Trip to the UK 2017 - Woman's March

I just got back from a month long trip to the UK, ostensibly to be there for Josh's book launch (more of which later).  It was a wonderful trip, despite my having a broken collar bone and rib, and a head injury, which happened because I was being stupid and trying to get airborne off a bump at the bottom of a steep hill. (I know about the helmet thing...! That was a hard lesson learned!)

I made the 24hr flight with some difficulty, although the Singapore Air staff were really helpful and accommodating of the fact that I needed some help here and there....

I got to London. Day 1, I wanted to go and get out some money, which meant finding a branch of Royal Bank of Scotland for me, since I don't have a card for them anymore. Off we went to town, and whilst there, we went to the Portrait Gallery....of course! 

Day 2 we all felt that we should go on the Womans March...and that ended up being quite a long walk all up, by the time we'd walked to meet up with Josh and Molly's friends in various places...and walked to the start place, before parading around various landmarks..most notably Trafalgar Square, but notwithstanding the American Embassy.  It was a great day though, I met a load of lovely people, and was proud to have been able to march against the orange haired gentleman. Here's some pics from that day:

Ned...gets a brush up

Quite a lot of fluff from one mutt - don't cha think?

Gertrude

I recently made the decision to take the Pajero (AKA Gertrude) engine apart and repair it. It's probably not a choice that a rational person would have made, given the age of the car and the money that I ended up spending. However, it was justifiable because we all love the car, we'd recently spent 4K on the gearbox because it shat itself when we were a long way away, and because, well quite frankly I didn't imagine that there would be so much that needed to be repaired so I didn't imagine it would cost quite as much.
Never-the-less, it's done, and in time we'll forget about the cost. It should now be good for a long time....touch wood. :-)

Here's some of the bits...


This is one of the heads. There was a crack in one, and the camshafts were pitted...











This is a cam follower...also pitted.



Here's the reground crank going back into the reground case...with new oversize bearing shells...



...and here's the partially assembled engine with a ultrasonically cleaned head assy.
You can see the re-bored cylinders and new pistons. New water pump, repaired crankshaft end...and other stuff.





...dropping it back in with my new crane.

I dunno...I guess I get a perverse pleasure from this kind of thing. Makes me feel in control...