How much shite is too much shite? Or How Many Miles is Too Many Miles?

[beko1987]

Retirement will be the best job you ever had! 

[Supernaut]

[Sneaks down the farm track to drink all of Saabnut's tea]

[greengartside]

Congratulations on your retirement dude. 

[dave j]

Congrats on retirement, at least you have a couple* of projects to keep you busy!

[LightBulbFun]

1 hour ago, Saabnut said:

Well a day of mixed emotions as I am heading to port (Schiedam) to demobilise for the last time. Sad to realise it will be the last time I will look closely at rigs from the sea after 35 years - glad it is all over! Tomorrow I fly home and Saturday morning I start my retirement! It should mean more pictures of cars and less of the sea on here.....

The sun setting on my career;

 

Well done on the retirement! given how hard the job is, I am glad your managing to finally get out and are able put your feet up  Its certainly well earned/deserved!

[beko1987]

23 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

put your feet up 

Won't be any time for that 🤣

[big_al_granvia]

Never say never, the sea in in the blood. Even when my dad was dying he wished he was at sea. Apart from recovering from ops he rarely spent a month at home 

[Saabnut]

A week retired and I still have no time! The difference is this time it is up to me what I do and where I go, and that makes a huge difference.

The last few days have been spent getting my Classic 900 'vert Saab ready for MOT as it has been laid up off the road (OK, abandoned in a corner outside) for over 2 years but in 2 and a bit weeks it is going on display at the NEC for the Practical Classics show. No pressure then. A new rear half exhaust was fitted (I have welded it for the MOT for the last 4 tests), serviced it, checked and lubricated everything and tightened up the bolts on the cat. I managed to get an MOT slot today so off we went. Started off great, but going through Dundee the brakes started to stick on after gentle breaking, but were fine if used enthusiastically.

For about 8 years, the brake light switch has been a bit sticky requiring a pull up of the brake pedal with your foot to make sure the brake lights were off, so the sticking brakes were also cured with the same pull up. The brake light switch is a bastard to get to on these old Saabs, being behind the dash on the passenger side, so I have just lived with it. Got to the MOT station by which time the brakes were back to normal.

The tester put it on the ramp, and whilst he was away logging the car on, the brake lights decided to come on (no ignition required on these) so before he noticed, I quickly pulled up the brake pedal up to turn them off. The test started, and the exhaust was blowing, not badly, from the cat joins, yes, the ones I had tightened yesterday. Of course, the brake lights refused to work at all (never done that before) so a failure ensued. Not a problem as the left hand indicator repeater (tested yesterday) decided to call it a day, the wiper blades fell apart in the rain on the way down (new for the last MOT and done virtually no miles), the bungee cord that holds the battery in lost its stretch so an insecure battery and the movement had destroyed the insulation on the starter wire. The good news is despite the exhaust leak, it just scraped the Lamda sensor, everything else was fine. Finally, on the rollers, the offside handbrake decided not to work.

I now have two weeks to get it tested in time for the NEC. I have ordered the bits I need but I cannot start on it until Monday as tomorrow I am off on a collection mission. It will take a few days as it is nearly 500 miles from here, needs to be trailered and my friend and many good beers is on the way back! I will update the collectioning when I can, but it will not really be a live collection as I will be on my own so only update when stopped. Looking forward to meeting another shiter I have not met before on Thursday for the collection.

[Coprolalia]

Congratulations on the retirement! Looking forward to plenty of project updates as you work through the collection.

[cort1977]

Must be the year for brakelight switches, I had to do mine recently and as you advised it was a proper bastard to get to.

[Saabnut]

And we are off…….

[Supernaut]

22 minutes ago, Saabnut said:

And we are off…….

Nah.

You actually set off a good 10 minutes before taking that photo!

[Tickman]

Looking forward to all the activities that you will be able to get done because of retirement.

Safe travels 

[lesapandre]

"The brake light switch is a bastard to get to on these old Saabs, being behind the dash on the passenger side, so I have just lived with it".

Getting down behind the dash with some contact cleaner and WD40 with a long thin flexible tube might be a bodge temp fix?

Good luck with the collection and congratulations on the retirement!

