.... broke with tradition and went for lunch.

The White Horse at Sweffling provided an excellent cheese toasty - homemade bread, local cheese and chutney - and a selection of real ales. Don't go if you're a lager drinker because there isn't any. Then on to Aldburgh for walk along the beach in unseasonably warm weather. I'm not a fan of public art but Maggi Hambling's 'Scallop' is in a league of its own. Its success for me is that I don't need to know anything about Benjamin Britten or his opera 'Peter Grimes', to enjoy the sculpture. It's impressive and completely accessible.

And equally accessible was the Minor's gearbox. You may recall that I rebuilt a 4-speed box to replace the 3-speeder in a chum's Minor saloon. We put the job off until we ran out of excuses and I was surprised how easily everything came apart. Fitting the 4-speed box will be another story and is not as straightforward as we were led to believe. Firstly, the handbrake bracket had to have a piece inserted so that the mounting holes could be repositioned to fit the 4-speed casting and I suspect there might be some jiggery-pokery with the cross-shaft as well. We have a shortened propshaft ready and waiting and we'll probably replace the fabric couplings for good measure.

The Jowett racer's diff looks to be in good shape with practically no wear on the crown wheel and almost no backlash. I haven't started on the dashboard yet - that's a winter job and should come after the Austin's front wings......

My car to take home this month was this very pretty 1914 Crossley. In fact, the local VSCC monthly meeting was very well attended with no less than four Triumph Gloria's in various guises.

Two new toys have been added to the landscape in recent weeks. This Talbot came from France and was being given the once-over on The Great Collector's ramp and...

Awkward has bought a Morgan....

to go with his Avon - seen here amongst this nursery (?) of Minors.

I quite like the little Minor drop-head; it's a bigger car than the Austin 7 and the later ones have refinements such as hydraulic brakes - not that cables and rods properly set up are any less good. I should perhaps have paid a bit more attention to the design of 'Sunita'; long journeys are a bit of a trial as I'm over 6'.

This week I've escorted my big sister to Kerteminde in Denmark. We're here to visit her English Bull Terrier. Don't ask! Of more interest to me is a nearby castle with a collection of cars and aeroplanes and, Kerteminde was the home of Johannes Larsen - a painter known best for his studies of birds in land and seascapes. There's a small museum and gallery in his former home, just around the corner from our B&B. I've asked around about my Aage Schad painting but have so far drawn a blank. I'm rather hoping that the wise ones at the Museet will know all about him and go all dreamy-eyed at the mere mention of his name.

I'll slip over there after a spot of breakfast.