Problems home and away

                                        Burlington Diary May 2009

Mon.25.05.09. Life can be such a ‘shit butty’. I have returned from France having sold the house in Tarascon after a serious amount of aggressive, bullying tactics from a particular nasty agent who was hopping mad about not winning the deal. Threats from both agents, their manager, the client, a vitriolic demand for compensation of 14000 euros in addition to a three page document from Parisian avocat attempted to block the outcome. We have had four weeks of fucking torture. We are still not sure that the matter has been positively resolved.

So, it was no surprise to find that the final touches to the Burlington have not run smoothly. There is yet another shopping list to be sourced, purchased and fitted. The front brake calliper seals have perished due to standing dry for two years, the decorative cockpit trim needs to be replaced, the front springs had not been collected from ‘Mick’ but, as expected, appear to be grossly inhibited on the shocker, rendering them useless. Worst of all I owe Colin a further £85.00 because the seat bases have required some minor alterations.

Desperate phone calls to tried and tested suppliers have revealed alternative remedies. John at Paddocks can offer ‘exchange’ callipers for £39.00 each but also a repair kit for £6.50 (with the vital ‘bridge seal’ included), together with a set of pistons for £14.00. Max is prepared to exchange callipers for £50.00 each whilst the ‘sheepdip’ brothers still have original ‘Stanpart’ callipers at £65.00. The road spring search is becoming quite a nightmare. Yorkshire springs have not responded to my endless telephone requests, Andy at Europa has been given the hopeless task of searching out the specification, which incidentally remains at an ID of 2.65, a free length of 10.5 with a poundage of 90lbs.

Max still maintains that rear Dolomite springs are the answer being soft at 95lbs but have a free length of 13.2 inches, the same length as a Spitfire spring. “You can just cut ‘em down, they still work,” was the technical advice from Max.

I expect that I am in for a difficult May