An absolutely immaculate, classic MG Midget car parked beside us while we were parked at Minnowburn car park this afternoon. It was quite a subtle shade of blue - Midnight Blue as it turned out - and I inquired if it was purple. The lovely little car had an abundance of chrome fittings, including a rack atop the boot; spoked wheels and a soft-top too. Its registration was an old, Belfast "COI" number. Its owner explained that it cost him £100 a year to insure; nor was there any car tax to pay.
Earlier, we had been to the newly-opened tourist facility near Shaw's Bridge, the former lock-keeper's cottage - which was not open - and another new building beside it, the Lockkeeper's Inn. This café was busy; in fact all the seating - inside and outside - was occupied. I thought it looked good. I had a quick look at the menu and they offer hot and cold meals, snacks, lovely-looking fresh sandwiches also. We'd eaten some sandwiches at home earlier; however, I'd like to return soon to the Inn for a snack.
I am still preoccupied with completing the finishing touches to our hall and landing; mostly all done now and I am 90% ready for the carpet-fitters.
When I was young, very young, a Russian girl, white by descent, not a young lady on a tractor scholarship,
ReplyDeleteparked her MG Midget dead centre at a cross roads, near Cambridge, and asked if I had ever done stuff, in that sort of piste en service tableau,
I told her I had never done stuff at all, ever, being like, 17, and without casting aspersions, as one mustn't, if there was reason to expect it would take more than ninety seconds, perhaps we shouldn't,
So I really, like those little cars, they're just lovely.
You can rent that Lock Restaurant place out, the lock itself I cycled into, the big pit, ( at night) and I managed, to get a call to the PSNI, and it turned out that, they'd, the Castlereagh peelers, had not done business there since 1954 or something,
not since the HMS Insignificant had discovered Lough Neagh, they had a map pre-dating partition or something
so they told me, that, they would loan the sliver of Ultima Thule land out to Lisburn Road or something,
by the time the palaver, was half over, I had crawled & climbed out, looked at a Giant SCR2, which the huns had got at, and told the cops I'd make it to BCH or die trying.
They phoned every so often to check if I was going to make it, the Castlereagh cops had no idea where the lock was, though it is their area.
So I almost became a blue disque on that wall.