Engine Punk

This could only be a French car This is a car that I don't fit. I sat in a Mehari years ago one and was struck by the lack of foot and legroom. Why this was so I don't know. I've never had this trouble with 2CVs. Look at those little corrugations The Mehari is a sub-culture car within 2CV circles and is made of unrusting Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene panels (or ABS to you) that unfortunately are supported by a metal frame and a standard 2CV chassis. Replace the rotting chassis with a galvanised one (as so many 2CVs sport these days) and galvanise the body frame as well and you have sustainable fun motoring. To look at, the Mehari couldn't be anything other than French. That either puts you off or makes it highly desirable. It's not a world car designed by committee even though it's a fast running dromedary (a kind of camel designed by just one person) that gives the Mehari its name. This car has national identity. It's so redolent of the s...

Goonhavern 2011 and there's nothing on the roads I mentioned a sprint or time trial on this blog some time ago, held in a decade when a nimby was unknown and folk were more like to say Yes on my back roads The time trial was held in Goonhavern during the 1920s and here is the "now" view compared with the "then" view below, when people said "Let's see what'll she do mister!" and had their own friendly little time trials on public roads. Here, I'm standing in the middle of the A3075 road facing out of the village, looking towards Newquay. There's a 30 mph sped limit here now and that black sign on the left facing traffic coming up the hill reminds you if you're going too fast. Goonhavern 1920s with a stripped down Calthorpe approaching the starting line Things haven't changed so much since the 20s. The road isn't much wider - it probably was always the width of a drover's road so shepherds could drive she...

It's not just me that's inspired by my surroundings. Gonamena is the tale of ordinary Cornish farming folk who experience tremendous upheaval when mineral prospectors come to their farm and turn it into a copper Klondyke. During the boomtime it's live hard and play hard but when the copper price crashes not only is there no work but no farm, either for the land has become poisoned. Emigration is the only solution to avoid solution. This could be a mawkish and self-righteous account of environmental disaster and the Cornish diaspora but it's bloody funny and gets its point across without preaching -- although there is a preacher among the central characters. For several weeks throughout June, what are known as the Gonamena guerillas have been targeting local supermarkets and shopping centres to publicise the show at Sterts Open Air Theatre. A gang from our row went to see it because one of our neighbours is in the chorus and I really enjoyed it. For a cast lar...

Hallo - I'm back from Le Mans and will be posting my thoughts about this fantastic event on this blog dreckly (good Cornish word). There were loads of Vintage Things that Ill share with you soon. This was just one. I didn't travel down to the Sarthe circuit in it but a whole bunch of other people did. This Bedford TK was parked in the campsite hard by the Porsche curves and I really its livery. There's an obvious London Transport influence and those who know anything about graphic design will know what a towering contribution Harry Beck and Edward Johnston made to simply catching the eye. Applied to a classic British lorry, the effect is highly pleasing and not only recalls the home city of many endurance spectators at Le mans but also reminds me of the wonderful support vehicles and racing car transporters of yesteryear. There were some models of theses I haven't just got back, I've been making the most of what has so far been a brilliant summer here in Cornwa...

It's taken years but Dobwalls is now by-passed. Visitors to south-east Cornwall during high summer probably don't have very good memories of Dobwalls. It's a village that straddles the A38 just west of Liskeard and due to its position at the western end of the Liskeard bypass it became a bottle neck to avoid. And the residents of Dobwalls certainly didn't appreciate being prisoners in their own homes. From Easter to late September, Saturday is known as change over day. One lot of visitors leaves and another lot arrives and gridlock often ensues. Landlords of B&Bs and self-catering barn conversions are reluctant to let their properties for part weeks during the season so the ritual of change over day and manic chambermaids cleaning rooms and changing bed linen seems to be here to stay. Only by camping can this lemming like ritual be avoided. Cornwall relies on an effective road system otherwise those that support its main industry will stay away. Effective...

I was very impressed by Stiff Little Finger's support act in Falmouth. Dave said he'd seen them before last year when they supported The Damned in Falmouth. Dave's like that. He's so committed he arranges his holidays to coincide with his fave bands touring. Anyway, The Eyelids are a female four-piece outfit who play paired down spooky psychobilly punk. I think this stuff sounds easy to do but have a strong suspicion it isn't. I'd heard of The Eyelids before because I'd stumbled across their MySpace page and they're already World famous in Cornwall but wasn't sure if they played my sort of stuff. I am now. They definitely do. I reckon the double bass gives them a USP - a unique sound proposition. It's certainly very distinctive and I reckon the four of them have really got something. Kelly's got a great voice, Michelle has to be one of the smiliest drummer's you'll ever see while she blats out complicated rhythms, Josie's gui...

Available now on Amazon While my book lurches towards the market place, like Frankenstein's monster, here's one that a long standing friend of mine, Pete Cross, has recently had published. Shadows in the sky is about Cornish choughs and is a children's book that will also appeal to adults interested in the natural world. It's created a great deal of interest in Cornwall since choughs are the national symbol of Cornwall. However, until recently the chough was extinct in Cornwall but now they have returned and their numbers are growing. This is their story engagingly told by someone who has been watching over the original pioneering settlers for many years. It's attracting comments from some quite notable authors, too. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shadows-Sky-Pete-Cross/dp/1904239072/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195396053&sr=8-1