Snow and Silly Hats

I think we in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland have by now had quite enough of the dreaded white stuff. Still, it is an ill wind and all that, Grandson Thomas came round yesterday so I dug the old sledge out of the shed, She who must be obeyed put on her silliest hat and a good time was had by all.

"Give me a push Grandma"

SWMBO looking more bewildered than usual

This is Tom getting the hang of driving the sledge. Oh to be young again! I took a couple of photos and went inside to put some coal on the fire. Jay the Autistic Spaniel stayed on the settee, The dog is not as daft as I often make him out to be!

ECONOMICS

It is a slow day in a damp little Irish town. The rain is beating down and the streets are deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit.

On this particular day a rich German tourist is driving through the town, stops at the local hotel and lays a €100 note on the desk, telling the hotel owner he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one to spend the night.

The owner gives him some keys and, as soon as the visitor has walked upstairs, the hotelier grabs the €100 note and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher.

The butcher takes the €100 note and runs down the street to repay his debt to the pig farmer.

The pig farmer takes the €100 note and heads off to pay his bill at the supplier of feed and fuel.

The guy at the Farmers' Co-op takes the €100 note and runs to pay his drinks bill at the pub.

The publican slips the money along to the local prostitute drinking at the bar, who has also been facing hard times and has had to offer him "services" on credit.

The hooker then rushes to the hotel and pays off her room bill to the hotel owner with the €100 note.

The hotel proprietor then places the €100 note back on the counter so the rich traveler will not suspect anything.

At that moment the traveler comes down the stairs, picks up the €100 note, states that the rooms are not satisfactory, pockets the money, and leaves town.

No one produced anything. No one earned anything. However, the whole town is now out of debt and looking to the future with a lot more optimism.

And that is how the bailout package works.

Classic Show II

A Couple of weeks ago I mentioned I would post a few piccies of vehicles seen at the recent NEC show. Here is a small selection of tasty morsels. Apologies for the quality of the photgraphs but they give a flavour

A lovely 1930s Morgan 3 wheeler - with a Matchless Engine

1964 VW Karmann Ghia - I really wanted one of these as a child

Jaguar XK140 enough said!
This is a 1912 Bedelia BD12. It is effectively a 4 wheeled motorbike, but I love the safety feature of having the passenger sat in front of the driver...Beats airbags hands down!

This is a Maserati. not sure of the year (mid 50s to early 60s), but from the days when racing cars looked like racing cars. Those wonderful days of Vanwall, BRM, Lotus. When Graham Hill, Mike Hawthorn, Stirling Moss drove cars by the seats of their pants, and not by computer control via a bloody satellite. God I sound more like my father very day. Am I getting Old?