I was, for a moment, turned aside from the righteous and more reliable ways of my ever-faithful Morris Minor Convertible. I did neglect her. She lay unwashed for several weeks and I did not check her fluid levels even though I knew she needed attention. I am ashamed.

Forgive me Sir Alec, for I have sinned ...

I have an excuse, of sorts, for the lack of updates lately. You see, since we last spoke I have moved house, changed jobs, quit, changed jobs again and moved to the land of leprechauns and black beer. Yes, we're now in Dublin, Ireland. We're here til the end of October so don't be surprised if the Guinness affects my speeling and shamrocks start appearing all over the place!

The trip up here from Guildford was action-packed as always. It was a last minute decision to drive up and when we checked over our '67 'vert 'Bessie' we discovered that the head gasket water leak that has been plagueing her for the last month was still there, and we have changed the head twice already. It had to be a cracked block! 'Bugger' and other 4-letter words were said several times.

But all was not lost. Remember the 'Alan's Daily Driver' features? Well, Alan used to be our flatmate and, conveniently, is a Morris Minor specialist! So, a quick S.O.S. call to Alan and Bessie is booked in for a heart transplant that afternoon. The Donor? I'm sorry to say it was our trusty-rusty '66 two-door 'Myrtle'. Poor thing, 18 months of faithful service only to be butchered at the last ... sorry Myrtle!

Alan did an amazing job and 6 hours later Bessie came home again with a reliable 'new' engine ready to go to Dublin the next morning. And even better, he's getting another engine that he'll fit into Myrtle for us. Thanks Alan! :)

The trip from Guildford up to Holyhead in Wales (where we caught the ferry to Ireland) was a nice relaxing trip - the top down the whole way. We made the 200-odd miles on A and B roads in just over 6 hours. Very pleasant. Bessie (with Myrtle's help) had performed faultlessly.

So, here we are, in Dublin, and it is AMAZING the amount of attention Bessie gets over here! Everywhere we go people stop, smile, stare and point at the car. Children laugh. At least we hope it's the car they're looking at ...

Pictures and stories of our travels in the Green Isle are coming soon.

This year's Nationals was an especially good weekend for us because our long-awaited modified Traveller 'Moose' was finally ready for us to drive away! Jonathon Heap from JLH Minor Restorations has had a busy time lately finishing off the panel and paint work and fitting the interior. We hadn't seen it since February and it now features all new tinted and laminated glass - it makes the new wood really stand out. It's road legal and we've already driven it back to Dublin and then back to Guildford again. It is an AWESOME car to drive :))

I'm off to Dublin again today and the laptop is staying here, so until I get some more time to do stuff on the website you'll have to make do with the following pics.

Cheers!

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