MOTOR-BLOG from Coventry

It was my Birthday last week, so I took a couple of days off work to go camping down in the Cotswolds. The Cotswolds are so close to us here in Coventry, that I hadn’t thought to go there for a fews days R and R before. Silly isn’t it?

The thought of going away but only driving for around an hour was both a blessing and a curse. I like driving you see, and the journey is an integral part of the holiday experience for me - how would I cope knowing that if I’d left something important behind rather than just doing without, I could comfortably jump in the car and go home to retrieve it?

Well very well as it turns out, despite it feeling a little strange at first. So Helen and I loaded up Susan the Vitesse, and off we went - but not before I’d removed most of the tools and spares that I routinely carry around with me to make room for sleeping bags, a modest tent and a fine selection of tinned comestables. 

Oops. Not a good move as it turns out, as I was soon pulled over on the side of the road between Stow On the Wold and Bourton on the Water with no gears…

It would seem that a battle is going on for supremecy of Henley Road in Coventry - the two opposing forces? The Police armed with hand held speed guns on one side, unwitting motorists who have creeped a few miles an hour over the speed limit on the other…

I myself went through a speed trap there a couple of days ago. I was quite angry about it at the time, as the policeman in question was tucked away behind a telegraph pole and was not  visable - I thought that they had to be seen easily?

Anyhow, nothing came of it as it was just him. I found out today that they have to physically stop you to give you a ticket if they have clocked you using a hand held speed gun - it is not a camera as far as I’m aware, just a speed indication device.

Well anyhow, tonight I went through the same spot and it was like a war zone - police were everywhere, which made the guy with the speed gun pretty obvious I can tell you. I drove through at 23mph, much to the chagrin of the BMW 1 series driver behind me who couldn’t see what was going on in front - partly because he was about four inches off my back bumper…

The Beemer driver was darting to the right at every opportunity trying to pass me, but luckily for him and his driving licence there was a steady stream of traffic coming towards us. There is a part of me that thinks I should have pulled over to let him through though…

I’ve just upgraded to the latest version of Wordpress, but have noticed that a few of the old posts have reacted badly to the latest version, so apologies for that - I shall attempt to rectify the problem.

More seriously though, there has been yet another horrific crash today at the Catthorpe Interchange - one that has closed the M1 for many hours (it is still closed as I write this) and required two Air Ambulances to attend. This is not good, and begs the question - WHEN WILL THIS DEADLY JUNCTION BE REBUILT?

The government is now making a fortune off the high price of fuel, so when will this investment be made? Something has to be done - and soon. The last crash I witnessed at Catthorpe was yesterday - only a minor queue shunt, but there are probably a dozen or so of these incidents every single day so are not even reported.

Come on folks, lets get this sorted out - before anyone else is killed or seriously injured at this almost criminally badly designed junction. Could we sue someone over this unfit for purpose interchange? It appears that only some sort of class action will force the powers that be into action. I get the feeling that if this junction was in Surrey it would have received the funding required to make it safe a very long time ago…

Yep, it’s official. I’m Tired. After working a full week, I’ve also been in the works workshop on Friday until past 8pm (getting home at 9.45) and yesterday I was also in the workshop til gone past 8pm too getting home at a similar time. I was due to go today, but common sense prevailed, and I decided not to go.

Our workshop is located in Lincolnshire and I live in Coventry, so it’s is a fair old trek… We have a perhaps not so top secret project at work, and it’s been eating up a lot of time, energy and resources. Tommorrow I have to get up early to deliver said project down to Berkshire for 10.30 in the morning. So that’ll be another early start then…

I’m not complaining as I like being busy, but at the moment I am dangerously tired and Helen is getting a little bit fed up of me never being around, especially as there is housework to be done, and a wedding to arrange. So there we are, my excuses for no recent blogs.

Normal service will be resumed when I’ve caught up on some sleep…

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