Snapper

Never mind Joris, look on the bright side: You'll never have to share a sofa with Gloria Hunniford.

Here's a Queen Mary trailer with an Anson.

and....This is a nice view of the Grahame-White factory. I like snapping in natural light. No flash stuff. Zoomer will agree! (wherever he is...)

and....These bikes are a Phelam & Moore and a Triumph. I'd never even heard of the former. They supplied over 3,000 motorcycles to the RFC/RAF by the end of the Great War and were still a favoured choice until the 1930s.

and

Some more pics from Hendon. The Grahame-White factory setting is really superb.

Good points, Fred. I was 23 on the day the Empire struck back landing in San Carlos water on May 21 1982. I was working for the old Melody Maker at the time (where I went after being 24463988), compiling pop charts and being a librarian..very exciting. Most of the staff were anti-Thatcher, anti-the war and against our country in general in ways that really peed me off. I suppose we all have different ideas what "our country" means. They are fully entitled to their views and that's what democracy is all about. Being a reject there was no way I'd be asked to go down South. Lucky me.

News reaches us of the sad demise of the Sultan of Southend. Having risen to the throne only a day or so ago; the hapless monarch passed away this morning after fulfilling his mission in life, to wit; exposing a given truth that you cannot go to Normandy and come back a Duke. A Southend rozzer could only offer a little information: "A funny thing happened on the way to the forum." The body of the Sultan is lying in state in the back room of the Broadway Grill opposite the Grand Hotel in Leigh On Sea. Visitors are asked to quote their HMVF user names on the door. Kebabs optional.

The wednesday before Easter weekend.

You're 'on message'.

Ye olde HMVF in association with the Franklin Mint, Halfords and Lines Bros of Liverpool bring you a once only opportunity to purchase a special range of exclusive Duke of Normandy my ar$e forum clothing. Codpiece. 5 groats and three farthings (+ VAT). Handcrafted by nuns in a Bayeux convent (by the rounabout opposite Leclerc). This beautifully fashioned item is made of realistic leather effect plastic adhered to the finest quality MDF moulded to fit your every need. Doublet and hose. 12 groats (+ VAT of boiling oil). Hand stitched by maidens in the foothills of Blandford Forum, this fine piece of mediaeval English day wear has been especially imported from a Mumbai sweatshop specialising in football boots. It shows. Suit of armour 200 ducats (+ 4,000 dubloons P+P). This fine bit of metal work was last seen masquerading as a Morris Ital. Marvel at the craftsmanship. Wonder at the individuality. Comes with free angle grinder and signed portrait of Brian Blessed. Send no money now. Apply today at our special call centre number as seen on Discovery Home and Leisure's comedy channel 777 on your set top box (between the sheds, cop car chases and bits of the other

Worry not foreign prince, for I have embarked on a new career myself. I saw an ad for the job in the Southend Evening Echo. It was between the stuff for roadsweepers and Thai saunas. skills required were: Verbosity; ownership of a three wheeled German jeep; complete disinterest in modern era football; a liking for pizza; but the clincher was, I had to be a childhood friend of Buster Bloodvessel. The job is mine. They said something about maidens, camels, a magic lamp and some sort of grizzly execution; but I'll have handed in my notice before we get to that bit.

Here you are, elevated to a Dukedom and you still call us mere mortals "mate". You have the common touch. Verrily you are a prince among men (+women, yoofs and the odd Spurs fan). If you're a Duke, will we be getting a safari park to tack on to the HMVF club house? The HMVF World of Misadventures? Don't let the baboons near your machine guns.

And here's a Scammell Scarab from Malta.

Stryker James and I went to the RAF Museum over easter. For some reason they chose to use a school holiday to have bits of it closed for maintenance or whatever. However, the aircraft were all on hand and this was enough for the lad. He was very impressed with the bombers and especially the old stringbags of WW1 which are displayed in the Graham-White factory hangar. I always look forward to seeing the bombers - especially the Lanc and the recovered Halifax. I haven't been to Hendon since 1990-91 and there was a lot of new stuff to see. The Milestones hall is very impressive. The Battle of Britain hall was most disappointing. The place seemed to be in emergency lighting and the upper floor was closed. Worse still, when they held a film show the rest of us had to leave because all the lights were turned off. All a bit ruritanian for my liking. As ever, with me, you get a story. In 1990 my wife and I went to Orkney. The reason why is now lost. I wanted to visit the Stromness Museum to see relics of the scuttled Hun fleet from 1919. While there we encountered several members of the Hudsons Bay society from the US/Canada who were holding their convention in the AA one star Stromness hotel. The lady on the museum counter allowed one of them to buy a ticket and then told him they were closing for lunch in ten minutes...to which he responded, but I only have an hour here before I return to Chicago. "Oh well..perhaps you'll come back and see us again some time". Basil Fawlty museum management at it's best...maybe Hendon needs to wake up a little too.

Good advice. My technical guru, who will read this but stays as a Guest on HMVF will concur. But watch out for tossers, too. My day has been brightened up by seeing someone drive a British spec Dodge Weapons Carrier in Southend. Good man.

I've got a usable replacement from VW this morning. Locking studs is a good idea. I think this was just a bit of stupid foul play. I don't like to generalise, but will anyway..we've got some pretty dodgy looking near neighbours. They stay a while, skip the rent and do a runner. Happens every time. We've had two drugs raids in the past month. But we have minimal obvious crime and everything is peaceful. Just an odd mix of circumstances. This is not to say my house isn't alarmed up like Fort Knox and my two attack-cats are not to be messed with (especially near meal times).

If I leave in the Iltis now, I could be there by....say, Thursday.

Maybe we should have a BS Detector board on the site for such stories... Walter Mitty Versus The Bullsh$t Detector sounds like a Marvel comic in the making.

Lost a wheel nut yesterday on a slow cruise along Southend sea front. the beast likes things slow anyway and it was only after traversing a speed hump that things became noisy. Instantish stop - but no sign of missing item - had to tighten up the other four which were all quite loose. Weird.... I had to park the Iltis further down my street on Saturday night and it is a mystery to me how a set of what had been five perfectly tightened wheel nuts can come loose in less than a mile on a sunny Sunday. I'd also acquired several fish and chip wrapping ands twenty pence! Hope I'm not being paranoid, but I suspect a little foul play. Great. Now I'm off shopping for a wheelnut. And I've got two chips in my windscreen - unfortunately not of the Maris Piper variety. These trials....

Test the water. But we must credit the copyright holder of the snap (if known)/the book title and page number/the publisher. If there is a complaint, we kill the post. I doubt if a copyright holder would pursue any further, provided we kill any post they ask us to.

cool. will definitely pay a visit.

Haven't seen Hamburger Hill for years.

So it won't be filmed in Hertfordshire, then.