SERT Day 3

Cube Houses and Cheese...

Distance: 0 Miles

Day three was the first of three days off driving. We began the day by sucessfully entering the boot, removing the trim inside the back of the car and working blind through a small hole to undo one of the boot hinges.

We also popped in and bought some wonderful chocolate from the "Chocolate Art" Factory and shop which we were staying over.

After this we hopped on the tram into Rotterdam which was our main sightseeing destination. A quick bite of Chinese and off we set to look at Rotterdams rather special and bizarre Cube Houses, designed by one Piet Blom, seen here with the slightly more normal Pencil house in the back ground.

One of the cube houses was open as a "Show Cube", so we paid a visit. The conclusion was that it would be fun to buld furniture for, the cats would love it and after that you'd probably get fed up with it..

After that we walk along the river with it's constant flow of long, laden and low barges transport their cargos between Europort and deep into mainland Europe.

We saw some more architecture and sights, and quite by accident stumbled upon a ship museum, including a fantastic workshop which I was allowed to have a little peak into. For the benifit of Partner in Crime here's a photo, I believe a suitable phrase is "Green With Envy".

Next stop was Gouda, a 20 minute train ride from Rotterdam. We were sadly too late for the market but not to late to enjoy a walk around this fantastically scenic town and visit this fantastically cheesy shop

After much tasting and debate we left with a selection of cheeses as an after dinner offering for our evenings meal. These included a Gouda which had matured for over 2 1/2 Years!! and very tasty it was.

A quick local beer by, predictably enough another canal and it was back on the train to make our way back for the evenings meal and some very enjoyable company. Dinner, as the weather was fine, turned out to be a roof top Bar-B-Q.

Good food, good drinks and excellent company. Many thanks to our kind hosts, make sure we can return the favour, feel free to come and visit...

Just so that I'm not accused of biasing the men in my photo's, here's one of the happy ladies also...

Wild Chanterelles.

The shortning evenings and misty morning signifying the rapid approach of autumn bring with them an exciting harvest from the forest. Exciting for two reasons, because they're very tasty and that there's no gaurentee you'll find any.

Not long after I got home from a brief work trip to Finland on Friday evening we were out "hunting" for these little treasures in the forest. During the past couple of days dog walking Mrs VL had spotted a few here and there so our hopes of success were good.

And good they were, never before has one trip yielded such a harvest. Over the weekend we've enjoyed Chanterelles on Toast, Chanterelle and Crab Claw Sandwhiches and A Chanterelle omlette. All thourghly delicious. Here's a quick taster of the first pickings, hopefully there'll be a couple more like this.

SERT Day 2

Rain, Rain, Rain

Kiel - Itzehoe - Cloppenburg - Scheidam (Nr Rotterdam)

Distance: 391 Miles

Still unable to enter the boot, but not smelling yet as we forunately had with us our washing gear and a change of undies in the cabin we headed off the ferry onto German soil at around 10:00 a.m. Our nagivation skills failed us immediately as we headed out of Kiel on the most North Westerly road available instead of the Autobahn due south to Hamburg as originally planned.

The weather was so foul that, on discovering our mistake, we decided that the Autobahn wouldn't be much fun and a more cross country route was chosen. By the time we reach Itzehoe our stomachs were ready for lunch, so a quick stop at a super market before continuing onward to eat our German delicacies on a ferry accross the Elbe, although I don't think Mrs VL thought the smelly cheese was all that delicate!!! We didn't get out and was pleased that the hood kept out most of the huge amounts of spray as the open ferry crashed into the waves.

During the journey my mind was desparately churning on how to get into the boot with the minimum amount of damage. A plan was hatched and we stopped in Cloppenburg to purchase a very shiney 13mm ratchet spanner (1/2" was not available and the comprehensive tool kit was locked in the boot). We took advantage of a slight let up in the torrential rain and refueled ourselves with a very traditional German "Subway" after a good leg stretch around the town.

By now, it was clear that our planned 7 p.m. arrival time was optimistic and even more worrying that the number we had to contact our hosts was clearly wrong. This problem was solved by using the Saw Sharpner as a middle man and our hosts were informed to expect us a little later.

