Where does time go when...............well, your living? It feels like yesterday that I was busy on the Lotus and life was pretty good...........until 2 days after my last post when my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. All thoughts of cars and life really was set aside and the focus immediately became about the wife and the kids. The lotus and all thoughts on that were mothballed, I literally tidied up what I was doing, pushed the car to the back of the shed, made sure it was away from any drips etc etc and promptly forgot about it. I'd see it sulking in the corner when I went in there for something...........but I just didn't have the capacity for it.
Work was brutal; 'we're here for you' on the one hand.............but actually 'you've not hit target this month'..........so I ended up working ridiculous hours, bonkers hours when I think about it to pack everything in. work, the kids (school/lunches/meals), look after the wife and the animals and just really survive tbh.
I wouldn't wish cancer on my worst enemy. Chemo, particularly, is something altogether on a different level. We ended up in A&E on xmas day 2022 then sent home, then she was admitted on boxing day for 5 days. I think that was the hardest part and I wasn't even going through it. She bore the mastectomy with great fortitude and now, having been given the all clear last year, is back to a semblance (not back to pre-cancer) of normality.
Trouble is, life's a 1000mph at the moment ...........and everyone, not just me or wife etc, has curse word going on. It doesn't help that I lost my job in December (23rd!) - no fault of my own - the company went bust and me, my boss and the junior, had no idea, right up until they switched our systems off.
Fraught isn't the word.
So you'd think that this would be the last thing on my mind, ie, sort the Lotus out...........but if I don't I'm actually watching an asset decline right in front of me (as much as I love it and don't see it as asset per se) It's way more than that.............but when it comes to it.........it's money sitting there and it's losing value getting dusty.
So today I made a start. There's a Lotus event in Saundersfoot, near Tenby (about 10 mins from me) in early May. That's the target...............to get it Mot'd and working. Yes, I know. Tall order. BUT it's doable. The kids want to go in it and so does the wife and me too tbh. Will it be perfect? Non. But could it be then a rolling restoration? Oui. so. On y va. N'est pas. As no doubt they say in Vercingetorix's fiefdom.
During my lowest ebb (almost hallucinatory at times I was so tired, particularly around Oct/Nov 22) I'd often dream of the driving the lotus with my dead grandmother funnily enough in the passenger seat (having a go at me for driving too quick; which she did when she was alive and I had a 205 gti 1.9 that I took her to the shops in once and did 90 down the dual carriageway with her in it..........perhaps not my finest hour but at the time I had a quiet chuckle to myself. she was totally oblivious.........until I hit the 30mph zone and I was doing an indicated 32! She went ballistic.........hence the 'talk')! but I digress. Funny how dreams splice things together........
So I made a start today and then tomorrow we're getting onto the ramp and work on the engine will begin. Photos and more to follow in the next installment.
Work was brutal; 'we're here for you' on the one hand.............but actually 'you've not hit target this month'..........so I ended up working ridiculous hours, bonkers hours when I think about it to pack everything in. work, the kids (school/lunches/meals), look after the wife and the animals and just really survive tbh.
I wouldn't wish cancer on my worst enemy. Chemo, particularly, is something altogether on a different level. We ended up in A&E on xmas day 2022 then sent home, then she was admitted on boxing day for 5 days. I think that was the hardest part and I wasn't even going through it. She bore the mastectomy with great fortitude and now, having been given the all clear last year, is back to a semblance (not back to pre-cancer) of normality.
Trouble is, life's a 1000mph at the moment ...........and everyone, not just me or wife etc, has curse word going on. It doesn't help that I lost my job in December (23rd!) - no fault of my own - the company went bust and me, my boss and the junior, had no idea, right up until they switched our systems off.
Fraught isn't the word.
So you'd think that this would be the last thing on my mind, ie, sort the Lotus out...........but if I don't I'm actually watching an asset decline right in front of me (as much as I love it and don't see it as asset per se) It's way more than that.............but when it comes to it.........it's money sitting there and it's losing value getting dusty.
So today I made a start. There's a Lotus event in Saundersfoot, near Tenby (about 10 mins from me) in early May. That's the target...............to get it Mot'd and working. Yes, I know. Tall order. BUT it's doable. The kids want to go in it and so does the wife and me too tbh. Will it be perfect? Non. But could it be then a rolling restoration? Oui. so. On y va. N'est pas. As no doubt they say in Vercingetorix's fiefdom.
During my lowest ebb (almost hallucinatory at times I was so tired, particularly around Oct/Nov 22) I'd often dream of the driving the lotus with my dead grandmother funnily enough in the passenger seat (having a go at me for driving too quick; which she did when she was alive and I had a 205 gti 1.9 that I took her to the shops in once and did 90 down the dual carriageway with her in it..........perhaps not my finest hour but at the time I had a quiet chuckle to myself. she was totally oblivious.........until I hit the 30mph zone and I was doing an indicated 32! She went ballistic.........hence the 'talk')! but I digress. Funny how dreams splice things together........
So I made a start today and then tomorrow we're getting onto the ramp and work on the engine will begin. Photos and more to follow in the next installment.
I'll take more photos tomorrow.