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One for @Paul Aspden The 2nd

Hi all, I've had my Westie since last spring, a SEiW 1800, and can honestly say I have loved every second! It was a long held itch that I needed to scratch, but with job, three (expensive) kids and the general chaos of everyday life, it's taken me until now to get my act together! Got there in the end though The club has a been a great source of information and expertise whilst I was looking for a car and since, probably answering lots of daft questions ranging from what to buy, what to look for, how do I jack it up, exploding indicator pods, fuel tank gurgles and the list goes on! I bought some bits and sold some bits too. Even answered a couple of questions! I have had a great time during the summer and put a good few miles on the clock, but as yet, only manged to frightened myself witless once - but haven't managed to meet up with any other Westie owners. I guess we need to factor in the whole Covid thing too though in fairness! I read the prior thread about Somerset & Devon which got me thinking. There is a bit of a gap between Bristol / Dorset and Cornwall and there were quite a few folks that had responded to the prior post expressing an interest in getting something going in the Somerset / Devon area. I live in Minehead - gateway to absolutely nowhere at all, but kind of in the middle of the area! So..I had a few really helpful exchanges with Ian Tolfree (Tolf) to see what might be involved and to check if it was ok to put a toe in the water! (thanks Ian - really helpful!) I'd be interested to see if we can get something going in the area and to volunteer some time to act as an AO. I work for the NHS and the last nine months have been a stinker, and there's a few more to come, and so I'd have to juggle around work and family stuff, but very happy to give it a go. I'd be really interested to learn: who's out there that would be interested? where you are? what you drive? What you're interested in - drive outs, touring, regular meet up, racing, sprints etc? And especially - Is there anyone that would be willing to share the load a bit? If you are interested then it would be great to hear from you! I'd be happy to collate the responses and summarise and if there are reasonable numbers and interest, see if we can get something off the ground? Just to be clear, you probably all know more stuff than me, drive better than me etc! I can't offer you Westfield ninja skills, engineering excellence or race prep insight, but I can maybe offer a bit of enthusiasm and willingness to give it bash, get some stuff organised and see where we go! So, if you are in the general area, are interested or can help, then I'd be really pleased to hear from you! You can either drop something in the thread or send me a mail! Also, if you are a local AO that can give a few pointers and maybe consider a joint event or something then please give me a shout too! Thanks and looking forward to the swathe of replies! Now pouring a huge drink! W

@iowlee

Poor for knowing you I agree😏😜

I'd look to make a set anyway. I took the mesh out of my v8 bonnet (s2000 car) and replaced it with some Chinky Audi copy plastic grill stuff off Ebay. For about £10 there was enough for my car and to give @CosKev some for his ( coz he's poor). As for the rear vents, they can't be too hard to make from some b and q mesh stuff? @CosKev

Thanks Adam I don't know if that's an endorsement of my driving or evidence of your madness! 🤣🤪 You imply the 'scruottery' odds would be much of a risk!

Welcome to double drive with me if you can get the b*****r through scrote-ineering! 😄

I'm definitely going to that in a diesel Focus...

Top right of the post, there are 3 little dots. Click them and choose "Hide". Can't delete anything these days, just in case they're needed as evidence in future...

Cos you've got the virus

Fully understand the approach they are taking, we flew into Bangkok (via Doha) mid Feb just as the pandemic was gaining pace and restrictions were starting to be put in place. In Doha there were regular temperature check areas as we moved around the airport with anyone showing the slightest raised temperature being pulled to one side, then again both flying into and out of Bangkok and Phuket it was the same. When we arrived back in Britain in early March absolutely nothing, no information, not temperature checks it was as though nothings was developing. Generally, we felt safer in the Far East, they just seemed to be geared up for it and accept what was starting to happen. As we left some of the hotels we were given masks to use on out travels.

Can you imagine the p******** and moaning if that was implemented here? There is no way 'we' would accept that, despite the fact it is an entirely sensible thing to be doing. We are simply too damned stroppy in this country to let that happen - everyone is way too obsessed with themselves to consider the good of the group. Remember the crowded beaches in the summer? Everyone complaining how busy it was and that they had only come down for some fresh air and what were all these people doing here......then the tons of garbage left behind.

