... that Big Pharma ever played was in the marketing of bubble bath. But for a recent discovery, I wouldn't ordinarily discuss my bathing habits. I recall that the addition of bubble bath (Matey in my formative years) was billed as an aid to prevent the accumulation of a rim of grime around the tub. The spiel was that your bath would be always cleaner (and less of an embarrassment when visitors turned up unannounced) with its addition. Having forgotten to buy 'bubbles' for the last couple of weeks, I notice that the rim isn't there, and it's not that I'm skimping my ablutions. So, of course the bath is always going to be cleaner using bubble bath because it actively encourages the build-up of grime, ergo you need more cleaning materials to clean it more often. Win win for Big Pharma.

The ROV cable chute turned out alright. The small arch sits on the ship's rail and the legs abut the hull. A nylon rope through one of the support tubes helps to secure the assembly and stop it from going for a swim.

Whilst welding up the chute, it seemed a good opportunity to add material to the carb body where one of the choke mechanism lugs had broken off.

The only piece of metal that I had to turn up a sleeve for the pedal assembly shaft, was a length of blacksmiths bar. Horrible stuff, though I got there in the end. The sleeve will sit in a saddle bolted to the bottom of the offside chassis rail and supported at its inner end by a bracket clamped to one of the cross-members. I try to make as many of the parts as I can detachable because I know things will always to get in the way if permanently attached.

The last of Learned Counsel's Jupiters has gone to a new home. This was the one we were going to turn into the Le Mans racing car. The best laid plans...

I took a last picture of the lovely KSS Velocette due to come up for sale at the Lacy Scott auctions in Bury St Edmunds. I tried persuading the owner that even if he had little interest in the bike, it would look fabulous on his sitting room wall. He looked at me a bit funny. I told him my mother kept a plunger-frame Ariel VB in the sitting room. Slowly he edged away.

The repair to The Great Collector's 1919 Humber seems to have at last been successful. Unfortunately, there wasn't the faintest sign of life from the mag. Knowing that Counsel and I are apt to get things 180° out on the timing side of things, I called for the correction fluid. I don't think that was far off 1919 either.

A pair of Ospreys and a Kite were buzzing about the house other day. This was the first time I'd had a camera handy when they'd passed by.

And staying with the wildlife theme, I spotted this False Widow Spider, sunbathing.