100,000 views !!! and some reflections...

It seems appropriate to the mark the occasion of exceeding 100,000 views on the Blog with a post to say thanks to all who have dropped by and especially to those regulars who chip in with feedback from time to time.  I am conscious that the title of the Blog does have wargaming in it, and that over the last two years there have been far fewer posting of that type than in earlier years.  This has been predominately down to circumstances with work which has seriously cramped my attendance at my local Huntingdon club.  Things are about to change however, and the long weekly trips (170miles) from Warboys to Bristol will shortly be coming to an end.  I have secured a new job in York that I start in the New Year, and the family and I will be moving back to Gods own county (Yorkshire) if all goes according to plan on the 19th Dec.  Our new home will in the Woodthorpe area of York.  I will be sorry to leave our current home which we have lived in since 1998 and the many friends I have in the Huntingdon area. I shan't be sorry though to see the back of one of the neighbours however, so there is a real upside there ! LOL  The costs of moving house are quite incredible has to be said, and with stamp duty thrown in I won't be seeing much change out of £20k :(

Wargamers tend to be hoarders  and I'm no exception with loads and loads of books figures and terrain in the loft.  These last 4 weeks I've been slowly bringing it down, and the house has boxes stacked all over the place ! The removals company said a second vehicle might be required to move us, but I told them I would use my CCKW 352 to move some stuff up.  I'm going to have to drive it up anyway, so it might as well help and out and keep costs down.  In preparation for the 150 mile journey I decided to put it into a truck garage called Welch Commercials, and asked them to give it a dummy MOT check.

As a pre 1960 vehicle the law  doesn't require it to have a MOT, but actually I don't agree with that, I think all vehicles should have an annual safety check of some kind. Anyway, the garage spotted a few things but only one significant one would have ‘failed it’. The new rubber hose that Rex Ward (the main GMC parts supplier in the UK) supplied a few months that connects in the inlet manifold to the Hydrovac (like a car servo) pipe wasn't man enough for the job and was partially collapsed  They have had one made up for me locally that has a coil insert within it. With the move of house and job + the weather I'm not getting the time to put into the truck at the moment, so I'm having them change the last 3 brake hoses that still needed doing, along with sorting three things they spotted:
a) the UJ nearest the pillow block rear prop shaft had some play in it,
b) 2 bolts on another U/J that were loose,
c) add split pins to the engine mount bolts.

Current plans are to load it up the coming Friday and drive it north next Saturday.  I hope the weather is kind as I reckon the trip will take at least 5 hours and 6 Volt windscreen wipers are rubbish ! LOL
-