Actually, it's been growing on and off for the last couple of months. When the temperature drops below 10°C, it slows down or stops. Above that temperature, it's not behind the door in getting going again, ushering in the mowing season.

I spotted these Snowdrops the other day - the first I've seen this year - and as the evenings draw out, more time in the workshop should see progress on the Special accelerating. Spring is just around the corner, but we're not there just yet.

The water jacket plate on The Great Collector's Minx was full of pin holes. My solution was to float fibreglass resin into the recess after brazing the worst with some silicon bronze. Someone had already plugged a hole or two at some stage in the car's life.

And whilst I was at it, I made up a couple of cylinder head lifting devices. Removing the ceramic from the centre of the plugs was not easy and I had to resort to brute force and a large knock-meter. The two M12 lifting eyes which screw onto the bolts, are in the post.

A fifth coat of sanding sealer has been applied to the dashboard after staining with Indian Rosewood. I decided that the previous blue/grey finish was not quite right. I liked it, but it looked a bit scrappy so I resorted to a more conventional finish. It's interesting that previously invisible medullary rays have appeared following sanding. A final thinned down coat of Shellac and guitar varnish will finish the job.

I finished off the stone traps in the week...

... and also the 'T' pieces. I had trouble with the thread on one of the flanges. Stainless steel is an absolute pain if it decides to bind and it'll catch you out by screwing down without a problem, then after a couple of turns to undo, it'll lock solid. The flange was too big to fit in my lathe so in the end I got Chumley to remove the thread. Problem solved.

The new print tables are coming on. I think I may be called in to help with straightening the registration rail as that's quite a specialist task. The unwary can quite easily put an almost imperceptible curve in the rail which will become evident only when the print starts to run off the selvedge - which means the registration at one side of the print will be out of kilter.

The Other Wright Brother's Tiger Moth is coming on. The installation of the electric motor, battery pack and radio is almost complete. I'm hoping to have a bit of a model flying evening at the farm with a few chums sometime in the summer. If I keep up with the speed of the grass growing, I could get my Precedent By-Fly kit built in time for the event.