I thought I’d better post an August update since it’s September tomorrow!
I realise that I’ve hardly been diligent in keeping up the website over the last couple of months. I’ve been so busy! I shall be better over the Autumn…
In terms of Scott activity, I’ve had more involvement with Scotts in the last few months than I’ve had for several years, since I worked with Roger rebuilding engines. I have recently started to offer my services to people who either want engine work or gearbox work, or simply want some help to try to resolve why their machine doesn’t work as they think it should. I’ve a few engines in process now and it’s a happy thing to be involved again with people who are really enthusiastic about having a good engine.
Anyway, I don’t want to say that I won’t write about work that I’m doing but I don’t want this website to change to a vehicle for my own work. If something interesting comes up, I’ll write a bit about it.
One significant Scott based event this August was the Abbotsholme weekend. I haven’t been since the first ever event, around 7 years ago I believe. Eddie Shermer and his wife Margaret have laboured to create what Roger speculated as being the ‘high water mark’ of Scott rallies. The energy and organisation to create such a successful event cannot be underestimated and I was very glad that I was able to bring my family to such a warm and welcoming event.
We were there from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon and stayed in our own little dormitory which was entirely comfortable and gave us the peace of mind that we had somewhere to retreat to with the children and also that any late night crying (not me) was likely to have minimal impact. My youngest is only one year old so is a bit young to require grand schemes to keep her interested. The older one, who is three, thrives on interesting adventure and activity and especially loved dancing to the excellent Ukelele band after the dinner on the Saturday night. Wonderful.
Saturday had been forecast with a downpour of such an intensity not seen since some guy was advised to fill his boat with animals. Amazingly the day was largely rain free and in fact sunny and bright for the most part. This was appreciated as it was the day for the Scott run which took in some beautiful places in Derbyshire, not least Chatsworth house which was the location for our lunch stop.
I didn’t have a bike to ride and so I gladly accepted Rogers invitation to ride ‘ballast’ in his little 500cc JZR three wheeler. Such excellent fun and we were so lucky with the weather… until about ten miles from home when the heavens opened first with a hailstorm with hailstones the size of peas and then just plain cold rain. A lot of it.
Some pictures, pre deluge, at Chatsworth.
So we got soaked in the end. It was all part of the days entertainment and what a great entertainment it was.
Sunday was the opportunity for people to put their Scott’s out on display outside the School, and there were a few people with stands offering spare parts. Lovely to catch up with lots of people that I hadn’t seen for years and also to introduce them to my family. I think everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves and although it’s a bittersweet feeling as it’s the last one of it’s kind, I was very glad that my family participated.