[Saabnut]

First fuel stop 50 miles in

[hairnet]

16 hours ago, Saabnut said:

t is nearly 500 miles from here

Fife then *runs

[Saabnut]

It was all going so well. The M6 south is closed due to multi vehicle accident. Been stationary for an hour but had to get more diesel at the services. Took nearly half an hour to get to the pumps (HFM diesel?). 20 mins and nearly back on the motorway 

[Supernaut]

I find the M6 is almost always a certain level of fuckery, but it does look particularly bad today.

[Momentary Lapse Of Reason]

Stoke Sentinel

"

Motorists are being warned of long delays on the M6 following a three-vehicle pile-up. The motorway is currently shut southbound between junction 15 for Stoke-on-Trent and 14 for Stafford north.

The closure follows a collision between two vans and a car at around 2.30pm today (March 6) with Central Motorway Policing Group currently at the scene. There are hold-ups of 30 minutes with congestion backing up four miles.

Traffic monitoring site Inrix reports: "M6 Southbound closed, long delays due to accident, two vans and a car involved between J15 A500 D Road (Stoke-On-Trent) and J14 A34 (Stafford North).

"At around 3.20pm the road was closed as investigation work will be required. Lanes one, two and three (of four) were initially closed. Trapped traffic is being released past the scene in lane four (of four)."

"

 

"

16:06Hayley Parker

Delays on A34 diversion following crash

National Highways says: "Please be aware that there are currently roadworks reported on the A34 along the diversion route, delays are expected on approach to the closure and along the diversion route itself.

"If this closure impacts on your planned route, please allow extra journey time. Plan ahead, you may wish to re-route or even delay your journey."

 

16:05Hayley Parker

Diversion route

Road users are advised to follow the hollow triangle diversion symbol on road signs.

• Leave the M6 at J15 and take the A500 EB.

• Continue along A500 to its junction with the A34 at Hanford.

• Take the exit to A34 southbound and continue to M6 J14.

• At J14 rejoin the M6 southbound

 "

[Momentary Lapse Of Reason]

trafficdelays.co.uk

"

Region | County: West Midlands | Staffordshire

Road Affected: M6

Description of incident: Location : The M6 southbound between junctions J15 and J14 .
Reason : Road traffic collision.
Status : Currently Active.
Time To Clear : The event is expected to clear between 20:45 and 21:00 on 6 March 2024.
Return To Normal : Normal traffic conditions are expected between 20:45 and 21:00 on 6 March 2024.
Delay : There are currently delays of 1 hour against expected traffic.
Lanes Closed : All lanes are closed.

Type of incident: Accident.

Delay length: Severe Disruption – in excess of 3 hours delay or road closure.

Incident updated: Wed, 06 Mar 2024 16:41:52 GMT

"

[Momentary Lapse Of Reason]

Stoke Sentinel Live

"

16:57Hayley Parker

Ambulance statement

A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: "We were called to reports of collision between two vans on the southbound M6, between junctions 15 and 14, at 2.12pm, two ambulances and a paramedic officer attended the scene. On arrival we discovered three patients. A man, the driver of one of the vans, was treated for potentially serious injuries before being taken to Royal Stoke University Hospital. A further man and a woman were also assessed and discharged at the scene."

"

[Saabnut]

Still here

[Momentary Lapse Of Reason]

Stoke Sentinel

"

17:02Hayley Parker

One-hour delays on M6

National Highways says there are long delays of 60 minutes on the M6 southbound between J16 (near Crewe/Alsager) and J15 on approach to the closure.

"

 

The A34 diversion is going to be solid as well.

Assuming you are between Jct 16 and Jct 15.

I would take the A519 south from Jct 15 to Eccleshall then A5013 to Jct 14

or stay on the A519 to Newport,then A41 south to Roundabout with A5 then east to Jct 12.

[hairnet]

premier inn at newport 

escape now

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, Saabnut said:

diesel at the services.  (HFM diesel?).

Yer'll have to cut that out, now you're a pensioner!

[Momentary Lapse Of Reason]

30 minutes ago, hairnet said:

premier inn at newport 

escape now

Good Thinking, but sadly ...

[Zelandeth]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy9zp078vzqo

[Momentary Lapse Of Reason]

[Momentary Lapse Of Reason]

[hairnet]

ibis in the little services at toyota island if you go that way (A50) @Saabnut nick