A Boot Full of Right ArmsjawaproThu 12/05/2011 04:31 PM
Sometimes things can take on a meaning far above their own innate value.
The book "A Boot Full of Right Arms" is an excellent book - and quite a collectible one too, but it means more than that to me.
It’s the story of some Australians who took a Leyland P76 into a London-Sahara-Munich car race. It’s sort of like an early Dakar, but they did it in a large two-wheel drive family car.
The thing is, my Grandfather was very keen on the old Leyland P76s. While some people may bag them out - he had a few over the years and even his Landrover was powered by a P76 engine.
He loved this book. My Uncle (who didn’t read many novels) read it and loved it too. It was lent around the family like no book before it. It became a family classic - I’d heard about it long before I was old enough to actually read it.
I’d always imagined the ‘arms’ in the title referring to guns - but I was wrong. The competitors driving the P76 kept being told "I’d give my right arm to be going with you" - so figured by the end they could have had a whole boot full.
When I eventually read it, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a brilliant book with a legendary sense of humour and adventure. It deserved it’s fame.
It’s also a rare book. Evan Green is a well known Australian Author - but this particular book hasn’t been republished for a long time and is rather sought-after. It’s very hard to find - and when it does appear on eBay it normally sells for around $80.
I found a copy on eBay the other week. It was currently $20, and I thought it would sell for much more than that, but I put a bid in anyway.
Well, it turned up this week. I still can’t believe I won it for less than $30 - but more than that, it’s actually signed by Evan Green! That makes it doubly rare and I got it for a bargain! If only the seller had realised what he’d had.
So there are now two copies in the extended family. I believe my Uncle still has the original one since my Grandfather passed away - and I’ve now got this one too.
Both due to it’s inherent awesomeness, and the sense of family connection - this book will take a place of pride in my collection.
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The cake is not a lie!jawaproTue 10/05/2011 08:45 AM
This weekend was Turkey’s 21st. Well, it was his party at least, his actual 21st was on May 4th (international Star Wars Day - May the 4th be with you!).
Anyway - Emma, Klutz, and I went down to Hobart to celebrate it (and do something else that I will reveal in a later post).
As with any party that includes a fire drum and some backyard blacksmithing - it was awesome!
Turkey’s girlfriend (Alysha) had made him the awesome Portal cake seen above. Much to the confusion of his parents who weren’t even sure if it was eatable as everyone who saw it said "The cake is a lie!".
This cake was certainly not a lie. It was awesome.
It was a great day - even if it did mean I didn’t get to see Roothy at Agfest. Next time you turn 21, try and miss Agfest weekend Turks!
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UpdatejawaproWed 04/05/2011 08:25 AM
So - what's been happening lately?
Well - it's looking like we've found the cause of the instability with the website. Klutz had been using the newest version of Wordpress which should have been fine - but seems to have some issues that sent the server into a spin. He's disabled it for now and things have improved (although I have probably jinxed myself now).
In other news - there was an awesome 2parter to start the new Dr Who series, I now have a housemate, I'm about to buy another car, and I'm trying to determine if I can afford to build a shed.
All in all, just a normal week.
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Website issuesjawaproMon 02/05/2011 08:17 AM
If you're tried to visit my website in the last week or so, you may have noticed that it's been rather unstable. Half the time it doesnt work at all, half the time it has errors, and half the time it works normally. Yes - my website exists in a universe where everything has three halves.
We think we may have figured out what was causing the server to go spastic - but we'll see if things improve now that we've removed that particular possibility.
In the mean time, please be patient - normal programming will resume shortly.
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Mt. DirectionjawaproMon 25/04/2011 08:25 PM
Long weekends are awesome - 4 day long weekends are even better! Spent the first few days at my place with the family and Klutz - but today Dad and I decided to climb Mt Direction.
Of course - why take the walking track when there’s a 4x4 track to be found! Took us almost to the top - only a short walk from the end of the track.
Mt. Direction has a restored semaphore system. From here you can see clear to George Town in one direction, and Launceston in the other. Back in the old days - before the Telegraph - this was how messages were sent from George Town to Launceston. Not exactly a high baud rate, but effective.
Felt soo good to kick the Pajero into low range again. Was starting to suffer from withdrawal.
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