What do you drive?

[Mrs Dobby]

My ickle pride n joy is my 2005 JCW MINI Cooper, in Electric Blue and Black, black bonnet stripes, with 16" alloys, full leather interior, harmon kardon hifi, sunroof, tinted windows, etc! 3 piccies included

I had her from new, never had a new car before, and shes brilliant!

Mr D has a 2004 Fiat Panda, which is surprisingly good, tho he'd rather have the new MINI CLUBMAN, but sadly I cant afford to buy him one!

He did used to have a 1984 ex military Land Rover Series III, 109 long wheelbase, which was gorgeous, but too expensive to run as a second car! I know if we won the lottery, he'd have another one tomorrow! piccy below

[shirlthegirl43]

Nice to see you Mrs D - where have you been hiding? or have you just been enjoying driving your car?

[Mrs Dobby]

Hi Shirl!

Been mega busy at work of late, we've had an early bird xmas bike offer finishing, and we've done really well, but with one member of staff on hols and another off sick its been a bit hectic, so I've been working too many hours and building bikes for customers! Then over the weekend I've put my back out (pulling 40lb bikes off high shelves on my own, dont think my mind realises the body isnt quite as young as it has been), so not been online much, sorry!

Hoping to be around a bit more over the next few weeks, but xmas is looking very busy at work, so I may not be posting much until the new year!

Mr D has got the new 2nd hand greenhouse up in the back yard now, just got to finish glazing it, then we can look forwards to starting the coming years growing off in it!

Oh, and the garlic n onion sets are doing well on the plot, tho no sign of the overwintering broad beans yet!

Hope you and Max are well?

[shirlthegirl43]

We are fine thanks, Madmax in Lisbon till 20 Dec then changing contract to Holland after New Year. Elder son happy in his job in Halfords (touring dept but seems to work more in parts and Ripspeed) and getting more hours due to Christmas demand I guess. Take care with those bicycles - I can't even get mine through the house from the garden any more!! Hope the back is better quickly.

Sorry for hi-jacking the thread folks - promise to return to normal behaviour (whatever that is).

[HeyWayne]

Nice wheels Mrs D - I tried one of those out once, but when I was driving it the back of the drivers seat was up against the back seat - but I am abnormal I guess?

If we're showing off our wheels, here's my lovely.

[Nicos]

Good to see you back Dobbies...wondered if I'd freaked you out!!!

[HeyWayne]

Drive ? Ride !
Solidarity with all those who are part of the solution : )

Surprised you didn't use the opportunity to promote ways to become part of the "solution"? Like this for example: Get a tax free bike for work | CYCLESCHEME

[shirlthegirl43]

We did the new car thing once - Madmax bought me a Freelander Millenium for our 10th wedding anniversary. It was fun to take it back to the dealership 3 days later looking like it did in the pic - for some reason they didn't expect it to get taken offroad! Oddly enough after 3 years (and I learned to drive in a series 3 Landrover) I was quite delighted to swap for a car we could service and repair ourselves (picture taken just after restoration - next step is to get those wheels done).

[Mrs Dobby]

Lol HW, no-one can sit behind me when I'm driving the mini, not unless their ankles are less than an inch thick, or they sit with their legs across the back seat (duaghter has done it once or twice!)

Nicos, deffo not freaked us out, just been busy, still looking at whe you and LJ can come over for a bit of a barbecue, we're gonna go and wassail the plot on xmas day, with the rhubarb schnapps that you gave us, guess we'll be walking tho, as I'm sure driving on rhubarb schnapps isnt a good idea! lol!

Hazel, glad Eldest is enjoying work, tell him he can come and give us a lift inCongleton over xmas if he likes! lol!

[wellie]

No - ask him! I promise you this is true......... I drive Trousers Nuts.

[madmax]

Shirls & Max's MK1 sons car...

This is a Mini. A real one!!! In one pic it looks a bit sad but it was off the road for a while before restoration started. They were taken on the day of a car show we all attended. It is a 1 litre jobbie but I am going to ensure there are some internal changes to the lump... 275 cam, polished and ported stage 2 unleaded head, 1 1/2" MG Metro SU carb (rejetted), s/s headers and exhaust, Mallory dizzy, magnacore HT leads, front discs with servo and rubber cone suspension.

If he is lucky this will be finished in '08 in a yummy metallic silver grey colour with black and red leather interior (made by him mum Shirls), Cooper seats and a leather Innocenti Mini Cooper dash. All chromed up and with Italian Job style spots on the bonnet. Just hope he don't 'blow da bloody dorrs off'! Not to forget the polished and colour coded Minilites.

[greenlung]

Surprised you didn't use the opportunity to promote ways to become part of the "solution"? Like this for example: Get a tax free bike for work | CYCLESCHEME

With your extraordinary gift for self promotion, I knew you'd do it for me.
Seems quite obvious I'm outnumbered by petrolheads here, drooling over their shiny foreign imports. My bike cost me £50, 10 years ago, since when I've cycled 25,000 miles, so it's hardly worth involving the taxman for 0.002 p per mile: We're not as greedy as motorists. (Lights touch paper & cycles off)

[Mrs Dobby]

Hi Greenlung!