A couple of hours of motorway driving completed a long 12 hours on the road and we arrived outside a very fancy choclate shop beside a canal. Over which our host for the next 2 days, the Chemical Spaniards, have a wonderful flat.

Spitfire European Road Trip (SERT) Day 1

Easy Start.



Haugtuft - Sande - Oslo Ferry Port (Colorline)



Distance: 67 Miles


After an early and slightly drizzly start to complete our packing we got underway behind schedule at about 09:15 a.m. After popping in to the In-Laws Chalet to show of the more or less finished car before anything had a chance to fall off or break we headed, with top now down, on our pleasantly sunny way towards the ferry port, arriving at 12:30p.m in good time for our 2 p.m. departure.


We had such good time that we were able to attach the sun visors whilst waiting to be board, much to the amusement of some of those waiting.

Our largest problem of the whole trip started not long after boarding when I locked the boot for the first time and we couldn't get it unlocked again.

The crossing was a little rough so both food and drink consumptions were a little subdued.

We're home

After 1936.5 miles we've arrived safely back home. The car has been superb the whole way and we managed all our visits and stops as planned.

Only time that we got stuck was the one time we ran out of petrol and the only times the bonnet was opened were to check fluids, tighten the fan belt, cleaning and showing off....

Anyway, here's a little taster picture. More detailed report to follow as, mainly for our benefit rather than your boredom, I'm planning to write a daily dairy in the near future.



Oh, and sadly there was no Nurburgring, it had to happen on the Second Monday or Tuesday but the circuit wasn't open for the public until the Wednesday at 5 p.m at which time we needed to be 500 miles north of Nurburg.. Oh well, another time.

Tour report.

It's day 5 of our European tour in the Triumph and we've covered over 800 miles. Whilst, up to now, we've been free from major mechanical problems, there's been a few little 'events' along the way.

We arrived in good time for the ferry in Oslo on Sunday, and the crossing to Kiel was good. However, almost like losing one's baggage on a flight, we were reunited with our 'stowed' luggage in Rotterdam on Tuesday morning. After locking the boot for the first time it didn't unlock again. Remedy, remove trim from inside of car, reach in and undo hinges. All this with the 13mm spanner purchased during our wet and windy drive from Kiel to Rotterdam on the Monday.

On Tuesday, a day off driving, we went into a cube house in Rotterdam, bought cheese in Gouda and enjoyed a bar-be and some belgian beer with our kind hosts.

Yesterday, the car gained the inside doortrims, lost a wing mirror at speed beside Europort (fell off all on it's own) and we found the limit of the fuel guage. Otherwise trouble free, we drove over Hollands dykes, swam in the sea, popped by for coffee in Antwerp and settled for the night in Bastogne, sunshine and top down all the way.

This morning found wet seats and the Triumph badge on the floor after losing it's battle with gravity combined with some help from the heavy rain washing away the adhesive during the night. After learning of Bastogne's war significance, a short day of a little over 100 miles has taken us to Remich in Luxembourg in the Moselle Valley. On the way we stopped at Chateux de Bourschied, a magnificent 1000 year old castle perched high on the hill side.

Tommorrow it's the Moselle valley and onto Ingelheim am Rhein near Frankfurt.

It's a pleasure to enjoy my Triumph again after all these years and it's all thanks to the many who have had a hand in helping, to all I am very grateful, but thats another story and another post.

Pictures Later.

Not before time.

Some might say it's 6 years late, some 1 year and others one month. Regardless, after another summer has dissapeared in the garage, here it is in all it's "finished apart from a few bits of trim" glory.



It's got a total of 310 miles on the clock since it hit the road for the first time last year. 140 of those were during last years trips for technical control and 170 of them since it was truly back on the road complete with it's brand shiney new norwegian registration plates last Sunday.

During the last 170 miles nothing major has fallen off, it developed a very noise U/J which I have changed and otherwise everything is working well. It also appears to have developed a bit of a gear oil leak from the front seal on the gearbox. Not so healthy, we'll have to keep an eye on that.



So, wether she likes it or not, we're heading off soon for 2 weeks around Europe in the old girl.

The planned route is approximaetly 2600Km, Home-Sande (In laws chalet to "demostrate to MIL that car is finished to a satisfactory state")-Oslo-Kiel-Rotterdam-North France-Ingelheim am Rhine-Nurnburg (and a circuit of the Nurnbergring)-North Germany-Copenhagen-Kiel-Oslo-Home.

