Pains, Planes and Automobiles
It's been a funny old 2009 here at Pentland Towers in Prestwick.
Not funny 'ha ha' - more 'you have to laugh' at the ups and downs of it all, otherwise you'd never come out from under your bed.
"Annus Horribilis" I believe it's called.
Old Queenie of Buckingham Apartments had one in 1992 when Windsor Castle caught fire and the marriages of her two sons - Charles and Andrew - went south. Charlie's matrimonial woes were in the news quite a lot you may recall, which I imagine pleased Lizzie no end every time she picked up the The Monarch Times. Kids, eh?
The experts will tell you that it translates from the Latin as "Horrible Year," but the Scottish Translation is "One Long Pain in the Arse."
We could see it coming...
Credit crunch and the follow on recession which meant immediate collective and personal sacrifices at work to keep us afloat.
My wife, Anne, went from part time employment in 2008 to unemployed and 'retired' to self employed in 2009 as Pentland Pet Services.
Ongoing health issues of close family members and the general aches and pains of growing older (whilst refusing to grow up).
One of our personal sacrifices was dropping the already relatively old car we had and picking up an even older (but solid enough) wee 'banger' (as we call 'em), but one that you wouldn't want to take on a long trip.
The one thing we did miss, or would have felt more comfortable with, was a reliable car to take us wherever we pointed it, but financially we knew that wasn't an option - certainly not in the immediate future.
Then a funny thing happened.
I love motor sport events and take in specific race days now and then, and having always been keen on aviation (mostly military aircraft) I used to enjoy air shows, but it had been a serious number of years since I went to one of those.
However I was aware that the last airworthy RAF Vulcan Bomber was flying again, which took a lot of money (mostly public donations) and effort from the team of mechanics and engineers involved in the Vulcan to the Sky project.
My good friend Ian, who approves aviation electronics such as radio systems and displays for civil aircraft, mentioned to me that the Vulcan should be appearing at the 2009 East Fortune and Leuchars Scottish Air shows, and a few of us decided to head for East Fortune in July.
As it happened that plan fell through, so in September we made for Fife and the RAF Leuchars air show... great day, great weather, great displays, record crowds.
Did the tours, took the photos, grabbed a couple of Raffle tickets, bought the Baseball cap, came home.
Two days later RAF Leuchars phoned me to say I had won a prize in their Raffle.
Which was nice.
"So what have I won then - book token, hamper?"
"No sir, first prize - a voucher towards, or for, a car of your choice from the Macrae & Dick Ford Dealership in Perth."
Which was even nicer.
We weren't in any position to add serious money to the prize and come away with a brand spanking new just off the manufacturing ramp vehicle, but the boys at Macrae & Dick understood the situation, and reacted accordingly.
We came away with a very nice 1.6 Fiesta Ghia 5 door with what some might perceive as extras as standard, and six months free Road tax.
They also re-serviced the car so I could drive away with a boxes-all-ticked vehicle and 12 months M.O.T.
And a one year free maintenance warranty, good at any local Ford Dealer.
If Ian doesn't tell me the Vulcan's flying, and if we don't mess up going to East Fortune, and I don't decide to buy a couple of Raffle tickets at Leuchars...
Went to see this...
It's been a funny old 2009 here at Pentland Towers in Prestwick.
Not funny 'ha ha' - more 'you have to laugh' at the ups and downs of it all, otherwise you'd never come out from under your bed.
"Annus Horribilis" I believe it's called.
Old Queenie of Buckingham Apartments had one in 1992 when Windsor Castle caught fire and the marriages of her two sons - Charles and Andrew - went south. Charlie's matrimonial woes were in the news quite a lot you may recall, which I imagine pleased Lizzie no end every time she picked up the The Monarch Times. Kids, eh?
The experts will tell you that it translates from the Latin as "Horrible Year," but the Scottish Translation is "One Long Pain in the Arse."
We could see it coming...
Credit crunch and the follow on recession which meant immediate collective and personal sacrifices at work to keep us afloat.
My wife, Anne, went from part time employment in 2008 to unemployed and 'retired' to self employed in 2009 as Pentland Pet Services.
Ongoing health issues of close family members and the general aches and pains of growing older (whilst refusing to grow up).
One of our personal sacrifices was dropping the already relatively old car we had and picking up an even older (but solid enough) wee 'banger' (as we call 'em), but one that you wouldn't want to take on a long trip.
The one thing we did miss, or would have felt more comfortable with, was a reliable car to take us wherever we pointed it, but financially we knew that wasn't an option - certainly not in the immediate future.
Then a funny thing happened.
I love motor sport events and take in specific race days now and then, and having always been keen on aviation (mostly military aircraft) I used to enjoy air shows, but it had been a serious number of years since I went to one of those.
However I was aware that the last airworthy RAF Vulcan Bomber was flying again, which took a lot of money (mostly public donations) and effort from the team of mechanics and engineers involved in the Vulcan to the Sky project.
My good friend Ian, who approves aviation electronics such as radio systems and displays for civil aircraft, mentioned to me that the Vulcan should be appearing at the 2009 East Fortune and Leuchars Scottish Air shows, and a few of us decided to head for East Fortune in July.
As it happened that plan fell through, so in September we made for Fife and the RAF Leuchars air show... great day, great weather, great displays, record crowds.
Did the tours, took the photos, grabbed a couple of Raffle tickets, bought the Baseball cap, came home.
Two days later RAF Leuchars phoned me to say I had won a prize in their Raffle.
Which was nice.
"So what have I won then - book token, hamper?"
"No sir, first prize - a voucher towards, or for, a car of your choice from the Macrae & Dick Ford Dealership in Perth."
Which was even nicer.
We weren't in any position to add serious money to the prize and come away with a brand spanking new just off the manufacturing ramp vehicle, but the boys at Macrae & Dick understood the situation, and reacted accordingly.
We came away with a very nice 1.6 Fiesta Ghia 5 door with what some might perceive as extras as standard, and six months free Road tax.
They also re-serviced the car so I could drive away with a boxes-all-ticked vehicle and 12 months M.O.T.
And a one year free maintenance warranty, good at any local Ford Dealer.
If Ian doesn't tell me the Vulcan's flying, and if we don't mess up going to East Fortune, and I don't decide to buy a couple of Raffle tickets at Leuchars...
Went to see this...
And came away with this...
And let me tell you, if you are looking for a car - new or otherwise - and are in the vicinity, you could do a lot worse than call in at Macrae & Dick in Perth for a coffee and a chat.
And trust me, if it was a case of "You wouldn't want to buy so much as a bottle of car polish off this lot" I'd tell you.
It might cost you more than a £1 Raffle ticket, though.
Sorry, that's not quite true - it wasn't that much of a bargain because as I stated earlier I bought two tickets, so it cost me twice as much as it should have...
And personal thanks to RAF Leuchars and the boys I talked to there - they made this raffle win both easy to co-ordinate, and fun.
I would also highly recommend a trip to RAF Leuchars come Air Show time.
Just don't forget to buy a Raffle ticket.
Ross Muir
November 2009
And trust me, if it was a case of "You wouldn't want to buy so much as a bottle of car polish off this lot" I'd tell you.
It might cost you more than a £1 Raffle ticket, though.
Sorry, that's not quite true - it wasn't that much of a bargain because as I stated earlier I bought two tickets, so it cost me twice as much as it should have...
And personal thanks to RAF Leuchars and the boys I talked to there - they made this raffle win both easy to co-ordinate, and fun.
I would also highly recommend a trip to RAF Leuchars come Air Show time.
Just don't forget to buy a Raffle ticket.
Ross Muir
November 2009
