British Red Sportscar

Still getting loads and loads of emails from supposed web site developers….and obviously none of them have actually see, the site. So STOP SPAMMING ME PLEASE!

Not posted much here for a while, but here are some recents…a day at Abbeydale miniature railway, and some at the Chesterfield Car Show (held every Monday morning), plus one not taken by me, on the Clun Run…

Just about every day, I must get half a dozen emails supposedly from web site developers and the like…they go straight into spam…so please stop sending them!

I used to use one of these years (and years!) ago, to mow the churchyard in Hints, where I grew up. I always wanted one of my own. I did have one some time back, can’t remember exactly what happened to it, but now I have one…it comes with a plough attachment too.
The Allen Scythe does not resemble a hand scythe but serves the same purpose. The engine drives a 2-foot-wide (0.6 m) or 3-foot-wide (0.9 m) or 4ft wide toothed blade sliding back and forth horizontally across stationary teeth to produce a scissor action, and also drives two large wheels for forward travel. There are handles to allow the machine to be controlled by an operator walking behind it, controls comprise throttle and clutch. The wheels are driven through ratchets which allow either wheel to free-wheel when steering the machine (the wheel on the outside of the turn will be able to rotate faster than the inside wheel). This system is simpler than a differential axle and, unlike a differential, means that when one wheel slips the other keeps turning and driving the machine forwards. It has the disadvantage that the machine can run away from the operator downhill and for this reason the ratchet mechanisms can be locked. The machines are extremely robust and many from the 1950s are still in regular use. They can be dangerous, as the clutch system only disengages the wheel drive from the engine: the blades cut all the time the engine runs.
Later models were available with different attachments, including rotating brushes that replaced the cutting head, air or water pumps and saws or hedge trimmers that drove from the starting pulley side of the engine.
I will work on it to get it going…and let you know the progress….

A trip back to the old place, Hints and Tamworth, pics of various places, what was The Peel Hotel, the house where I used to live, the local village church, the village hall…the Castle, the old Rose Bros showroom where as a kid, I would go there on Saturdays and sit on Fordson tractors while my Dad worked there…and of course…..an ice cream!!!

On May Day Monday. Nice drive there and back, thankfully uneventful, compared to an incident on the Cat and Fiddle a few years back!

The pdf shows some of the paintings and drawings I have done…They look a bit dark, and I will photo them again, and add descriptions…when I have a minute!
Art Lessons

Hope you can open and see this…Pages 13 and 14 in particular!!!!

Issue 405 Mar 26 2024

Every Monday morning, a group of classic cars meets in Chesterfield Market Square…and it’s free! I started coming to this a few weeks ago, a few Mogs, plus lots of others, with a Drinks and eats cafe next door, and a great bunch of owners… Come along…

I haven’t painted for years…..but have taken it up, and even joined a class that meets weekly..
Here is my first effort…from a photo taken when we were in China last year…