... when you're not busy. To be at once occupied with both novelty and difficulty alike is to time stamp the past. A blank week is unmemorable and so disappears.

Mr Larken asked if I had designed the logo in the header for the new web page. Yes, I'm happy to say that I did. The inspiration came from a mural on one of the walls of the Kosta Boda Glass Works art gallery in Sweden, about an hour's drive north of Karlskrona. It was a stunning piece of art, and I was able to record it in all its glory on my second visit in July 2018 (archive 'A Tidy Job').

This montage illustrates the development from the first sketch in my notebook, through the colour rendering, and finally to the b&w motif that I shall reproduce in thin copper sheet as the Special Builder's Breakfast Club badge. The only way I can do this is to cut out the pieces in the manner of a jigsaw puzzle, arrange them on a board and fill the lines with resin which once removed can in turn be scanned in 3D to produce the .dxf file for the laser or water jet cutter. It's a lot of trouble to go to, but that's never stopped me before.

Another foray into design work was my logo for 'The Monaco Dash' in 2014. A pre-'dash' recce with Cook revealed a rather lacklustre and outrageously expensive destination, so the trip was diverted to the races at Angoulême. By this time, the logo was on the notepaper and 'Angoulême' didn't have quite the same graphic possibilities, so 'The Monaco Dash' it remained.

The Great Collector's Talbot hood is coming along. There was a bit of a panic when I realised that the sewing machine I'd borrowed from Learned Counsel, whilst perfectly suited to thin leatherette, double duck was another kettle of fish. Recounting my woes to Chumley, he pointed me in the direction of Lynda, whose industrial machine didn't turn a hair. I've got a bit more work to do on the top and rear panels before it's all sewn up, nailed to the frame, and the rear window introduced.

Staying with textiles for a moment; I've got a couple of engineering jobs to do at the handprint works in Norfolk. The table rail stops which register the screens, need remanufacturing to a new design. A hot air source is to be installed in the blower system and some other work with retracting airlines should keep me busy for a while.

The Great Collector's stable hasn't seen a lot of use in the last couple of years so Counsel and I are gradually working our way through their recommissioning. The Bayliss-Thomas is back on the road and going well...

... and after a couple of exciting moments under tow (the brake pedal went straight to the floor) we managed to free the clutch on the Bedford, and she now purrs along very nicely.

A gallon of fresh fuel, a lick of emery across the points and the Bullnose was off around the block at a good pace. What with this and that, it's been quite a long week.