Day five - still going strong.

So...all good so far! Quite pleased with myself.

Nothing new to report really, except that I met with my smoking cessation councellor today and my carbon monoxide reading is down from 19 pph (parts per million) to only 3 pph. This is amazing news and I'm so pleased.

Things are starting to get easier and although I've been having some strange muscle twitches from the NRT I really feel things are on the up from here on in.

Now, how much other DIY can I do....gotta find something. Maybe I'll remove all the doors and re-hang them!

Day two without cigarettes!

Well I've decided that it's finally time to give up smoking (again!). Overall this must be my 30th+ attempt and after having smoked for 16 years it's not proving to be easy. Some people can just quit; I'm not one of those people and I'm so envious of them. I typically have to endure a long hard slog of boredom, nail biting, general climbing of the walls, biting of my lip (so as not to offend those around me) and mild insantiy.

On the plus side I do get a lot of DIY and housework done. As of today the garden in weeded / mowed and there is some nice new lino in the bathroom! The missus is pleased to say the least.

Anyway, right now I'm in hell. I don't want your pity...it's my own fault!

I have set a target for myslef. Fags now cost nearly £5 for 20, which is extortionate to say the least. So if I stop for 4 weeks I will save £140, and in 8 weeks I will save £280 etc. If I make it to 8 weeks I will buy a Tamiya TRF501X from the USA....and if that isn't motivation I don't know what is!

Kiwi Bunkbed

Daft really...but it's a kiwi bunkbed.

Bank Holiday bashing at Bury-Metro

It was Bank Holiday Monday and we all fancied having another quick bash with the buggies, so Colin, Jon and myself headed down the the local(ish) track for a quick bash.

Needless to say that I smashed the XX4's front shock tower on the 2nd pack of cells having got a bit too keen over the double (and the heavy landing on the concrete sides didn't help), and Jon did his Lazer in twice in as many minutes. Not a good day at all for Jon, poor fella, but hats off for keeping a smile on his face the whole time!

The highlight of the afternoon has to be Col doing some stupid jumps over a modified triple....now that's some air! I have to admit that I set the jump up and egged him on a bit, but he went for it and pulled of some mad skills with no damage whatsoever. Check it!

In this last photo, the little thing showing its belly behind the TRF501X is an RC-18. Yes...we have proven that they can fly too; just not as well...I remember the landing.

Shortly after this event Col let me have a blast on his TRF501x, which I proptly trashed by accident, but I admit I was being over-zealous! All in all I broke his shock tower, lost a screw and damaged the wing a little. Sorry Col. Egg butties on me!

My RC cars...yes they're all Losi!

This one is the first car I ever bought...a Losi XXX Kinwald Edition. It's a 2WD model, easy to work on and the parts are readily aviailable. This model has recently been very popular again as people appear to have decided that the XXX Kinwald was / is better than the more recent XXX-BK2 Edition (Brian Kinwald 2). Long live the XXX.


This is my current favourtite, the XX4-World Edition. It's a 4WD model which jumps well and handles well, especially off-road. However, this is a pig to work on and due to it being 4WD belt-driven buggy (with a whopping 3 belts - arggh) there is a lot more to go wrong and it needs a lot of TLC. Just look at it though...it's damn fine!

You know when the indoor season comes along and you get a bit tired of running buggies? No? Well anyway, this is my attempt at resolving that issue. Essentially it relives the boredom for about 2 -3 weeks and then I just have to do some jumps again. On the plus side these saloons shift a lot quicker and it's a great way to practice your lines around a track. This is my XXX-S 4WD saloon - and yes it battererd - well the shell is anyway...like I said it is a good way to practice. A lot of tracks in the UK are only geared up for running these sorts of cars, so if you want to get about a lot and have mid-week racing then a saloon is pretty much a requirement.


Well...that's it for now....and here's me talking like I have an audience and hopefully I will have at some point.