Thursday, June 14, 2007

Nearly gone





The tall ships from the other side of the river last week.
I feel that a few of these ships should be bought to help young offenders to teach them comradeship and teamwork instead of locking them all up.It would not help them all but it would be cheaper than building more prisons all the time.
The lighthouse is on the Southside of the city, she looks like something that would be built off the coast of Maine.
The bull wall and the south wall hold out the big waves and the silt from the port and the rush of water scours out the shipping channel when the tide turns this keeps if reasonably clear. One of the first people who were involved in its construction was Captain Blythe who went on to take charge of the Bounty. The mutaney on the Bounty followed.

Getting into the swing of things when I was just beside Shanahans restaurant on the green when my timing belt broke.
I recalled that this restaurant has John F Kennedys rocking chair in the basement, must go in to look at it.

Under EU rules you cannot tow with a rope so I had to get a tow truck.

For those not in the know. Modern cars have a rubber belt which joins the top of the engine to the bottom. The top opens valves at the exact time that they should open or close. When the belt breaks the piston on the way up collides with the open valve(which should be closed) Thus bending the valve and sometimes damaging the piston.Sometimes cheaper to buy a new engine,or even a new car!
Now that timing belt only had 40,000 miles on it,so I am flabbergasted.
The garage is letting me down easily...Naw we had a few in and there was no damage done...I will put in a new water pump, tensioners and pulleys then I will do a compression test on her. Let you know tomorrow.
When I worked for a taxi company they would replace clutches in 3 hours and engine replacement took a shift. The company paid extra and the cars were rolling 24/7
They went through some cars in a year. Some radio companies have fleets of over 800 cars, mostly owner drivers, so now with more cars owner driven there are less cars doing the all night.
My friend John Ryan took his taxi to the long term car park at the airport for 2 weeks as he didn't want to leave it at his apartment complex, so its sitting there unloved and not working.

Sods law. What might go wrong will go wrong.

I know someone who deals in taxis so he will fix me up for the weekend.

That takes me back to the 70s in the UK when the barber would say
"Something for the weekend sir?"
Durex/ pack of 3. Not by the dozen as it is now.

On looking for acomadation in New York we found what was a beautiful clean hotel, cheap as well. So I said we will book it.

Look said my wife lets see what the guests comments are like.
We clicked on the comments.
The noise of the mice eating my food in the kitchen kept me awake all night!
The mice were only outnumbered by the cockroaches.
The lifts didn't work and there was a big rag stuffed into the gap where the window didn't close.
The best comment came from someone in Mexico. Don't stay here you may get killed by a snake!

So there is another place I will not be staying.

Still the photos of the hotel were lovely.
I won't tell you the name of it but we found it on expedia.

One of the New York taxi drivers is going to check out a place for us.

Good news on the repair front. The taxi is fixed the piston did not collide with the valves. Now I feel as lucky as a cut cat!
Back to work and to bed for a while....

Thanks John

I won't post again for 3 weeks.
Good luck to you all.

8 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:28 AM

    Have a safe trip.
    Look forward to hearing your comments on America.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Damn timing belts!! really sorry to hear that mate, see you on the mean streets when you get back, thanks for the inspiration

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous11:06 AM

    I would recommend any of the Affinia properties in Manhattan. Reasonably priced, clean, apartment style rooms with sitting rooms and mini-kitchens.

    ReplyDelete
  4. We booked into the WELLINGTON. Right beside Carnegie hall. Mind your kids don't use the phones.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous1:31 AM

    Had a problem myself with a timing belt, though Martin at http://www.halifaxbearings.com sorted me out. Stocks all sorts of dodge bearings too which is nice. :)

    ReplyDelete
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