Old & Rusty 
What ever happened to Dave Jenks (and his dad’s Halifax)?
Dave Jenkinson, better known as Jenksie (or Jenks) and former Chief Observer for UK Competition Ballooning, as it was then, has entered the annals of ballooning history as being the only person ever to get a free balloon out of Camerons. Jenksie had entered ballooning in the mid eighties and came and crewed for some… Read More ›
Card Tricks from the Attic – Salome and The TSS Jervis Bay
It is truly amazing how the smallest, often really insignificant, things lead to the most startling discoveries and the packs playing cards that turned up in boxes various during the mighty loft clearout at my late father’s former abode were no exception. So fascinating became the subject I am now verging on starting a playing… Read More ›
Ist das ein Vivi old chap? – What’s in Trev’s Shed? Part Deux
Already its quite obvious that the planned whizz-bang-pedal trips on the mopeds not only hasn’t happened but are now looking well dodgy anytime in the near future. A string of minor catastrophes and shortage of spares has slowed things a tad, right across the board. The Mercette is behaving like the Forth Road Bridge, remarkable… Read More ›
Tale of two ping-pings – upgrading your scoot
Our idea of new and modern is probably at variance with yours. Or maybe not. A few years back, and some more, in a bid to stop having to drive our Mary on a twelve mile round trip, twice a day, we bought her a scooter. It was one of those co-incidence moments. An old… Read More ›
The Oxford Allen Scythe – Extreme Mowers hurt
Apart from the balloons and all the paraphernalia that goes with them, from cylinders to trailers, coming in for repair we still get all sorts of other stuff to fix, or trot off to mend on site. This stems back to the years trying to persuade agricultural machinery to come apart or go back together,… Read More ›
Celia, the Swallow and the remarkable Douglas Pobjoy
It is no secret that the Zebedee Crew are avid aviation enthusiasts and have been known to leave the country at the drop of a hat if something interesting turns up halfway round the world. It was no surprise then when a piccie from Celia came through taken in Ireland of an extremely rare aeroplane,… Read More ›
We nearly went to sea
… or Four go wild at the seaside (nearly) As you have already discovered this is not a site dedicated to balloons. We like them obviously but we are easily distracted so when our Trevor decided he needed to get some more bits for his Vivi moped and I needed to get the Magpack on… Read More ›
Eeesa Vivi – Strange thing in Trev’s shed
Eeesa Vivi – Strange thing in Trev’s shed So there we were, Trev and me, discussing the merits of investing in old mopeds over a pint of old and filthy. Well I can categorically state that buying an old moped wreck and even getting it running is a bit like stuffing money down a drain… Read More ›
The Dunkley Whippet
Aston Clinton success for the Dunkley Whippet 60 The Dunkley Whippet 60 was purchased off of eBay a few years ago. I’d seen mention of one in a Champion spark plug catalogue back in the early seventies and if for no other reason than it was the same name as me (the ‘Dunkley’ not Chris)… Read More ›
Mercette Rides Out!
Well finally, after months of hard graft and derision from onlookers the mighty Mercette finally made it down the road and back (eventually) with Jane aboard followed by Dick ‘the Dunkley’ and myself after being resurrected from a box of bits (the Mercette, not me!). Technical problems had put the trip off from the weekend…. Read More ›