Delta's Twentea-Twentea Break

[delta]

I have kept all my crash hats. The Shoei in the middle definatley saved my life.

[Mike Harte]

My racing exploits were all conducted on a shoestring, and I needed two evening jobs on top of my day job to even do that, but, being a bit of a wuss, one thing that I didn't scrimp on was safety. One of my first purchases was a John Aley roll-over bar, and I was one of the early saloon drivers to wear the latest fireproof Nomex suits plus the full fireproof underwear set with a face mask which I updated to a balaclava later on. Helmet was a Bell open face, first without a peak, and then replaced by one with a peak.

And this was at a time when drivers such as the late, great Gerry Marshall would jump in a racing car in his street clothes, and drive it without rollover protection.

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

My racing exploits were all conducted on a shoestring, and I needed two evening jobs on top of my day job to even do that, but, being a bit of a wuss, one thing that I didn't scrimp on was safety. One of my first purchases was a John Aley roll-over bar, and I was one of the early saloon drivers to wear the latest fireproof Nomex suits plus the full fireproof underwear set with a face mask which I updated to a balaclava later on. Helmet was a Bell open face, first without a peak, and then replaced by one with a peak.

And this was at a time when drivers such as the late, great Gerry Marshall would jump in a racing car in his street clothes, and drive it without rollover protection.

I must admit Mike that when I see footage of saloon car racing from the 60's & 70's I always flinch at the lack of mandatory safety equipment. Very few appear to have had roll cages and those that did just had a simple hoop and centre brace back to the parcel shelf! Plus low backed seats and other standard looking items! Compared to a modern BTCC car for example it looks frightening!

[delta]

I am afraid I come into that category.My first races were in jeans and a jumper. In my defense we just did not know any better."happy days".

[Peter Mallett]

Well that was an interesting morning. We had an earthquake 3.3 to 3.6 on the richter scale and looking at Facebook you'd think the world was ending.

[Gerard C]

I assume you're now living in Tring area where an earthquake of 3.9 was recorded. Scary!

[Peter Mallett]

Yes not far from where we used to meet Gerry M for beers. Actually not scary it was a small rumble. The 6.5 in December last year in Tirana was a bit scary.

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

Yes not far from where we used to meet Gerry M for beers. Actually not scary it was a small rumble. The 6.5 in December last year in Tirana was a bit scary.

Sounds as though you have a habit of making the earth move, Peter!

[grantp]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

Well that was an interesting morning. We had an earthquake 3.3 to 3.6 on the richter scale and looking at Facebook you'd think the world was ending.

Has it been blamed on Climate Change or a lack of social distancing?

Must be one of the two ...

Or will ER claim responsibility?

[zefarelly]

Originally Posted by grantp

Has it been blamed on Climate Change or a lack of social distancing?

Must be one of the two ...

Or will ER claim responsibility?

Local curry house?

[Gerard C]

Originally Posted by zefarelly

Local curry house?

You mean the kind of food making you move from one side to the other may be?

[zefarelly]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

You mean the kind of food making you move from one side to the other may be?

There's a n Indian takeaway/restaurant not too far from home called the 'Tandori Cottage' in a very old building . . . used to be tea rooms until 25 years ago . . . . it's colloquially referred toas the 'Dysenterry cottage' certainly some who've eaten there have felt the earth move.

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by zefarelly

There's a n Indian takeaway/restaurant not too far from home called the 'Tandori Cottage' in a very old building . . . used to be tea rooms until 25 years ago . . . . it's colloquially referred toas the 'Dysenterry cottage' certainly some who've eaten there have felt the earth move.

When I first came down to London, I briefly lived in Tottenham, for my sins. The local chippie there was known as 'Week-off & chips' for obvious reasons!

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by John Elwin

When I first came down to London, I briefly lived in Tottenham, for my sins. The local chippie there was known as 'Week-off & chips' for obvious reasons!