The actual route may well be Home-Oslo-Kiel-Kiel-Kiel-Kiel-Kiel-Copenhagen (by public transport)-Kiel-Oslo-Home.

Time will tell, well be taking a few litres of EP90 with us...

You can see more pictures of the build here on more power, the website. If you click on the photos you get a slide show and can see the short comments I have written.

Where I've been

I've many exciting things to post, but same excuse as last year for being a little too busy.

Keep up with the progress on my Spitfire photos atmore power, the website

P.S. Happy Birthday to the other cold on and Big (little) Sis

Microsofts Latest Rubbish

'Office 2007, avoid it like the plague'

For reasons of political correctness I try not to publish my strong opinions of worldly matters on the blog. However, Bill Gates latest release has wound me up so much I can't help myself.

The world has come to expect that any new MS product will be slower and less stable to begin with, but in time faster computers and improved functionality will make it all worth while. After works recent 'upgrade' to 2007 I am afraid that Word, Excel, Outlook etc will never be the same again.

That it is significantly slower and less stable than the norm for Microsoft upgrades is not my major bugbear. The complete abscence of menus and the introduction tabs and icons in their place is.

I don't believe that most 'advanced' users need some stupid icon which tries to explain the functionality of 'Macros' or 'Text to columns'. I wasted my first day working with Excel
2007 with a splitting headache from trying to find functions that used to be a couple of clicks away as they always have been.

Halfway through my second day of frustration, I got so annoyed that, for my sanity and my laptops safety, the IT manager at work kindly lent me the office 2003 discs so that I could take the significant leap forwards from 2007 back to 2003.

From my first day sitting infront of Windows 3.1 Office products have had 'File', 'Edit', 'View' and so on familiarly appearing at the top of the screen. Why after nearly 2 decades should this need to change. I have read that it will take an 'advanced user' between 6 months and 1 year to re-learn MS Office. I believe this to be true.

So, when offered an upgrade, refuse point blank and hope that Microsoft have got over this nonsense by the next upgrade.

Microsoft, this time you really have got it worng.

What an idiot....

Yesterday, we had a very nice works summer party, with a trip on an old tug boat and fun, games, mussels in a huge wok, barbeque-ing and since it was weather and the sea was at 20 C a quick dip.

Albeit very keen, I carefully removed and secured my wedding ring and watch and change into my swimmers without exposing myself. Whilst in mid air, someone usefully pointed out that I still had my glasses on. Needless to say the impact removed them from my head and now they're 10 foot under.

Forunately they sell cheap glasses in some shops here so I have been able to get some temporary ones at more or less the right strength whilst I await an appointment with the optician.

Is this a cat show or.....

There's enough stress at cat shows without having to endure Lord Andrew Lloyd 'I've Composed an unbelievable load of tat' Webber. What's the world coming too. Oh dear, now it's Abba, margainally better I guess. Still, the dancers are good I guess..

Photos and a full show report later, Vegas and Esk Pike won there respective classes, Vegas got his certificate and went up for nomination but no further.

VL blogging live from The Scandanavian Winners show deep in the middle of Sweden.

Photo Added 08.06.2007 apologies for the poor quality but you can appreciate that it doesn't look very cat showesque

Sweating with envy.

We're here in Kuopio, Finland visiting the other cold one, the pshycologist, the budding violinist and no. 2 in their new home.

I have to say, I'm somewhat jealous, they've got a Sauna, and I havn't. Oh dear, that's moved that project up the prority list.

Very Lazy Beds

Who needs garden help when you've got guests like these!

After the great success of last years "Lazy Beds", I duly arranged a delivery of a large quantity of cow muck for this years attempt.

Yesterday morning I left for work and the large heap was still one steaming mass, I came home and this was the scene.



The saw sharpner had recieved permission to buy us a new garden fork and as you can see, subsequently proceeded to put it to good use. We have calculated that we have space for 50% more potatoes than last year, so we'll be heading down to the garden center on Friday to purchase around 30Kg of seed potatoes.

As if this wasn't enough, I also came home to find the rest of the 1st vegetable terrace dug over and the strawberry bed weeded. I am eternally grateful, In one day this years veg garden has taken a great leap forward.

