Email Posting Test

Well as it is pouring down with rain I have decided to test the email to blog settings. Fingers crossed this works.

Whoop Whoop

Ocean FM have posted the links to the site and some information. Chris is currently doing a little dance!!

Link

This is a high note on a week that has not been going well...As I am sure everyone knows, you have weeks that are hard work to stay stationary. Well Chris and Colin are both having one of those but are sure it will get better with the load test Saturday.

Christmas Hamper.....

The latest acquisition to raise money for charity is a hamper. This is not to be eaten in case of emergencies like "there isn't anything interesting in the cupboard to eat" or "what you haven't got any biscuits..." it is going to be raffled off at Admiral Lord Nelson School in aid of Kabafita Upper Basic School, Gambia.

Admiral Lord Nelson School have existing links with Kabafita Upper Basic and have visited yearly with the next trip going in February 2009.

The hamper was generously donated by Jo Reynolds (thanks Mum) and the clear wrap traveled from Germany to the UK then Spain before getting back to the UK. Mum was on a multi leg trip and had to take it with her.

It is hoped that in the run up to Christmas that people will buy tickets, especially at the Awards evening next week. The posters designed by Elly will hopefully help attract people.

Shields To Maximum

Well we are getting there, the sump shield is fitted and only rubs on the engine when the cars cold or occasionally on tick over.

Thats Chris' excuse for not driving it to work this week!!! Not of course that its cold and he likes his normal car......

I lump of metal dural was located at a friendly scrap dealer and with some cursing and swearing Roy and Colin fited it.

There isnt a pictre yet as Chris has been running around chassing his tail and hasnt managed to get out with a camera in daylight

Route

Charlie Croker: What's the matter.
Yellow: He says he wants to sit up in front with the driver!
Coco: I always get sick in the back.
Yellow: Listen, if I go in the back, I'll get me migraine, I'll be out like a light.
Charlie Croker: You are not going to be sick. You are not going to have your migraine. And everybody is gonna sit in the back of the motor!
Arthur: Charlie, me in the back of the motor with my asthma?

Ok so we said we are going here here and here but how long will that actually take us? What should we consider? Colins suggestion of we should tank through the night was met with a face that said several things.... all of them ended in off and started in 4 letters or less.

We are stopping night 1 in Bordeaux but depending how badly wrong it goes with Chris' sat nav kit it may be more of a cat nap. Day 2 is Andorra (with snow chains and hairpin bends) pushing on to Barcelona and as far as we can get to Valencia before the caffeine and sugar runs out. Monday is a run down to Gib stopping on route for the union jack shorts and knotted hanky photos. Tuesday morning is the ferry to Morocco and hopefully Sale (Rabat). Then it goes mushy......

Smashed Glass

Having looked at how we have mounted the speakers Colin realised that if we decided to go over anything larger than a Portsmouth Speed bump we were highly likely to have the speakers swing out and smash the glass. To remedy this we have stuck polystyrene on the glass and if this wasn’t enough Chris has cut up the box the speakers came in and used that to encase the back of the speakers.

Blackpool Illuminations

We have now fitted two 12v strip light in the main cab to allow us to see what we are doing at night. After some cursing and swearing (see You Say What?) they now both work.

You Say What??

The speakers from Lewis are now tested and fitted. We have mounted them on hardboard that is suspended from the roof. This has been done with enough slack in the cable to allow us to mount them off the roof rack when we are watching movies. The car has been “chaved” up and with the speakers running and doors closed you can still hear the music clearly. Colin wasn’t so impressed as this test was conducted with him sat between the speakers trying to work on the strip lights!!!!!

Pink Balls

So we started to put the “Pickled Onion” logo on the bonnet and had a thought….. so Chris got dispatched to find some Pink tennis balls and came back with 24. It was all Toys”R” Us had. With the aid of Serious glue half a tennis ball is now mounted

Stickers

We have put additional logo’ing (is that a word??) on the car but due to the inks used have had to cover them in clear fablon to stop the colour running when it rains.

Sticky Stuff and Window Tints

How do the boy racers put all these stickers on their Nova’s and make them look good?? We have tried to put a rear window tint on to stop people seeing in and nasty isn’t the word. If you were stood on the moon it would look okay but any closer and you can see the streaks. After this poor effort we have resorted to using white “Fablon” on the rear windows.

William Shakespeare

Having talked to the Post Office Clerks something they said got Chris thinking…. Why don’t we write a book about this? What could we put in it? Mmmhhh more contemplations reuired.

Driving Licenses

You need a license to drive? When did this come in?????

For the trip we need international driving licenses so a Saturday morning amble down to the Post office was called for as you can get them over the counter. We got chatting to the cashiers and managed to hold up the queue explaining what we were doing and why it seamed like a good idea in January.

Ocean FM

To gain the most funds for Ocean FM's Charity “Help a Local Child” they are going to auction off the flight experience, kindly donated by British Airways. This is going to be done on air on December 5th. Details located here.

They have also offered us time on air before we go and a call into the show whilst we are doing the trip and a map tracking our progress on their website, as well as coming to the launch.

We are currently still finalising the details, so stay tuned………

Do We Stay Or Do We Go???

Well it has been an interesting week and many discussion has occurred about the security situation in the countries we are travelling through. We have decided to monitor the situation right up till we get to Marrakech and if it deteriates we will evaluate at that point. This is not a case of false bravado or ego leading the way but balanced reason and has been greatly aided by the security report provided by Adrian.

Thanks Adrain for the info!!! Ady works in oil exploration around the world and his company provide detailed threat assessments for their employees.

Houston We Have A Problem

********************* News Flash*********************
Mauritania declare no go by FCO and US Forgein office
*****************************************************
Will link information and further discusion when we decided what to do. the full infomation can be read here