Until 3 1/2 years ago (when I got promoted from Cycle Specialist to Deputy Manager) I used to cycle 5 miles each way to work most days, and before we moved here I did it 11 miles each way, and when I first started with Halfords 20 years ago I got rid of the car and cycled 8 miles each way every day for 3 years, until I was moved to a branch 25 miles away from home, so I do understand where you are coming from!

In an ideal world I'd love to cycle to and from work, but as its 35 miles each way, its a bit beyond me now, but perhaps when I get a bigger branch closer to home it will become a possibility once again!

I will admit to having become a petrol head since I bought my MINI, but it does 45 mpg (with the JCW kit on it versus 40 mpg without) and is quite low emissions, so even though I could have had a bigger car for the same money I do feel it is a greener choice than some of my colleagues and fellow petrol heads have chosen!

[SarzWix]

Drive ? Ride !
Solidarity with all those who are part of the solution

With your extraordinary gift for self promotion, I knew you'd do it for me.
Seems quite obvious I'm outnumbered by petrolheads here, drooling over their shiny foreign imports. My bike cost me £50, 10 years ago, since when I've cycled 25,000 miles, so it's hardly worth involving the taxman for 0.002 p per mile: We're not as greedy as motorists. (Lights touch paper & cycles off)

Green Lung, I'm glad cycling can get you to all the places you need to go. Walking & the bus used to get me & my 3 kids around fairly well, despite living in a small village. However a few years ago, our bus service was cut drastically, and most days now, if you go to town on the bus, you can't get back til the next day So I passed my driving test aged 31, and shared the OH's car. I'm not going to apologise for that. The car I have now, my Mum bought for me 18 months ago, when I was so crippled with back & joint problems (see The Hypermobility Syndrome Association - hypermobility syndrome, bjhs, beighton, joint, hypermobility, minor, score, benign, ehlers-danlos, diagnostic, syndrome, laxity, ehlers, brighton, criteria, rheumatology, association, eds, minor criteria, majo for more info) that I could barely walk to the front door. I have just given up my disabled badge, although I could have kept it til May next year, because through sheer hard work and bloody mindedness I can now walk for half an hour without pain. I now have 2 irretrievably damaged discs in my back & there is absolutely no way on this earth that I could cycle 5-6 miles into town & back again, with a backpack full of groceries, without being crippled again, possibly for months. Should I be apologising for that? I am happy that something which is a necessity in my life, should also be a pleasure.
As for being 'part of the solution', I think we are all striving to be on this forum, & doing as much as we can manage. No-one should be knocking that, or being self-bl@@dy-righteous about how they're 'doing more' or 'better' green stuff than other people. I haven't been out of the country or on an aeroplane since a business trip to Spain before I married 14 years ago, but I can't see that ner-ner-ne-ner-ner-ing about it is going to reduce pollution any?
We're not as greedy as motorists Erm, what's that mean? In what way am I greedy where you aren't?
Finally, as my dear departed Ma used to say -"If you've nowt nice to say, say nowt at all"

[HeyWayne]

With your extraordinary gift for self promotion, I knew you'd do it for me.
Seems quite obvious I'm outnumbered by petrolheads here, drooling over their shiny foreign imports. My bike cost me £50, 10 years ago, since when I've cycled 25,000 miles, so it's hardly worth involving the taxman for 0.002 p per mile: We're not as greedy as motorists. (Lights touch paper & cycles off)

I'm a marketing manager - promotion's part of what I do.

As Mrs D has said, in an ideal world, we'd all cycle to work, but a big factor as to wht we don't is that we don't have the support infrastructure.

My line of work requires that I wear a suit to work and with no changing or showering facilities it makes it a bit tricky (I've tried before now), and I often have to carry large items home - proofs, samples etc etc. I'm also required to travel to meetings on a fairly regular basis (yesterday I was in Germany for example), and public transport does not cater for people of my size - and rarely runs on time, and on a number of occasions doesn't reach the areas I need to get to at the times I need to get to them. The fact that I'm not really supposed to cycle for great lengths (after back surgery) didn't stop me trying for quite some time - ok, it was for pleasure, but believe it or not, I actually enjoy cycling.

I'm sorry to say, that your attitude is fairly typical in my experience of cyclists -and it's a shame you use your passion for the "solution" to lambast those that drive rather than using the energy to encourage more to share your laudible campaign.

As for calling motorists greedy? Do you have any idea how much it costs to run a car?

I'm pretty sure that had you of taken the time to ask, you'd probably find there are more of us who would prefer to cycle if we could - but then cyclist are a self-righteous bunch aren't they? (recipricated blue touch paper).

p.s. - nice photos on your myspace page.