Before and After

We're in wet and cold Cumbria for a long weekend visiting our old haunts and checking up on The Thoughtful Scotsman.

Blog regulars will be well aware of what happened last time he came to visit for the aborted skiing holiday.

I can report that TTS is in good spirits but 12 weeks on from his winter break he's still on crutches and only after todays trip to the fracture clinic is he finally allowed to begin weight bearing on his leg.

Here's the fracture immediately after the repair,



and here it is 4 weeks ago, 8 weeks after the event. Todays X-rays didn't look so different but there was progress.



You can see a huge amount of bone has grown, but as the gap was pretty wide there's a fair bit more to go. Mrs VL assures us that begining to weight bear will help the bone to reshape itself to it's original shape. Hopefully he'll be off his crutches and pacing in his true fashion inside the next month.

Photos courtesy of TTS

It's passed

Great News.

It's been over 8 years, but the Triumph is finally complete and approved as technically sound for use on the public highway. A quick trip to "biltilsynet" last week to check out the few things I had had to fix got the required stamp of approval.

We've decided to delay paying the extortionate registration fee and organising insurnance until the wheels and the rest of the body work is complete. Working on the car knowing that registration is now a purely paper work excercise which can be completed in one day will be a big motivation.

Summer motering is one step closer.

It works.

After much anticipation, and to everyones surprise, the Charcoal experiment worked.

The charcoal produced last weekend lit, took a little time to get going and did not simply dissapear in a ball of flames. I think the burn time was perhaps slightly shorter than commercially available charcoal, but the heat output was more than satisfactory. Here are the resutls.

A new Starsprung Star, anyone fancy a trip to Sweden?

One of the kittens from Asia most recent and final litter, Starsprung Esk Pike, aka Luna, and her owner have been enjoing great success in the show arena.

This photo is from NORAKs show the weekend before I came back to Norway. This is taken during the "panel" to decide best in show after Luna had been nominated and won best of breed.



I'll think, even those of you who are not feline experts, will agree that she looks absolutely stunning. The show before, LIRAK, she won best in show and best overall club cat.

Her she is with her proud owner.



As a result of all of this Luna has qualified for the Scandanavians winners show on the first weekend of June. Unfortuanetly, both Lunas owner and Mrs VL are not available that weekend, so I have been volenteered to take both Luna and Vegas (being an International Champion he also qualifies) to Sweden for the weekend. I may have already found company, if not, anyone fancy a weekend in Sweden surrounded by the best cats Scandanavia has to offer?

Bar-b-q Season Approaches.

Be Prepared, That's what Baden Powell has taught me and what better way is there to prepare for the first days of outdoor cooking than by the production of charcoal.

Last years efforts to use this highly advanced charcoal production facility



produced some fine ash on the first attempt, the second attempt fairing little better, with this measly quantity resulting from hours of hard work filling the apparatus with cut branches.



The difficulty is shutting all the air out at the right time (when the smoke changes colour, although that's all very subjective). After some high tech modification, (a bit of fire proof material and a couple of pieces of wire) Saturdays attempt could, at best, be called underdone. However, it is black, lighter than it was and something I can place in the bar-b and set fire to....



Needless to say, we'll be enjoying tommorrows bank holiday with a bar-b-q lunch. Mrs VL's convinced is going to light, burn with a good flame and dissapear inside 5 mins. If you don't hear anymore on this subject, that's probably what happens!!

Groundskeeper Willie was involved in the last attempt, and will surely advise that it's so cheap to buy it's not worth the effort. The Saw Sharpner and Peggys Aunt are visiting week after next. He's bound to have some good advice, when he's done with the saw, we can set to work and have another go....

The great wood pile of 2007.

I got back from Southampton to find that I had recieved a delivery of firewood. For those of you who remember the great wood pile of 2005/6, I'm pleased to say this is not quite as daunting but I've got some work to do...

The wood in the trailer is the final bit of 2005/6 where it's been waiting all winter to get chopped up.

Looks like we're covered for another couple of winters.

Under the bridge and home at last.

I'm finally back home after too many long hard weeks onboard "Liberty of the Seas".