That sounds like a great idea if you don't mind ... it will also be good to see the Purple Monster.

As a lot of us are facing lockdown 2 and some people might be struggling with it, I thought as one of the quietest members of the community that I should write in this post because it feels relevant to me. I often want to reply to threads and be more active but often just lack to confidence to type anything and I feel I want to explain by sharing with you all. Where would I begin to even start, I'm sorry for droning on but maybe me, sitting here typing this may one day help. I hope someone will actually be interested enough to read this and that this part of my life that I'm going to share will help someone else who feels like I do. I got diagnosed with bipolar disorder quite a long time ago 15 years ish now, I actually was assigned an amazing psychiatrist that quickly found me some medication that kept me balanced out and thought that was it. I guess for me all the trouble started when I met someone who changed my world totally. We'd met through work, she'd just come out of another relationship and what both of us didn't know when we did meet was that she'd just fallen pregnant with her ex's child. So I stayed with her I adored her and nothing would take me away from her, I helped her to make her pregnancy as comfortable as possible, helped her raise the little boy and treated him like my own. Things were really difficult but we found a way or I thought we were, my work meant I was in London most days and living in Essex on weekdays and our place was near the Welsh border, 3.5 hours in the car each way. A bit further down the line my mum collapsed one evening, she was rushed to hospital and had suffered a massive hemorrhage type stroke, the doctors put her chance of survival at 10% and scarily her chance of surviving without major disabilities at 3%. A month into this my Girlfriend decided she'd be better off without me and ended our relationship, but she wouldn't fully let me go. Between her and all what was going on with my mum I became exhausted, my average day with work included became a 20 hour day after I'd gone to see mum and I certainly couldn't give my girlfriend the time I needed to. So I moved back in permanently to my parents and nearly exactly 2 years to the day my mum got sick, she came back home!. She made fantastic progress and became one of the 3% of cases that made a good recovery. She still needs a mobility scooter to go any real distances but truly a miracle how well she's done. So after a rough few years I decided to start chasing my dreams in life, I felt I'd given up a lot in life to help my mum so it was time to enjoy life, I ordered the westie to fulfil a childhood dream! One of the dreams of mine was ever since it launched was to go on a specific cruise ship. Independence of the Seas, It was home porting in the UK so I took the bull by the horns and booked my entire family aboard for 2 weeks to explore the med. It was a really special time however all I could think about was having my ex and the little man with me. I was there, lucky enough to live my dream, yet I hated every minute of it because it all felt empty. We then went to Russia on another cruise this time following one of my mums dreams, and once again the huge hole of the pair of them dominated everything. Once again I felt totally empty and alone in a void. As time has gone on, the emptiness stays it never goes, the more empty things feel the less I feel able to talk about things. I can be pretty good at hiding my emotions to most people. I got back in touch with the ex because my boss told me she was in a spot of trouble, she sends me pictures of the not so little man now, I even got to see a video of his school assembly, and I'm so incredibly proud of him but that's overwhelmed by the huge amount of guilt I feel for not being there for him over the years. I wanted to be but she wouldn't let me be there and its difficult because no matter how much I wish I am I'm not his dad. It's broken me to just know he'll never really know me or who I am. Life to me has seemed to evolve into a struggle everyday between two massive forces of wanting the emptiness to stop and ending it and the will to keep on going. So I just try to keep things in balance, even right now the westie just seems like a mistake, it failed its IVA because of emissions and brake balance, just feels like the end of the world. Hopefully I've fixed it to get it through its retest but I don't feel confident in myself at all. Just emptiness and a lack of anything inside. Anyways if anyone has read this thank you for taking the time, I wish I could write more on here and feel more part of the community, most days I don't feel I belong anywhere really and I hope you all understand a bit why I'm so quiet. So if I can ever be a friendly non judgmental ear to anyone then my door will never be closed and I hope everyone is looking after themselves through the new lockdowns as they can be somewhat tough!