News

12-02-16 Now as you may know if you read my weekly ramblings I like cats and dogs. I have three rescue cats and a small dog. I find you can get an idea how nice people are, if they dont like animals they are usually horrible, evil people. Mind you I am thinking of going over to the dark side. Barney, our ginger tom cat, who is now known as Monkey (I will explain later). Now Barney (monkey) is a large cat, he weighs over 6kg and is a bit of a thug when it comes to other cats, but with humans he is lovely. On Monday afternoon Joe phoned me and said Barney (monkey) was limping badly and making horrid yelpy noises. So home I rushed, poor Barney (monkey) was not good so off to the vet we go. The nice lady vet examined him and his paw was causing him pain, so painkillers were given along with antibiotics (why?). We need to take an X-ray to see if anything is broken, but it has to be done the next morning. They gave the option of leaving him there over night, I asked how much that would cost. £65 for the night, for a bloody cage, he could stay at a Holiday Inn and have a full english breakfast for that. So I bring him home for the night and the first thing he does is limp out the door and buggers off for the night. Hmm, anyway he limps in the next morning and off to the vet we go, again. They phone later with the results, nothing broken but his paw is bruised. Well that is good so I go to pick him up. At the reception I go to pay the bill, the £500 bill (hence monkey). The lady next to me said but you love him, so its worth it. That is debatable at this moment. In the end it was 500 sovs for a fucking stubbed toe. Now I can go to a private dentist have an X-ray and fillings and have a Hygienist clean my teeth for less than that. So next time you want your cat x-rayed get your dentist to do it, it will be a damn site cheaper. I know I am the stupid one for panicking and running off to the vet but you can always be wise after the event. So if any vets wish to buy any of my kits let me know you are a vet and I will give a 50% discount as you must be struggling. As a serious note how many cats and dogs are abandoned and found homeless because their owners cant afford the vets bills. In fact Barney was found wondering the streets of Billericay with very bad teeth. So it is likely his previous owners couldnt afford the vets bills. The insurance companies havnt helped, if you have lots of animals the premiums are as much as the bills and the excess means youre still paying most of it. I suppose I better write a bit about slot cars, the first Cooper Bristol is on the car page, this is Hawthorns 1952 Spa car. His 1952 British GP car is in the mould and will be available next week. This is a slightly different casting to the spa car with a slightly longer nose. The Jaguar XK120 Coupe is taking shape nicely as you can see. Another couple of weeks it should be done. I think it is going to look pretty damn good. If you are a Jag collector it is a must. I dont think anyone has made a decent 120 but I will probably be corrected on this. In time I will cut the roof off and make it into a roadster but that is for the future.