Gollum asked me to post this. Someone must have already done it, but darned if I could find it.

The original chase scene from the Italian Job.

Cheers,

Charlie

 

Great Movie! Both versions…

 

Then there was this deleted scene from that chase. This just popped up as a YouTube recommendation:

 

Here's a boring update - the best kind!

Gollum has now done 158,703 miles, and all is well.

Another oil change (the thirty-second) means we've used 40 gallons of oil. Of course we've also burned 5,403 gallons of 93 octane fuel.

For some follks, this might be a simple matter of bowing to necessity, supporting a commute, a mindless progression through an automotive fog. Most motorists endure this sort of thing I'm afraid...

For me and Gollum, every single mile has been savored, reveled in, and dipped in focus, precision, delight, and sheer bloody grins.

And we're not done! Not half...

 

And a Happy Thanksgiving to you.

Enjoy and motor on.

 

And Gollum just reached 160,000 miles.

Merry Christmas all.

Cheers,

Charlie

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and Happy Holidays to you too!

 

So the bad news is as illustrated below (yesterday photo - 26 Jan). The good news is that Gollum is being granted the garage from today through March 1st! Oh sweet luxury...




Cheers,

Charlie

 

Wow!

You really got dumped on. At least as much as we got, maybe more. Garages are a car’s best friend.

 

And the very next day due to the generosity of my Landfolks (who left for Florida) Gollum is enshriined in that very structure! Oh Joy!!




Cheers,

Charlie

 

Very nice!

Like carrying an umbrella, this will keep the snow away….

I wish - With 4 cars and only a 2 car garage, 2 of my MINIs are left out in the cold under temporary car ports.

 

Dell makes a G4 - a good gaming computer, with a decent graphics processing unit. I know this because all my adventures in iRacing rely on this bit of technology. It works very nicely!

Mistsubishin also makes a G4. It is a tiny econocar with a three cylinder engine and a CVT. If you floor it it groans. It doesn't go faster, just groans. The kindest thing that I can say is that it went two weeks on $35 worth of cheap gasoline. I know this because I've had to rely on this rather questionable bit of tech for the last two weeks. A rental.

Why do I need a rental? Because I did stupid.

My greatest weakness as a driver has always been impatience with slow, indecisive, and unskilled drivers. My intolerance and arrogance has been the hardest curse to overcome despite my awareness thereof, and it finally bit me.

So I was tailgating a little florists van at 25 mph, and when the driver took a left turn she demonstrated her irritation with my rudeness with a brake check, and I failed to avoid her. As I braked and jinked to the right around her little van, Gollum's left front caught the simple square back of the little van, and although the van drove away with little more than scuff marks, Gollum has a black eye.

Progressive, after photographic and then finally in-person assessment of the damage decided to total the car.

They offered $6,800 if I kept the title, and $9,700 if I walked away leaving them the auction price.

So as my dear son is a professional mechanic and well-connected on the North Shore, he was able to find a way for Gollum to be fixed and live the rest of its life in my service. Lovell, and through him Keith, and through him Paolo will do all the magic.

Now I just have to be very patient as the magic has to occur, which will be a slow process.

But the resurrection will be worth the wait.

My pride however, cannot be repaired.