cars....can't live with them...

and can't live without them....

We've just had the bill for keeping ours on the road...£525...for parts and mot...£140 for labour....

Had we had an idea how much it was going to be we would have scrapped it, even though it was just before a trip, two months ago. Now we have to keep it,but anything major going wrong means the end of the road.

At least having taken this long to give us the bill (due to ill health, his and wife) he isn't demanding the payment directly, we can split it.

No more trips away to races this year then, travel by bus/bike/foot unless necessary .

We WILL win Lotto tonight......

Culross Walk with friends

 Longannett power station...coal fired...now closed

 Grangemouth...refineries

 Three lads on a walk

 Culross private pier, built where centuries ago there were piers and much trade

 old cobbled lanes, and an exhibition by the Cone 8 group of potters...a lovely unexpected bonus on our day out!

 al fresco table tennis...and there are games painted on other tables

 the public toilets!

 and some gates to a large house

and along the Firth of Forth,the bridges in the distance.

A much needed day off,even if it meant yet more driving!

no photos..long weekend

We went as support crew to a national time trial championship...and I forgot to move the camera battery back to the camera from the charger....

However...I wouldn't have had a chance to take any photos.

It was a 12 hour time trial, Pirate was handing up drinks and food every hour, I was driving.  Our rider was riding well and riding tidily.
I'm glad in a way that we didn't see what came next..Pirate is stressing enough as it is.
After 175 miles, with our rider on course to a 70+ age related british record, a young lad overtook something,cut in and wiped out our rider with his wing mirror...at 65 mph this sheared off.
Result, miraculously, just a complicated ankle fracture and stitches in and out of the arm that took the impact and a lot of road rash.

We can't praise Addenbrookes NHS Hospital in Cambridge highly enough.

Our rider "escaped" by midday on Monday with foot in Moon Boot and on crutches...and I had to drive the 400 miles or more back to the Kingdom of Fife in a Jaguar XF Estate...with a bike rack on the back containing £15 grandsworth of bikes....scary....don't think that having automatic everything makes life easy!!  I'm glad to get back to my little old Citroen!!

We're back to the usual, dodging the showers to mow peoples' lawns, trying to keep the house presentable, keeping up with the washing...

Our rider?  Back home being organized by his big sister who is in her eighties!!
No riding or driving for at least six weeks, no racing at least until April...andd feeling very fortunate to be here.

All because someone behind the wheel of a ton of car wasn't paying proper attention.....

on the bus again

We are trying to limit our car use...not so easy when you live out of town, but at least we have a decent bus service from 7am to 5pm...it gets a bit sketchy after that!

 bridges...from another bridge...

 demolition and clearing still progressing.  This was Woolworths...

The oldest building left in Ayr...now the tourist information office.

A day out on a whim...

We went to town on the bus....but instead of returning home....we went on a bus to Glasgow for an afternoon out!

A ride in Dumfriesshire sun

 a view of the southern Uplands, on our way up from Lochmaben

 Ae Forest

 and back to Lochmaben

 The Tin Tabernacle....made us think of New Zealand....or maybe Norway