Having worked in Tottenham (almost within spitting distance of Spurs' ground) for 25 years, I am curious about the local chippie and where it was. Just along the road from our entrance, there was a a cafe that did a "mean" toasted bacon and tinned tomato sandwich that has me salinating at the mere thought!

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

Having worked in Tottenham (almost within spitting distance of Spurs' ground) for 25 years, I am curious about the local chippie and where it was. Just along the road from our entrance, there was a a cafe that did a "mean" toasted bacon and tinned tomato sandwich that has me salinating at the mere thought!

Oh crikey, it's nearly 40 years ago & I was only there a few months. From memory I think it was on the Seven Sisters Road, possibly not far from the tube station.

[grantp]

I have strangely strong memories of a small low cost curry house in a predominantly Student area of Manchester back in the early Seventies.

Three of us in a rented motorhome on the way to Scotland from Surrey stopped off in Manchester to see a pal at University. The local Curry shop was well known to the students with a large plate of something tasting somewhat like curry costing something like 45p at the time. Incredibly cheap it seemed.

The place was a bit of a tip. The toilet (upstairs in what was probably a converted house from the Victorian period) had a high level cistern with what was probably the original chain pull. The chain appeared through a ragged hole in the wall.

The "restaurant" had a resident dog. A 3 legged Alsatian. (German Shepherd). Having both seen the dog and experienced the toilet facilities after eating, one was a little concerned about what might have been in the curry. But it was tasty, cheap and filling and none of us were ill afterwards.

[Peter Mallett]

Back in the late 90's my brother was studying at Portsmouth University. At the time I was working for John Brown in Solent Park and staying in Portsmouth. There was a great curry house in Southsea where all the students gathered, it was low priced and very, very good, probably because it had a massive clientele and table turnover. I used to treat my brother once a week. To use the vernacular, the place was rammed every night.

[Gerard C]

I remember my last visit at Camden Locks, a lot of exotic food offered but daren't because the hotel was too far…*No issue at all in the highly rated indian restaurants of London. Mike H won't call me lucky for that!

[The Fat Clerk]

When I was @ Aston Uni in the late 70's I became very familiar with the local Balti Houses, move on 40 years just as I retired, my department was moved to Leicester, home of the 'Golden Mile' and also the golden r.....

[Cliff Ryan]

Grant, I think I went to the same establishment in the early 80s when I visited a friend at Manchester Uni.

The menu was mild, medium, hot, suicide & Charlie’s special - sauces all served on a plate of mixed rice & meat. They were all the same price & if you could finish a plate of Charlie’s special it was free.

[grantp]

Originally Posted by Cliff Ryan

Grant, I think I went to the same establishment in the early 80s when I visited a friend at Manchester Uni.

The menu was mild, medium, hot, suicide & Charlie’s special - sauces all served on a plate of mixed rice & meat. They were all the same price & if you could finish a plate of Charlie’s special it was free.

Could be the same place though I suspect there may have been a few around there. Wish I could better recall where it was but to be honest I was not paying too much attention.

We stopped off on the way back south a week or so later and visited his "local" (where I think he had landed a 2 nights a a week bar job). An odd place, 2 rooms for the bars as they were back in the day. The "Lounge" for the "Middle Class" and "Public" for the "Working class".

The area was somehow so stuck in a time warp that people were allotted their room and were never welcome (read - Actively discouraged from entering) the other.

Except for one chap who seemed to have gained a bit of a reputation as a "fixer" and was equally well accepted in both rooms. One supposed that he had access to "stuff" that was sought by both sets of clientele.

Students were confined to the Lounge.

Later the same night we moved on to the local Irish Club where, being Saturday, there was a live band and a dance in progress.

Dave, our student mate, was able to get in as some of the people knew him from the pub.

Imagine a very large possible square 2 story building where the centre is a giant dance floor sort of area with a few tables and chairs positioned at the start and 3 of the four wall being bar area. Each wall was probably over 100ft long (or seemed to be) and the whole building was in the middle of the remains of a WW2 bomb site still awaiting full redevelopment.

