Great News!
Today my target of raising £3000 for Leukaemia Research was reached and there are still more donations to come in. This means I can setoff on my trip knowing that this sum of money has been raised and will go to help the battle against Leukaemia and other blood disorders.
Thank you so much to all of those who have sponsored me and to Mike and Jane at the Prince of Wales Shrivenham for their Charity Bingo Night last Saturday which raised £430.
Just because the target has been reached there is no need to stop so if you haven't yet sponsored me then please do. The final total will be calculated in September at the end of my Sabbatical so please keep giving.
Cheers
Richard
nuke the leuk
Supported by the Lotus 7 Club
Tuesday, 28 April 2009
Wednesday, 1 April 2009
Ten weeks & 10bls to go!
Ten weeks to go now until I set off on my pilgrimage to Santiago and as the day approaches the final stages of planning are coming into place.
Last week the 7 went for a full service, new cambelt and MOT at a Caterham specialist Millwood near Stroud. Unfortunately they fail the car on its MOT because it did not have side repeaters on the wings. This seemed like utter nonsense as it didn’t have them in the first place. The garage conveniently informed me that it would cost £120 to install these so that it could pass the MOT.
I complained to Caterham as they are one of their authorised dealers and they were completely baffled as to why the car should fail on this as they build the cars without them though some people do ask that they are fitted as an additional safety feature. I also contact the DVLA and they informed me that providing the front indicator could be seen flashing [not a reflection] by standing 1m to the side of the rear bumper then it should pass.
The manager of Caterham UK contact Millwood to quiz them on this but they where unrelenting but thankfully Caterham value their customers and agreed that they would meet the cost of installing the additional indicators on the wings and would take it up with the garages’ senior management at a later date.
When I arrived to collect my car [in a dog collar to their surprise] I asked the manager to perform the 1m test as laid out by the DVLA witnessed by Mike the Landlord of the POW who had kindly given me a lift over. I asked the manager if he could see the indicator flashing his reply was yes but it’s a grey area! Looked orange and flashing to me! This was clearly a case of this garage trying to generate trade. I should have used Shrivenham Garage as they have always been great dealing with our cars but as this was a Caterham specialist I felt they would know the cars so their would be no complications. Though at the end of the day the car will be safer pulling out at junctions and it hasn’t cost me anything so I should be grateful.
The route is now complete to Santiago and I now look longingly at the adventure laid out on the maps on my study wall. As I mentioned at the beginning of this BLOG I’m not good at waiting and only being a couple of months from the off is testing. Thankfully there’s lost to be done in the benefice with Easter on the door step so not much time to think of the forthcoming trip.
Finally the weight loss program is coming on well. All Caterham drivers are aware that the lighter the car is the fast it accelerates, not that I’m entering a race but it’s just the principle. At a day on how to maintain your 7 at Caterham, club members were asking how they could lighten their cars, with different brakes, carbon fibre wings etc. The engineer suggested, to us mainly 40 something men, that the best and most effective way for us to lighten the car and achieve greater acceleration was for us all to lose a couple of stone! As I got to just over 19 stone at the beginning of 2007 I decided I must lose some weight and made some effort over last year in the fear that I would not fit into my little car if I kept going.
However with the trip creeping ever closer last November a concerted effort was begun to shed the lbs and I set myself the target that by the start of my trip I would be back to the weight I was when I got married 15 ½ stone. I’m now at 16stone 4bls so only 10bls to go. Though according to my BMI [Body Mass Index] if you follow that sort of thing even at that weight I am technically ‘over weight’ though in my wedding photos I look quite underfeed. If I went to the BMI suggested weight I would need to be12 – 13 ½ stone and question if there would be anything left of me.
I have to say that I already feel much better in myself particularly my knees and fully intend to keep the weight off. The diet I have followed has been no miracle or celeb fad. It’s simply been not to be a pig! I have just reduce my portion size and not eaten so much beard or pasta and made sure I eat breakfast. Thankfully it has not involved anything drastic like giving up Real Ale!
Finally it’s great to see the £3000 target for Leukaemia research is now over the 50% mark and a big thank you to all who have sponsored me so far. It’s not too late so if you haven’t please do. It would be great to know that the £3000 had been raised even before I left the UK.
Last week the 7 went for a full service, new cambelt and MOT at a Caterham specialist Millwood near Stroud. Unfortunately they fail the car on its MOT because it did not have side repeaters on the wings. This seemed like utter nonsense as it didn’t have them in the first place. The garage conveniently informed me that it would cost £120 to install these so that it could pass the MOT.
I complained to Caterham as they are one of their authorised dealers and they were completely baffled as to why the car should fail on this as they build the cars without them though some people do ask that they are fitted as an additional safety feature. I also contact the DVLA and they informed me that providing the front indicator could be seen flashing [not a reflection] by standing 1m to the side of the rear bumper then it should pass.
The manager of Caterham UK contact Millwood to quiz them on this but they where unrelenting but thankfully Caterham value their customers and agreed that they would meet the cost of installing the additional indicators on the wings and would take it up with the garages’ senior management at a later date.
When I arrived to collect my car [in a dog collar to their surprise] I asked the manager to perform the 1m test as laid out by the DVLA witnessed by Mike the Landlord of the POW who had kindly given me a lift over. I asked the manager if he could see the indicator flashing his reply was yes but it’s a grey area! Looked orange and flashing to me! This was clearly a case of this garage trying to generate trade. I should have used Shrivenham Garage as they have always been great dealing with our cars but as this was a Caterham specialist I felt they would know the cars so their would be no complications. Though at the end of the day the car will be safer pulling out at junctions and it hasn’t cost me anything so I should be grateful.
The route is now complete to Santiago and I now look longingly at the adventure laid out on the maps on my study wall. As I mentioned at the beginning of this BLOG I’m not good at waiting and only being a couple of months from the off is testing. Thankfully there’s lost to be done in the benefice with Easter on the door step so not much time to think of the forthcoming trip.
Finally the weight loss program is coming on well. All Caterham drivers are aware that the lighter the car is the fast it accelerates, not that I’m entering a race but it’s just the principle. At a day on how to maintain your 7 at Caterham, club members were asking how they could lighten their cars, with different brakes, carbon fibre wings etc. The engineer suggested, to us mainly 40 something men, that the best and most effective way for us to lighten the car and achieve greater acceleration was for us all to lose a couple of stone! As I got to just over 19 stone at the beginning of 2007 I decided I must lose some weight and made some effort over last year in the fear that I would not fit into my little car if I kept going.
However with the trip creeping ever closer last November a concerted effort was begun to shed the lbs and I set myself the target that by the start of my trip I would be back to the weight I was when I got married 15 ½ stone. I’m now at 16stone 4bls so only 10bls to go. Though according to my BMI [Body Mass Index] if you follow that sort of thing even at that weight I am technically ‘over weight’ though in my wedding photos I look quite underfeed. If I went to the BMI suggested weight I would need to be12 – 13 ½ stone and question if there would be anything left of me.
I have to say that I already feel much better in myself particularly my knees and fully intend to keep the weight off. The diet I have followed has been no miracle or celeb fad. It’s simply been not to be a pig! I have just reduce my portion size and not eaten so much beard or pasta and made sure I eat breakfast. Thankfully it has not involved anything drastic like giving up Real Ale!
Finally it’s great to see the £3000 target for Leukaemia research is now over the 50% mark and a big thank you to all who have sponsored me so far. It’s not too late so if you haven’t please do. It would be great to know that the £3000 had been raised even before I left the UK.
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