For some time now there has been an odd and disconcerting clunking noise coming from the front of my Mini when I pull away.  I had come to the conclusion that it might be the upper ball joint on the driver’s side wheel (the passenger side upper ball joint had been replaced about six months ago), but without a ball joint splitter or torque wrench I wasn’t exactly feeling confident attempting to sort it out myself!  Thankfully I didn’t have to do it on my own, thanks to that wonderful community that is Colchester Mini Club - Aaron came and helped me this evening.

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Yesterday it rained. Nothing unusual about that in itself, England generally has a lot of rain, but Colchester usually manages to avoid it. Yesterday, however, I saw plenty of the wet stuff. After an early start I met up with the Colchester Mini Club and drove up to Fakenham racecourse for the Norfolk Mini Day, which was not so much flooded with Minis as rainwater. It was fun driving along in convoy, and I bought a few odds and ends at the trade stands, but generally it was a bit of a wash-out. Still, the day was made up for by a cup of tea and a trip to the cinema - I’m easily pleased.

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For some time now Neddy’s engine has been moving about a bit, rocking on its mountings due to worn stabaliser bushes.  A while ago I fitted new bushes to the top stabaliser, which vastly improved matters, but since then it seems to have returned to its old unstable self, probably more the fault of the bottom bushes than the top ones.  I shall hopefully be buying new bushes at the Norfolk Mini Day this Sunday, but in the meantime I thought I would fit the extra bottom engine steady bar I bought at the Riviera Run.

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As a stalwart Devonshire lad, I’ve never had any particular association with Cornwall. Indeed, if Devon and Cornwall were suddenly and irreversibly separated by earthquake or act of God, I doubt many people would complain (on either side of the border). That said, I thoroughly enjoyed my long weekend in Newquay, soaking in the sunshine, admiring the ruggedly beautiful landscape, and drooling at all the Minis in the vicinity. Yes, I’m talking about the MiniWorld Riviera Run, an annual meeting of Minis (and their owners) from around the country, officially starting by driving in convoy from Reading services all the way down to the Trevelgue holiday park in Newquay.

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Just a quick note to say that I shall be away this weekend, joining hundreds of other Mini owners for the MiniWorld Riviera Run!  I’ve been wanting to go to this for years, and this is my first opportunity, so I’m really looking forward to it.  I shall be travelling down to my parents’ house this afternoon, then meeting up with fellow Colchester Mini Club people on their way down on Friday, and we’ll all drive in convoy to Newquay in Cornwall.  Accommodation is camping (not sure yet what I’ll be doing for food…), and there will be entertainment, Show & Shine, an organised ‘cruise’ (an enormous convoy of Minis), swimming pool, traders’ stalls, and lots and lots and lots of Minis!  It’s gonna be so much fun!  I’ll do a full report when I get back, with pictures of course!

On Sunday afternoon I was a mobile recording studio, recording the drum parts for the Rooted album I’ve been working on.  This evening I was a photographer, taking photos of a dance / movement performance for one of Ellie’s friends.  It was a challenge, simply because there was so much movement - no one stayed still for very long, there was no script to work from, no guarantee of where anyone would be at any given time, and the lighting was very unusual.  But it was a fantastic experience, and once I got into it I just couldn’t stop taking pictures!

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After a morning of being stuck in front of a computer screen (again), I spent this afternoon being very productive indeed.  I started on some cleaning around the house, and then my friend Andy came round to help me with the brakes on my Mini, which we’d not been able to finish the previous weekend.  The initial problem was a leaking brake cylinder, but in the process of fitting the new one we discovered that the thread had gone on part of the pipework, so I went off and order yet more bits and pieces.  This week it all arrived - braided brake hoses for the rear brakes, another brake cylinder and a set of brake shoes.

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This afternoon, taking advantage of the glorious sunshine we’ve been having, I spent a few hours outside tinkering with my Mini.  I couldn’t do anything about the brakes, since I still need to order a new brake hose, but I decided I would finally get round to fitting the chrome door escutcheons I bought ages ago.  Nothing too complicated, just involved taking all the door furniture off (door handle, window winder, etc), removing the door card and unscrewing the exterior door handle from the inside.  In fact, only one end of the handle needed to be unscrewed, as that left enough room to squeeze the escutcheon in.

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Following the discovery of a shot brake cylinder on Neddy’s driver side rear wheel, Andy from Colchester Mini Club came round this morning to help me fit a new one.  I had ordered a replacement cylinder from Mini Spares, which still hasn’t arrived (they’re normally very good, must be having an off week), but Andy brought a spare he had lying around, for which I’ll refund him when mine arrives.  Removing the old cylinder wasn’t too difficult, but that didn’t mean we didn’t struggle with other things - the thread had gone on the brake hose, which meant that we couldn’t get the new pipe on, and it turns out that the brake shoes I had in the garage aren’t for a Mini after all but for a car with significantly bigger wheels.

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This afternoon, to make the most of the sunshine, I got Neddy out on the drive to have a look at the brakes.  For some time now the handbrake had not been holding very well, and although I had not really noticed any instability in braking I had a feeling something was up with the driver’s side rear wheel - with the handbrake on the wheel still turned easily!  I wasn’t sure if that would be the case when using the footbrake, but I figured it was serious enough that I ought to look into it fairly soon, and having borrowed a brake adjusting spanner from my Dad (the brake adjuster has a square head rather than a hexagonal one so normal spanners won’t work) I thought I’d be daring and try to suss it out myself.

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