Abigail Rose is so Beautiful.....

About to put on one of her very favourite Hi 5 DVD's.
Wearing Gwilym's Boules hat...

Gwilym and Emily went to one of Tom's '3 Waiters' gigs, lucky them...they said Tomo was by far the best 'Waiter'.

Here I was at my computer taking photos off Gwilym and Emily's Flickr when they rang... from... 'Hell' Uh Oh I thought another country like Ukraine but no, they're on an Island in Poland that's called 'Hell'... it's near Gdansk they tell me.

Finished.

At last our Kitchen is finished, it took us forever to put all the signs and things back on the walls and made us wonder why we'd bothered to paint because we can hardly SEE the walls... everything is nice and clean now so I guess that's why. :-)

A boys eye view of a Big Green Bus.

I let Jack have a play with my camera and these shots are what he thinks are the beautiful things on an Albion Double Decker...

Jackson Harry loves to play Double Decker Buses.

This little boy became quite shy when I wanted to take photos of him playing in our Albion Double Decker Bus, but he's there in every photo.


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Vale David Hudson

David Hudson came into our lives through Turramurra North Primary School in about 1985, he'd had an accident on a tractor when younger and was the same age as Briony but David was a friend to all our children and to David and myself, he was Tom's #1 fan after Tom had protected him from some less than friendly boys, he and Briony went to Movies together and whenever we bumped into him or saw him at parties he made you feel as if he was just waiting for you to arrive and then proceeded to reel off several jokes! We will remember him always for his very happy outlook on life.

Dave the Painter...

Dave the Painter has arrived, he started painting and repairing the Pergola on Monday, almost finished two coats in three days of prefectly beautiful sunny and warm weather but on Wednesday night it started to rain, he was expecting to come inside and start on the Kitchen this afternoon but we had to scramble out of bed this morning and start taking things off the walls... I can hear you all groaning... for Dave to start at 7:45am. Yes it was a job and a half. Anyway we once again have stuff all over the house while Dave gets to work on our dirty nail holed walls.
Almost finished Pergola, just in time for the Grape and Wisteria vines to start budding.
Dave starting on the Kitchen... we want to keep it the colour it was so Dave asked us what the colour is called, it was painted 25 years ago who can remember a colour name for that long???
Look all the bus signs have gone... not a sight seen since our home was built in 1981.

A certain little boy thinks he's in heaven.

Hey! Tom and Gwil... Look who's come home for a while... much to Jackson Harry's delight.
The Leyland Double Decker has gone to Loftus for it's paint job, the paint hasn't arrived from England yet but is on it's way, in the meantime David took the opportunity of an empty garage to bring his Albion Double Decker home for a good service. Jackson Harry was absolutely delighted to see it and the two of us had an inspection with Jack exclaiming with delight and running his little hands over the hand rails, the seats and the signs... what a lucky little boy he is eh!

Charlie Ripley...

After a quiet week we're back into it again, Charlie Ripley came to play for the day, he is a dear little chap just feeding, playing, sleeping and chatting... he earnstly talks to me, smiles beautifully with great big dimples and laughs! When I sing to him he laughs... good deep belly laughs, I never knew I was such a funny singer :-)

Look Gwillo...

While we were away Gwilym framed my little piece of the Berlin Wall but on our trip we managed to collect a few more bits of rock... we did declare them as we came through customs.

Top Left... A couple of pieces of the dry stone wall surrounding 'Trebartha', one of my Rodd ancestors homes.
Top Right... Chalk and pebbles picked up from The Needles on the Isle of Wight, The Needles are the first sight one gets when arriving from Australia by sea, they are similar to the White Cliffs of Dover which is the first glimpse of Britian when sailing from France.
Bottom Left... Pebbles from the beach at Pennan, Scotland, the Location of my favourite film 'Local Hero'.
Bottom Right... A piece of the Berlin Wall.

From Under the Bus

Progress on the restoration of the Leyland bus stood still for six months while we waltzed around Britain. There was some hope it might have been painted in our absence but in retrospect it was lucky it wasn't. The firm who were going to do it, professional bus body builders and repairers, quoted $26,000 plus GST for it to be done in two-pack sprayed enamel (ie enamel with a hardener: don't try it at home it's toxic and needs all sorts of gear).
So it went to Smithfield, sat for a month while they got around to looking at it, and came back from Smithfield, unchanged, except that we noticed it had a clicking noise in the gearbox in second gear. The gearbox came out, was overhauled using some parts from another box of the type, and some new bearings and seals, plus a thorough clean up and paint job.

THE GEARBOX going back in: that thing you see hanging from the ceiling is a chain block: a block and tackle that works with chain instead of rope. Talk about a stroke of luck: an old mate from across the road moved house, cleaned out his rabbit warren of a workshop and found he had THREE of them and would I like one? This a week before taking the box out. The bus body is built with a screw socket in the ceiling for this very task, so it was performed very professionally.

