Tuesday 5 November 2013

London bound

We had a very random out-of-the blue phone call on Friday afternoon, asking if Bertie would be free to come to London on Monday to appear on the 'Alan Titchmarsh Show'! George Clarke was a guest on the show, promoting the Amazing Spaces series, and they wanted to be able to show one of the builds from the series to add some interest to the piece. Since most of the projects are either too big (double decker buses), or fixed in one place (houses/beach huts/tree houses etc), Bertie seemed the logical choice...

I must admit to never having seen the programme... or actually knowing that there was such a show ... but it was very flattering to be asked, so we tried hard to find a way to be able to say Yes.

Jonathan was working, and knew he couldn't take a day off to galivant around the country in Bertie, and there was no way I was happy to drive by myself all the way into and through central London - so we placed a quick call to Jonathan's lovely parents, and managed to organise child care and an extra driver with the one call...

And so Richard and I set off for London at half eight yesterday morning. It was cold, and a bit rainy, and we were pretty apprehensive. To be honest, I didn't sleep too well Sunday night. Having only driven Bertie myself for about 5 miles ever, and with Richard never having been behind his wheel, the prospect of a 200 mile drive was a bit daunting. Not to mention the fact that we've never taken him more than 75 miles away from here!

I took the first stint behind the wheel, and quickly remembered how heavy the steering is, how tricky it is to keep him going straight (he has a tendency to drift to the left, and a distinct disinclination to be corrected smoothly), and how interesting changing gear can be. We had an issue with him cutting out

at low revs a few times, but sometimes he idled just fine - which kept me on my toes at roundabouts
and junctions!

Richard took over the driving before we reached London, and I am very grateful that he did all of the central London section, not something I really enjoy even in a normal car. It was a lot of fun pootling past the Olympic park, the Shard, looking across the Thames at Tower Bridge etc, and seeing Bertie reflected in all the plate glass windows :)




We caused a bit of a stir when we arrived at the studios - it seems the health and safety people weren't terribly happy at the prospect of allowing him into the building. The first question was how much fuel we had in the tank - but since his fuel gauge doesn't work, I wasn't really able to give a very scientific answer to that! I also couldn't be too scientific on the answer to the question of how much he weighs - no idea at all!

However, once we had jettisoned our petrol can and gas bottle, we were grudgingly allowed to proceed.

Getting Bertie up the ramp, and around some tight corners, into the scene dock behind the studio was pretty hard work - I was literally hanging on the steering wheel with all of my weight to try to turn him, with the tech guys laughing at my inability to drive... slightly humiliating :)

Still, he made it in, and then was pushed from there into position in the studio, for us to wipe him down and pretty him up... We got a great reaction from most of the crew, some of whom had seen him on Amazing Spaces, and some who hadn't.



The filming was fine - it's a number of years since I've been in a TV studio, but I loved the buzz and seeing how the live shows came together.

George and Alan did a great piece about the series, and a good section inside Bertie, talking about his great design (smug me) and beautiful interior (thanks Awesome!).

It was good to see George again, and he and the crew were genuinely thrilled that we had made the effort to come down.

The journey home was fairly uneventful, though long, and we made it home about half 10 - I am still exhausted!


Well done Bertie - 205 miles in one day, and still looking stylish ;)




Friday 1 November 2013

MOT time...

I can't quite believe that it's been a year already, but the MOT is due on Bertie. We decided to take him back to the same garage as last year, Wooleys. They remembered him from last time, but hadn't been aware of the TV programme. They were impressed by the difference in him though!

Jonathan did the honours of driving him carefully on to the ramp so they could do the test, and stayed in to show off the lights etc. Apparently it was a bit disconcerting being raised and lowered on the ramps...

Anyway, in contrast to last year's big bill, this year he passed straight through with flying colours (or at least, no advisories!)... And so we're set for another year.