Monthly Archives: June 2012

An Echo of Tuscany

Every so often, as we sit here in the middle of Wellington’s winter, there is an echo of our time in Italy. Over the weekend we hung a picture on the wall. It was painted by our friend and talented artist Daniele, the partner of Olga our guardian angel in Tuscany.

Dani and Olga gave us the painting when we left Italy last year. It is a watercolor of Tuscany which, for us, summed up the beauty and simplicity of the region. Jean managed to get the painting all the way home undamaged and has had it framed. Last weekend it took pride of place on our wall.

Every time we look at it we think of friends and lazy afternoons sitting in the sun, talking, drinking (a little) and living la dolce vita.

Start me up – carefully

Ever since returning to Wellington my cars have sat, in garages, unused. Given their ages, starting them up after a 12 month hiatus isn’t as simple as turning the key and cranking. Just sitting still doing nothing means all manner of things could fail, break or seize. So I enlisted the help of a qualified expert to assist with the process.

Young Reuben works for the garage that regularly services the cars so he knows them well. He also, singlehandedly, finished building the Spyder over the last few years so is definitely the right man for the job.

Late last week he turned up at home with spare batteries, jumper leads, oil, spanners, screwdrivers, hammers, blocks of wood, in fact pretty much everything he needed to repair the cars, or even rebuild them from scratch. Game on.

We talked about what might happen when the keys were turned. It could be anything from massive clouds of smoke – the best scenario – through to seized engines and gearboxes – the worst scenario which would mean the real possibility of pistons or gears exiting through the side of the engine – not good.

With these cheery thoughts in mind we turned our attention to the first car – the 1972 Porsche 911. After removing the cover the car looked good – no leaks underneath and apart from the steering wheel being covered in mould all seemed well. The battery was re-connected and after 12 months sitting in storage still had enough charge to light things up. A few cranks and – wait for it – it lives. Completely undramatic – not even a lot of smoke. Proof, if any was needed, that those clever Germans know how to engineer stuff.

One down two to go.

Moving to the lock-up it was time for the real challenge. The Porsche 356 and replica 550 Spyder. The 356 has just had it’s fiftieth birthday and the Spyder, built from scratch over 10 years, was only completed a year ago. In fact I had it for 3 weeks prior to leaving for Europe.

It was clearly a matter of pride with Reuben that the 550 started easily. After all it was his baby.

A quick check for leaks, reconnect the battery and we’re ready. After a few cranks it thundered into life. “Take it for a spin” Reuben suggested. All good but there was a distinct lack of gears – none in fact – just a delightful grinding sound where the gears should be. Reuben disappeared under the back of the car for a few minutes with a can of WD40 and slowly life started to return to the gearbox.

Eventually we found second gear which was enough for a spin around the block to “loosen things up”. When Reuben returned we had all gears working.

Two down, one to go.

The 356, despite the loving care and attention it receives, was always going to be “the tricky one”. Having said that, the motor turned over easily but the 6 volt battery (yes the cars electrics are 6 volt – about the same power as an electric razor) wouldn’t do the job. A quick burst of 12 volt power (similar to using a defibrilator to start someones heart – you can do it, but not for long) and the motor was running.

The tricky part turned out to be getting the 356 to move. Taking the brake off didn’t actually take the brakes off. The antique drum brakes on the car had seized on at least 3 wheels and no amount of gentle persuasion would convince them to un-freeze. With the tight garage space, there was little we could do so next week the 356 is being loaded onto a transporter and taken to Reubens’s HQ, the Powerhaus, for a little work.

Bugger. But as the song says “two out of three ain’t bad” and it was a fun afternoon mucking around with cars. You can’t ask for more than that.

And, of course, there is always the movie. My apologies to the Rolling Stones for using their very appropriate music without asking first.

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It’s all about looking out for each other

Daisy the dog had a rough night last week. Part of her heart condition means that sometime she can’t pump enough blood around her system and without enough blood to her brain she faints.

This isn’t a pleasant thing and when she faints we always wonder if she will recover and be her old self. So far she has.

Before we moved back into our home she was fainting regularly but the return to familiar surroundings and routines has meant this had become a thing of the past – until last Wednesday night. She fainted twice and we were up until 3am making sure she was comfortable, relaxed, sleeping and, most importantly, still breathing.

And that’s where looking out for each other comes in.

Poppie is Daisy’s partner in crime when barking at the gate or begging for food but not the rest of the time. That changes when Daisy is unwell and then, somehow, Poppie knows.

Like last Thursday morning when Daisy was recovering. Poppie is the one on the right.

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What a beautiful day

To mark the last day of autumn Wellington produced one of those magic mornings that, sadly, we see too infrequently. Crisp, with no wind to speak of and just starting to warm up as the sun rose over the eastern hills.

At 8:15am the view from our front verandah looking south over Evans Bay to Cook Strait (and beyond to Antarctica as there’s not much in the way) was worth a photo.