Team Newlywed become famous

Our local paper The Banbury Guardian has printed an article on our Honeymoon adventure. We're hoping some of the people living in our local area will get behind us to support us in our fund raising efforts. We've started our Just giving pages so that those who would like to can donate to our chosen charities. We have chosen Julia's House Hospice in Dorset which is the nominated charity from The Windy 500. We have also chosen the Thames Valley Air Ambulance. Gem has a lot to thank them for and knowing that they provide their life saving services funded by charitable donations this was our own personal way of giving something back.

The Just Giving link pages below will take you to a quick and easy way of donating to our charities.


Our just giving page - Julia's House Hospice

Our just giving 2nd page - Air Ambulance



As Nik is a DJ and we have our own business- Lets Go Disco,  we are planning to run some charity fund raising events so look out for some events coming up, we will post updates on our blog.

Please click on the link to ;  Lets Go Disco

Things are picking up pace now as our wedding is only 6 weeks away. Olly has been off the road since November but is going to have a spring clean and overhaul as she is needed in top shape to take Gem to the Church on our Wedding day. Craig will have his head under the bonnet making sure she runs smoothly and Usher and Gem's brother will be putting his car body prep skills into place to make Olly look her best. 

Team 38 and Team 6 from the Windy 500 are joining us for our evening reception so Olly may not be the only Windy 500 car at our wedding. To check out Team 38 and Team 6 you can head to the Windy 500 website via the link below.

The Windy 500

There are still places left for teams to take part or for individuals to join teams for the 2013 Windy 500.

Any ideas on what to do with the interior???????

I'm starting to think of the interior of Olly. My little brother Barney works for Auto Glym so he 
has the exterior in hand, he will make Olly look like a gleaming Ferrari on a bright summers
day. Or he will at least try to. As we're using Olly as our wedding car he'll have to scrub up!


I was getting a little worried in November when the flooding arrived and the water around us 
was rising fast. While packing sand bags and lifting precious items to high ground my 
thoughts switched to Olly. Sod the precious photos, wedding invites, computers etc I 
launched into protecting Olly mode. I was sure Olly wouldn't be good at swimming and didn't 
wan't our old buddy floating down the road so took him to higher ground. Our friends returned 
home from work wondering why an old limo was sat on their drive way prompting "how long 
will it be here?" My thoughts, until it's safe for him to return home!


The floods played havoc across the country and we had our own share, our neighbour a few 
doors down ended up on the local news after her kitchen flooded. Real community spirit 
kicked in and although it was frightening a little bit of the Blitz spirit pulled us through and 
that felt good! 

This is behind my house and is where I usually walk our dog. There is a bench and waist high railings in the middle but they are nowhere to be seen. It looks like a lake!


As we've already found out , Olly is not as water tight as we may may have expected. So the 
rain and snow have not been kind to him. An internal overhaul is now essential. It's not just a 
cocktail bar that's essential for our road trip but some dry and not smelly or mouldy seats that 
have become more important. 

So any ideas to give Olly an internal make-over would be welcome. Maybe, pimp my ride or DIY SOS..............................................

11 Saturdays to go and so much more to do

Sorry it's been so long but there has been other things on my mind..........................................
I hoped I wouldn't and laughed at the stories I had read but it's true Bridezilla does finally shout a big
hello. The lists just seem to get longer even though I am ticking things off.
It's all very real now and the invites are starting to go out. Although, I must remember to put stamps
on, there is money saving and just plain cheeky!

Olly has been sitting patiently on the drive over the winter but will need to be woken from hibernation
soon. However, slight problem. He has leaky sills we have found and the inside looks a little like a
damp and mouldy shed with a leaky roof.

I wonder how others vehicles have faired through the winter?

11 saturdays till wedding and so much still to do....

Success

So the big question was will Olly be ready? Craig has gone all out, searched high and low for a new pipe and ended up having to get one made. 3 1 litre bottles of Transmission fluid later and we're good to go.

There she is Olly's new Transmission fluid pipe. Great job Craig and thank you Becki (his girlfriend for patiently waiting while he gets it sorted. We'll pack the camping gear in the car over the weekend and then it's off to The New Forrest to meet the other mad Windy 500 entrants and compare our modes of transport. See you there Windy goers.

The panic is on to get Olly ready for the 18th of August but will she make it?

Craig has realised we have a transmission leak and has taken off the transmission oil cooling pipe and then went off to get a new one. We thought we had a lead with just what we needed. 3 different places later and no pipe found. The question now is can Craig beat the clock and locate the pipe and fit it before he goes on holiday

?

Craig tried to drain the transmission fluid out, good use of a milk bottle mate.

I hope this makes Steve feel happier, it's not really a breakdown more of a bit of maintenance to avoid the breakdown. Lets keep our fingers crossed. Olly needs to get down to the New Forrest in 2 weekends time to join her new fiends so we hope that Craig can work his magic. Craig is off for a week from monday so we only have a week to get it sorted so Nik and I can drive Olly to The New Forrest where Craig and Becki will meet us. We even treated Craig to a new pop up Gazebo to keep away the British weather and it fits perfectly in Olly's boot for our big adventure.

For the Olympics we thought we should show a bit of support and even Olly has got in the spirit

Summer fun

Well it's supposed to have been summer time so we have been have a clear out and made room for Olly on the driveway. The old caravan had to go and a new shed was needed to store all the things we need to get Olly ready with and the camping gear needed an airing ready for our get together in the New Forrest. We decided a BBQ was well and truly overdue so on went the coals to keep us all going while the work went on. We had some help from great friends and others were more of a hindrance ............

Craig decided that the car needed some work while the sun was out and he battled for 2 and a half hours to get the water pump off the car to change that and the cam belt. He had it back on and sorted in minutes. Some bruit strength was needed and a few trips to Halfords!




 I think we should get a Halfords points card if there is such a thing as I think we'll be backwards and forwards from time to time before next June.

Nik has been busy working with wedding Disco's to save money towards our wedding and the Windy 500 honeymoon adventure. Check out Lets Go Disco to see what we can do.

We have had some fun too although it can feel like it's all work from time to time. We keep telling each other it will be worth it. We have had some nights off too and a few too many sherbets were had. A karaoke birthday bash for me was a good chance to let our hair down. Some friends and family came along to celebrate with us and there are some good pictures of the night on Facebook too.

Myself, Mel, Fran and Lyndsay get on the mikes but I don't think The Saturdays have anything to worry about just yet.







Nik and Craig keep tempting me with things they plan to do to Olly and these include a cocktail bar, fridge and pull out bed! Nik has this marked on his phone at the moment but there may be a slight problem as there will be no place to put the camping gear but at least the camp site will hear us arriving!

Be in touch soon guys and girls.