A BIT OF INDUSTRIAL ARCHAEOLOGY-- STAMPED ON THE CASE OF THE GEARBOX IS ITS DATE OF ASSEMBLY. ELSEWHERE ON THE CASE ARE THREE SETS OF INITIALS: THE MEN WHO PUT IT TOGETHER IN 1938. (SO THEY COULD BE BLAMED IF IT GAVE TROUBLE). THE BUS WAS ACTUALLY BUILT IN 1936, SO THIS GEARBOX IS ONE IT HAS ACQUIRED AT ITS LAST OVERHAUL IN 1955.
New arrangements have been made for painting: long ago, when it was first ready for it, I wrote to Rob Gregor who had painted the Albion double decker 25 years ago and done it superbly by brush, and asked would he like to do this one? He lives at Engadine on the southern fringe of Sydney, and doesn't drive so he politely declined. Option 2, ask Custom Coaches, $26.000 please.
Next step, rack brains, think maybe Rob would come to the museum at Tempe and do it there, closer to his home, but the roof leaks at Sydney Bus Museum, and it's a dusty place at times. Brainwave 4: maybe the Tramway Museum at Loftus, where I have been a member for 45 years, and where I am helping restore their 1938 Albion double decker, would let me park it in a shed there, only one train stop from Engadine. (For the story of the 1938 Albion, see: www.albion1615.blogspot.com ). Yes they would, so write to the Board of Directors and clear it with them, and contact Rob again. Yes he'd be happy to. Phew. But he can't start until about late September when he can take two weeks' leave, and anyway some of the paint has to come from UK, where they still make enamel you can brush without having it dry on the brush as you try to apply it.
Which leaves a lot of spare time to tidy up many loose ends, such as getting upholstery done. And finding a firm to bend steel tube to make new seat tops, and a firm to cut the lugs to go on them which attach the seat backs, and a firm to do all the electroplating of bright parts, including the seat tops. And rounding up a few last items of glass to complete the stock of windows. (Some were victims of .22 bullets shot presumably at rabbits when the bus lived on the property at Yeoval NSW).

A COMPLETED SEAT WITH ITS NEW TOP HELD IN PLACE WITH STEEL DOWELS IN EACH SIDE, AN IDEA PRESENTED TO ME BY A FRIEND YEARS AGO, TO AVOID HAVING TO REPLATE THE WHOLE SEAT FRAME.


THE DRIVER'S SEAT NEWLY UPHOLSTERED IN LEATHER (DON'T TELL PENNIE). All 30 seat cushions and backs have been done, plus a few oddments of trim for the driver's cab, including the sun visor. Son-in-law Tim found the upholsterer: he redoes the seat cushions for the gym machines where Tim works, at the Forum complex.


SOME OF THE HUNDRED OR MORE PIECES OF PLATING BACK FROM SWIFT PLATERS, SILVERWATER. A LOVELY JOB AT A SURPRISINGLY MODEST COST.

So when painting is complete there will be a whirlwind of window fitting, covering of lower deck floor, seat installation, interior trimming, fitting of lights and many oddments, with the hope that it will be ready for Motorfest on January 26th.


THIS IS THE AUTOVAC, A CONTINUOUS SOURCE OF LOW LEVEL DIFFICULTY. THE THREE-WAY COCK UNDER THE LEFT OF THE BLACK BOX OOZES DIESEL FUEL QUIETLY OVER A LONG PERIOD, LEADING TO A STICKY, DUSTY MESS. Somebody recently commented as I showed them the problem that it would be very simple just to get rid of the cock and fit a new pipe connection! Unthinkable! That thing, and the mess on the bulkhead, is such a classsic feature of early Leylands that it never occurred to me to abandon it. After trying paper oil jointing, then a thick cork gasket, the latest attempt is using reinforced rubber sheet. After three days it hasn't dribbled.....
A Merit Certificate for anyone who can guess what the Autovac does.

For the whole story see: www.leyland1379.blogspot.com

Look what happens...

Look what happens when you are in love and in Paris.......
We are so thrilled that Gwilym proposed to Emily on their favourite bridge over the River Seine in Paris yesterday, our baby boy has chosen a wonderful partner for life and we screamed with delight when Emily showed us her left hand when we all Skyped together tonight... Gwilym and Emily are now at Tom and Emma's home in London so we were able to see them all and the ring. Congratulations you two we are very happy for you both.

Toadstool... again!

I'll make these the last photos of those three toadstools in our garden, I think they've grown as big as they can... they are rather attractive though aren't they.

Building everywhere...

A new house is being built on the tennis court across the road...
And a new pool is being built by our neighbours, this photo is taken through one of the flyscreens upstairs.

Sewing Room/Laundry

New bench and a new Washing Machine is coming... my 30 year old Hoover is dying :-(
I know, I know... I have too much fabric I'd better get off this Blog and turn some of it into Quilts!!
New bench and drawers... I love my beautiful Bernina 440, it's much cleverer than me but I'm getting the hang of it.

Some fun photos of Gwilym and Emily in Paris.

Gwilym and Emily are having a wonderful time in Paris, they are lucky enough to be staying in an apartment belonging to the mother of the wife of one of Em's cousins... the mother has gone to her country home. Gwil and Em have a view of the Eiffel Tower from the bedroom window, how lucky are they! We enjoyed a Conference Skype the other night, Gwilym and Emily were in Paris, Tomos, Emma and Abigail Rose were in London and David and Pennie were in Turramurra... how clever we are!! It was such fun we're going to do it again this week, none of those OS have met Charlie Ripley so on Tuesday evening they will at least be able to see him and hear him through our Webcams.
Here are some fun photos I took off Gwil and Em's Flickr shots.
I wonder if the Hilton family thought of naming their children after every city they have a hotel! The mind just boggles.
It's fun watching people do this... good shot guys!
Another fun one...
Wow look at the view.
Note there is still a price tag on these Louis Vuitton Sunnies... and it remained there when they left the store wearing their old Sunnies.
Looks Yummy... I love Escargot myself.