Looking back at the 45 years or so of my life spent living within 35 miles of London, I probably went there for touristic reasons approximately three times. OK, I spent about 5 years commuting to and fro and my dear old Dad used to take me regularly to the Tottenham Court Road to buy his collection of crappy ex-military valve radios that I could not even give away 20 years later - this early symptom became a full blown handed down Nikos family syndrome of filling up garages with junk. I remember passing by
Pride and Clark in Stockwell (from where I bought my second motorcycle in 1976, a Yamaha RD200, RD standing for "Run Down").
Preamble over, get to the point Nikos.
Now (I do mean now) I live near Manchester and have decided to visit the place at least three times as a tourist - this is last Saturday's effort supported ably by Mrs Nikos.
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| This is the eclectic Beetham Tower, home of the Manchester Hilton - in the foreground the former Manchester Central station - now GMex conference centre. |
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| This is China Town |
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| Hazard awareness sign post - a swinging tram |
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| MOSI - click here to find out more - A memorial telling us how Manchester used to be the seat of Engineering and scientific excellence. |
A replica of Robert Stephenson's 1830 Planet Locomotive provides joy rides.
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| A wheelchair trike with mobility power and style ------>>click here |
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| Contra rotating propellors on an Avro Shackleton maritime patrol aircraft built at Woodford near Manchester, powered by the RR Griffon "thirsty for fuel and oil, noisy and temperamental with high-maintenance needs. In 1961, these engines needed top overhauls every 400 hours and went through a spate of ejecting spark plugs from their cylinder heads"- sounds like my sort of engine then. Interestingly, the Napier Nomad was earmarked for this aeroplane - a Twelve-cylinder, two-stroke valveless diesel engine compounded with three-stage turbine driving both crankshaft and axial compressor. |
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| The top end of the RR Merlin engine, closely related to the Griffon but with more trouser than mouth designed for performance at higher altitudes - only 48 valve tappet adjustments required every month. |
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| One of two prototype English Electric Lightnings - 0-60mph in 2 seconds and 36,000 feet about 178 secs later. Designed by real men using slide rules. |
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| My BMW cylinder head - only 8 tappets to adjust every 6,000 miles. |
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| In 1954 Metropolitan-Vickers began research into nuclear fusion containment under the curious project code name ZETA - Zero Energy Thermonuclear Assembly - it never caught on. |
There was some other girly stuff to see at MOSI with textiles and steam engines on display too but we needed to partake in
"High Tea" at the Midland Hotel.