The trip from out of the Baltic sea involves going under "Storebelts brua" or "The great belt bridge" which connects 2 parts of Denmark together. The worlds largest cruise ship is built with this in mind, and passes under at full speed, with the stabilisers pulling the boat down and clears with a mere 2 metres to spare. Spectacular to be on top, here are some photos for your appreciation.

The Office. Part 8 - Moving In

I was at home, and the Misses was in Bergen during easter. When she got back she had the surprise of finding the office ready to move into. The long weekend was 3 days of hard work, but since I left for Finland on Monday afternoon and I won't be back for a couple of weeks, I wanted it to be ready for use in Mrs VLs studies.

I have to say, I'm very satisfied, almost proud and I was dissapointed not to be present at the unveiling to my dear wife. It's taken way longer than the blog posts suggest and it's still not finished, but it's useable and I hope that Mr's VLs study experience is enhanced from now on

I hope the pictures speak for themselves, all that remains are the drawers and the permanent phone/adsl connection (hence the extension lead).

My Old Girls....

My Spitfire is 31 years old and my Landy 41 Years. It's good to see the older generation helping each other out. The Landys been back on the road now for over two years (and way too many miles!) and the Spits getting ready for it's return to the spotlight...

I did some work on the brake lines and the need to take a test drive was an excuse to get the engine running after the winter break. She needed a little help, greatfully provided, as you can see.



The Spits due a new windscreen this week, then I've got to stamp the chassis number in the chassis (I changed the bit of the chassis where it used to be), and shes ready to be registered for the first time in nearly 9 years. Then it's simply repair and paint the boot, bonnet and doors and fit the interior and we're done....



It's worth the effort.

The Office. Part 7 - Round, A new challenge

Both the legs for the end of the desk and the supports for the top shelves are 43mm round posts. This provided a new challenge, as you can see from the photo's, in my opinion, I rose to the challenge.

Caption Competition

Witty Captions Please, and a prize for correct answers, "What am I"

The Office. Part 6 - The first trial build

After the complexities of the drawer unit, constructing the rear part of the frame and the less visible legs was pretty simple. By now I had enough bits to start trying it all together, the living room turned into a construction zone and Mrs VL, seeing the progress being very tolerant.... As you can see, it was starting to look promising.

The Office. Part 5 - Ikea, eat your heart out.

The evening that I built the carcass for the drawers left me feeling quite satisfied. I didn't really have a plan about how this was going to fix together, all I had was the 2 sides and the base cut to size. Flat pack, you could call it.

After studying the problem and the drawer sides/runners that I had bought on a recent visit to Kaunas in Lithania, I came up with a plan. Some time with the router and a tenon saw later and, as you can see, hey presto, flat pack, glue and some assembly required, but no bits missing....









What's more all the bits for this came out of a single 2m x 0.6m sheet, and nothing else. I think this was the point at which I really started to believe that the office could not just be a reality but something really quite special.

The Office. Part 4 - There's always a catch.

Obviously, whilst going to all the effort of building a new office, there's no point in putting it in the same old poorly decorated room. When first spending time and money on painting the walls and wood work, it seemed a shame to keep the same old carpet, which was a little past it's prime.

Carpets and cats don't go so it was decided to sand the wooden floor down and apply some new coats of varnish.

It all sounded simple, but as those of you who have dealed with previously varnished floors will know, it wasn't. Mrs VL started off with the belt sander, which simply melted the old varnish and made even more mess. Next step was to rope in a poor unsuspecting visitor (the cat's foster mum in this instance), adourn chemical resistant poly bags and attack the floor with paint remover,


(Cutting edge reporting this, one can't begin to imagine how much trouble I'll get in for posting this picture...)

Success was little more than partial. Weeks later and after more chemicals, many worn out sand sheets for both the round and belt sander and with much frustration the floor was finally ready for a new coating.

Here's Mrs VL half way through the first of many coats. You can also see the new colour scheme, freshly applied.

The Office. Part 3 - The lower book shelf.

I started constuction with the easiest bit, the lower part of the bookshelf which also makes up part of the support for the desk itself.

After some fussing about with my router gig to get the correct width for the mortices that support the end of each shelf, it all came together very well, and is good and solid.

Here is the result.

