across and behind the radiator also stays cold.

Them and Us

The common man has common ideas and the clever man has clever ideas.
http://www.lawyersrefugeeinitiative.org/
This group of academics and representatives of the legal profession suggests that Britain ought to make welcome, substantially more refugees than the 20,000 Government figure already proposed . Accommodate a greater, but as yet unspecified number onto our shores. Without actually saying where they might be housed, who would gainfully employ them, by what means some of their number inclined to terrorism, may be singled out.

These people know little of the outside world

Their high and mighty society of the priviledged few, better able to secure their own future and good health, seem to think that by making politically correct, grandious charitable notions known in The Times Newspaper and the Guardian Newspaper, it will somehow alter the minds of the common people.
Ignorant of the hardship the lesser classes endure. Out of touch with public opinion. Unable to imagine what work is like outside chambers, cloysters, grand halls and offices; this highbrow minority needs to speak to the man in the street, try a job that has risks attached, gets the hands dirty, leads to stress, depression, anxiety, or self harm.
I would ask this Legal Community of elite, misguided seekers of urgent action, to consider for a moment the consequences of their call; should it ever be realised.  I suggest that their intrusion onto the political scene is more to do with lining their own pockets, many or most of their number being human rights lawyers.

Cartoon credit to The Times Newspaper:  (13 Oct. 2015)