International Women's Day

Quite a few of you will already know that J is running a fundraising project to rehabilitate and educate Kenyan children, many of whom are orphans.

I’m pleased to say that over the past few weeks J has raised over €1,300 to help these kids.

Most of this will be sent to the Isaiah Trust, the registered charity which started the enterprise off, some of it has already been sent direct to Kenya to alleviate a food shortage, and J has started a small enterprise of her own, getting scarves (see picture) sent from Kenya which she sells on to the ladies of the Côte d’Azur. This small ‘business’ supports the people who make the scarves, the market stallholders who sell them, and pays a small commission to the student who sources the scarves and sends them to J. 

J has already sold quite a few of the scarves and by the middle of the year, another €1,000 should be raised to send to Kenya.

I’m pleased and proud to say that J’s efforts down here have not gone unnoticed. We now have regular quiz nights (a la British pub style), there are frequent ladies evenings, lunches and ‘bring and buy’ sales which allows people to get rid of unwanted household items which amazingly somebody else always wants!

And as if to underline her efforts, a local publication celebrating the 100^th International Women’s Day listed J in third place after Annie Lennox (who also supports African charities) and Paula Radcliffe the runner (who is a Champion for Peace)!  Of course, virtually every publication has their own list but it’s great that J’s efforts have been recognised. You can find the articles at the URLs below. 

http://uk.mg1.mail.yahoo.com/dc/launch?.gx=1&.rand=3uhnalv4rk1qe

http://www.therivierawoman.com/index.php?module=g_people&page=getLong&id=84

People’s generosity never fails to amaze me. Only last week, a woman who read about J’s exploits arranged to meet her and after hearing what she was doing, handed over a cheque for over €400!

So many people down here, many of whom live privileged lifestyles are looking to help others and when they hear of J’s project, are only too willing to help.

It’s only a few weeks now until J, Guy and Kitty head off to Kenya.

No doubt there will be the usual update when she returns.    

The Beemer is Finished (Nearly)

Now I haven’t been spending every waking hour on it as there’s been quite a bit of waiting for special tools and a lot of internet research required, but finally all the things which have been bugging me are resolved.

After a complete rebuild of the front braking system, the final, usually quick job of bleeding the brakes proved to be something of a challenge. After waiting for Guy to return from a four day trip to his father’s and getting him to pump the brakes for about twenty minutes, nothing was happening. A quick look at the manual and it was stated that it is a pressurized system, which needed either a garage or a special bleeding system, and that’s not a profanity!! The garage option was favourite until I worked out that it would probably cost a hundred euros or so and the tools on the internet ranged from €80 to over €300! Then I spotted a system on Amazon – Eezibleed - cost €25.

I was a bit doubtful that it could be so cheap and work but the reviews were favorable and only four days after ordering it, a rather Heath Robinson looking device arrived and which uses the pressure from the spare wheel. Ten minutes after starting the job on my own (it’s usually a two-man job), the brakes were working. 

I’ll let J test them on the mountain road just to make sure they are ok though!

The next, and related problem, was a BMW fiddle. Even after fixing the brakes, the warning light was illuminating the dashboard and some internet research showed that you need to take it to a BMW dealership to have the system reset but a much quicker fix was simply to cut the wires leading to the sensor and connect them together. Problem solved. I look at my brakes every few months anyway so a sensor is superfluous for me.

The next and rather confusing issue was that the theft alarm kept going off. This was caused by the removal of the battery when I was working on the electrics, and like the brake warning light, the alarm, or rather, the car needs to be taken to a specialist to have the system reset. Removing the fuse wasn’t the answer as the radio was hooked up to the alarm as were the hazard lights. I disconnected the alarm box but it was full of circuit boards which frighten me to death so I simply removed all the connectors, dumped the box and hey presto – everything worked.

And that was it. You may notice that I haven’t photographed the Beemer from the side which has a large bash on it – that’s a summer job and is quite a complicated task necessitating the removal of the bumper, the lights, bonnet hinges and a few other things. I’ll order a wing on the internet, get it painted and then fit it when there’s a few warm days on the horizon.

The next thing of course is to put the Beemer through it’s Controle Technique (MOT) which is always an anxious time but we’ll see what happens this afternoon when I drive it up to the centre and hand it over. It’s worse than childbirth (or waiting for your wife to give birth), watching the guys crawl all over the car, shoving torches into every nook and cranny as they look for the slightest problem.

Given the state of some of the cars on the road over here, it always amazes me when they might fail a German manufactured, superbly built BMW 328i for a slight problem, but we’ll keep our fingers crossed and see what happens.    

And after that it’s the open road. Can’t wait.


Stop Press - YES !!! It passed.