The Last Spud

Last weekends Saturday dinner, kindly cooked by the mother in law whilst we were busy with other projects, saw us consume the last of the product of last years "lazy beds".

Below is a picture of the harvest of one of the 3 types we planted. All in all they all kept very well in our basement food store, and I am very pleased that we have not had to buy a single spud for the best part of 9 months.

The last Onion was consumed during our dramatic winter holiday , again you can see part of the harvest in the photo (in the sack). These also kept excellently so we'll be growing even more this year. Need to get some garlic in as well, I've missed out on that for the last two years.

Lies, lies and Damn Statistics.

As previously mentioned Mrs VL is once again indulging in some post graduate education. The field of epidemiology involves a significant quantity of statistics, with which Mrs VL was confident I could assist.

To begin with this was all well and good, a quick trip to the loft to fetch one of my old uni text books did the job. Now, a couple of months down the road, Mrs VL has become statistically wiser and wiser whilst I have sat still. Now all the talk of means, null assumptions, standard deviations and so on leave me completely baffled and attempts to get any amount of assistance out of me have a reasonable chance of failure.

The Office. Part 2 - Cutting Out

After some careful calculations and thought we purchased the required boards and planks for the office project, loaded them up in the Landrover and headed over to my partner in crime for a day of projecteering in his basement, followed by some fine food and a little competitive music identification...

When we were done with building and testing a "single phase to three phase rotary convertor",



I was very grateful for assistance with cutting the pieces for the shelving and more importantly the complicated curves of the desk top. This we did in the sober light of the next day, not all that early mind, it took our heads a little while to cope with power tools!

Partner in Crime, did a great job. After printing out the curves in full scale,



he cut out with a jigsaw, tidied up with a belt sander



and rounded of the edges with a router.



I probably could of done it myself, but as he's got twice as much equipment and twice as much experience, my result would have been half as good... Many thanks, partner in crime...

Little Man

A belated and very quick cat update.

Starsprung Skiddaw, who is now our only breeding female (living with her Foster Mum), had her first litter one week before our Winter Holiday.

Things did not go as planned, the first came out backwards, upside down and sadly dead. The second, and only other, came out full of life. however, only children can be problematic in the cat world and this was no exception. This little fellow went from 100gms to 170gms in the first four days, then stopped gaining weight, lost the will to feed at the same time as the mother lost interest, possible because of a dose of maistitis caused by the difficult birth. Day 10 was as far as he got.

We are rather fond of the name Skiddaw little man, and since we did not get as far as officially registering this kitten we will be calling the next male kitten that Skiddaw has by this name.

I havn't published any pictures by choice, but I can say that the little we saw of his quality looked very promising for future litters.

The Office.

I have a well founded theory that one project frequently leads to another.

If one considers Mrs VL's recently begun Masters Degree from the Royal Veterinary College to be a project then there is yet another data point to confirm my theory.

Those of you who have loved ones or relatives in any medical profession will know that these professions come with a huge amount of literature (which also tends to be expensive). Also, unlike us engineers, who shove our books in the loft after uni and never look at them again, this literature is often required for reference. A distance learning Masters in "Veterinary epidemiology and Public health" involves another literal shed load.

This storage issue, combined with the fact that to successfully study one requires a comfortable, pleasant and spacious office facility, has brought forward our plans to build a new office.

Originally we had designs to turn the smallest of our bedrooms into a compact but functional office. As this room seems to have been taken over by the cats and would not provide enough space for both of us at the same time (one studying and one on the computer), we have chosen to improve our existing office/guest room.

A quick session with a tape measure, a couple of "thinking caps" and an Ikea catalog, helped us to find out that as ever, the ideal solution wouldn't come in a box and DIY was the best value for money and design effective solution.

This all started before the fateful ski holiday and construction is now well under way, you'll have to wait for more details of that though, first a sneak preview of the seamless combined application of both basic and highly advanced design methods.

Family Affair

There all at it now. Well that is with the exception of Big Sis, whose Irish, out in the country, internet connection means she's can't manage to surf more than a ripple.

They'll have to come to a better arrangement when our parents move out to join them in there newly finished granny flat, otherwise there'll be no more of the fine blogging that we're all looking forward to when that time for the big move comes.

2007 will be a life changing year for them. We're looking forward to reading all about it.

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