Monday, June 21, 2010

Off I go to Prince Rupert




Prince Rupert is a great place in the summer with the sun shining. November on a cold winters day not so much. Fishing was big part of life up there, as was logging. Now there is only a small bit of both. A trip to Prince Rupert is not complete without a visit to the North Pacific Cannery Village Museum. Also stroll down to Cow bay, have a coffee and try the seafood at the restaurants.

Happy Solstices day



If it’s sunny where you are, enjoy this longest day of the year. Here in Vancouver it’s cloudy and dull, a little hard to get excited about the sun staying up longer when you can’t see it. But the real excitement is happening or I should say just happened (time zone stuff) in the UK at Stonehenge. All the Pagans, wannabe pagans and quite a few nutters would be out celebrating this event. The main problem for the modern Druid is that for the most part the Druids were wiped out, first by the Romans and then the remaining ones were finished off by the Christians who converted the Isles leaving no real written records of ceremonies and prayers. Despite claimed “ancient rituals passed down through the generations” Most of it is made up based somewhat on bits and pieces.
No matter how you celebrate it, I hope you have a good time and may the Deity of your choice shine down upon you.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

A minion of the Prince of Darkness “Lucas”

Landrover

Any owner of a British car can tell you horror stories of Lucas electrical. Some of the classic jokes are:
The Lucas Electric motto: "Get home before dark."
British car switches have 3 positions: Dim, flicker and smoke
Lucas refrigerators, the reason the British drink warm beer!
Lucas made vacuums, it was their only product that didn’t suck!

The odd thing is that once you get the British car bug, you are bitten for life. They get some things just right. Taking a MGB sports car onto the old highway to Squamish on a sunny day was exhilarating, the V8 whipping the little car around and the tight suspension holding you right to the road. Cast your eyes onto the lines of a classic jag and you know they got that right. The sound of the V12 was pure sex! In that Rolls Royce Merlin kind of way. Even the landrover (My favorite) had just the right amount of ugly to make it fit the image perfectly. For many third world people in the 1950-60's the Landrover was the only vehicle there was.
I got my start when my brother bought a short wheel base 88. Shortly after I got mine, I was so excited that when I paid for it, I didn’t even realize it had a winch! So far I have owned 3 Landrovers (and enough parts to build 2 more!) and 2 Rangerovers. Yes I have the bug bad. I will talk more about Landrovers at a later date.