In The Driver's Seat (Volume XII, Issue 3 - September 2004)
by: James JewellI don't know if this has been the longest or the shortest summer of my life. On the short side, my wife had me finish a lot of the remaining home renovation. Each weekend of summer flew by as I worked on cabinets instead of the car, leaving me with only one real weekend of MG time (got the 4-banger pulled out). Each time I looked at the calendar, Fall got closer and closer.
On the long side, my new assignment and associated commute-from-hell took up much
more of my personal time than did the job I held when I volunteered to take over
the newsletter. Time would drag as I looked at the clock at work, hoping to get out
at a sane hour, one where I could get home with enough daylight to do a little work
on the car. The sun won the race to the horizon every time, as I sat in DC rush-hour
traffic, wondering if I should be building a kit helicopter instead of a "kit" car.
Of course that wouldn't help since they've closed down all of the airspace around
DC since 9/11.
Yet thinking of 9/11 would remind me of why I was working the hours I was, how lucky I was not to be in-country getting shot at, and how fortunate we all are to have the freedom of time and resources to work on our beloved cars. But I digress...
Yet thinking of 9/11 would remind me of why I was working the hours I was, how lucky I was not to be in-country getting shot at, and how fortunate we all are to have the freedom of time and resources to work on our beloved cars. But I digress...
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I came into this newsletter feeling a little like an outsider (not knowing anyone),
and a lot like a fake (not owning an operating MG V8). I'd hoped to alleviate the
first stigma by meeting more of you at the Summer events in Michigan and SoCal, but
my professional commitments had to take priority. Neither did I reduce the second
stigma this summer, as I already mentioned. So I hope you'll forgive my absenteeism
for a summer, and trust that I'm still trying to make a good product for your reading
pleasure. I haven't done anything with the web page yet, but I have made a dent in
scanning in the old original paper issues and converting them to Adobe PDF. It will
probably be late fall before I finish them, so please be patient as it takes some
time to reformat and spell-check each issue in order to keep it from looking like
a third-generation photocopy.
Well, Fall is upon us. Growing up in the Adirondacks, Fall was always my favorite time of year. Whenever I visualize myself tooling along in my MG, the image invariably contains back roads, cool air, and brightly colored leaves. So all you SOB's lucky enough to have working roadsters, go forth and enjoy... for my sake, if not yours. I'll be sitting in my Dearborn product, stuck in gridlock, trying to simultaneously keep an eye on traffic, yet imagine I'm sitting in my MGB. So if you see me on the road, it's probably safest if you stay behind me.
May Peace find us all.
Well, Fall is upon us. Growing up in the Adirondacks, Fall was always my favorite time of year. Whenever I visualize myself tooling along in my MG, the image invariably contains back roads, cool air, and brightly colored leaves. So all you SOB's lucky enough to have working roadsters, go forth and enjoy... for my sake, if not yours. I'll be sitting in my Dearborn product, stuck in gridlock, trying to simultaneously keep an eye on traffic, yet imagine I'm sitting in my MGB. So if you see me on the road, it's probably safest if you stay behind me.
May Peace find us all.