After about 9pm all the bar fronts were about 4 of 5 bodies deep in people buying drinks despite a large number of people behind the bars.

It was a great evening and the beer was cheap but coming up to midnight there we noticed a few heads locked in serious conversation and Dave came over to tell us he had been warned that some potential trouble was developing (probably something to do with the "Troubles" and anti-English feeling) and so it was time for us to depart. (Actually he only told us it was time to go and then filled us in on the reasons afterwards.)

So we left..

Just as well really, we three travellers had been imbibing for several hours and the following day had to complete the journey south in the motorhome. Coachbuilt campers based on a Commer chassis were "interesting" and noisy things to drive so a thick head and possible hangover were not entirely desirable for a journey that would probably take 6 or 7 hours. Probably more like 8 or 9 as it was before the M25 was built and we needed to get south of London.

Ah, such days of innocence.

Quite why those memories have stuck with me for so long I have no idea.

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by grantp

Could be the same place though I suspect there may have been a few around there. Wish I could better recall where it was but to be honest I was not paying too much attention.

We stopped off on the way back south a week or so later and visited his "local" (where I think he had landed a 2 nights a a week bar job). An odd place, 2 rooms for the bars as they were back in the day. The "Lounge" for the "Middle Class" and "Public" for the "Working class".

The area was somehow so stuck in a time warp that people were allotted their room and were never welcome (read - Actively discouraged from entering) the other.

Except for one chap who seemed to have gained a bit of a reputation as a "fixer" and was equally well accepted in both rooms. One supposed that he had access to "stuff" that was sought by both sets of clientele.

Students were confined to the Lounge.

Later the same night we moved on to the local Irish Club where, being Saturday, there was a live band and a dance in progress.

Dave, our student mate, was able to get in as some of the people knew him from the pub.

Imagine a very large possible square 2 story building where the centre is a giant dance floor sort of area with a few tables and chairs positioned at the start and 3 of the four wall being bar area. Each wall was probably over 100ft long (or seemed to be) and the whole building was in the middle of the remains of a WW2 bomb site still awaiting full redevelopment.

After about 9pm all the bar fronts were about 4 of 5 bodies deep in people buying drinks despite a large number of people behind the bars.

It was a great evening and the beer was cheap but coming up to midnight there we noticed a few heads locked in serious conversation and Dave came over to tell us he had been warned that some potential trouble was developing (probably something to do with the "Troubles" and anti-English feeling) and so it was time for us to depart. (Actually he only told us it was time to go and then filled us in on the reasons afterwards.)

So we left..

Just as well really, we three travellers had been imbibing for several hours and the following day had to complete the journey south in the motorhome. Coachbuilt campers based on a Commer chassis were "interesting" and noisy things to drive so a thick head and possible hangover were not entirely desirable for a journey that would probably take 6 or 7 hours. Probably more like 8 or 9 as it was before the M25 was built and we needed to get south of London.

Ah, such days of innocence.

Quite why those memories have stuck with me for so long I have no idea.

Possibly because they were 'Happy Days'?

I drove a Commer van around London for a couple of weeks for a temporary job. I seem to recall having a permanent headache. Highlight was delivering parts to Chris Sclater's rally workshop in a news garage somewhere. He was running a Sunbeam Lotus at the time.

[Gerard C]

And what happened to the Kensington Mews merchants? Didn't they used to be more numerous or is it just me? May be it has to see with the London's restrictions to the car dealers in general…

[John Elwin]

I think it is just changing times, Gerard.

I once bought an Alfasud from Ramponi Rockall who were based in a mews in Kensington. I had to wait a while as they rushed out to move all their stock when someone spotted a traffic warden approaching!

[Gerard C]

Unmatched atmosphere imo, so many great cars right in the middle of London, old pavement, small buildings…*Happy I knew the good l'days!