On the Road Again!

When we took the Kettle to Phil's I was expecting to lay out a fair chunk of cash to get it back on the road as a runner.  I wasn't expecting it to be a show winner as I didn't have the budget for "better then new" shiny. But as we chatted in his air conditioned workshop it became clear that engine out, fix, back in wasn't going to cut the mustard. As well as the obvious jobs like the throttle grip and cables, the front master cylinder and calipers to rebuild, I supplied the part for these, there were other jobs. You will have seen them from photos in previous posts from myself and photos that Phil has supplied in the course of the strip down. Why do one wheel when you can do both?  The exhausts rusted to buggery?   Then jobs that I hadn't thought of - the clocks could do with a refurb..... The strip down has revealed even more problems and another list of parts. I have ordered them all! At least between then MasterCard and PayPal make it so easy to spend ...

With everything sorted all we can hope for is good health (!) and of course the usual rate checking to get the most number of the mighty US dollars for our weakened pound sterling. Currently the tourist rate is shave under $1.29 and I have ordered around £250 worth. Collect Saturday. The dollars are usually nice and new when I get them.  I immediately fold them into my foreign currency wallet and that newness is gone. We generally use the Halifax Bank Clarity credit card when we are away as it is one of the few UK MasterCard offering from the banks that has no added charges for using it outside the UK.  These can mount up. We have used it before in the US and last year in Norway and France. My day to day MasterCard from Tesco Bank earns points for using it and any purchase at their stores.  The points are useful as you can spend them to "buy" things, like ferry and Eurotunnel crossings. But they charge a transaction charge plus a commission (currently 2.5%)  every ti...