Dear all
I was just reading my Emails on several FOTer gear box 'blows' at a recent
race meeting in the States when there was a knock at the door. It was
Malcolm the local electrical wizzard, who had come to fix our cooker ( one
of the rings had gone). He said,"What are you up to". I said 'I'm reading
some e-mail about some gear box 'blows' on some Triumph racing cars in the
States'. "Don't talk to me about BLOWS", he said. "I've just come back from
my holiday, we were staying near New Orleans, in the States, when the
hurricane hit, I knew it was going to be a bad trip when I realised our
room was on the '13th' floor of the hotel and the room number was '1313'.
We were stuck in the room for three days because of flying debris in the
streets". Tongue in check, I said 'was it a bit windy then'. He said,
"Windy!!?,- was it windy!!? If you didnt keep your hands in your pockets,
It would have had your trousers off." 'Like one of our Fen winds in winter
then', I retorted. "Like one of our fen winds in winter -you must be bloody
joking" he said, "The wind was timed at 171 MPH at one stage". Not prone to
exageration in any shape or form, I now realised that Malcolm was serious.
I taxed him further about the recent huricane in the States, and I began to
realise the awsome power of mother nature when he said. "What frightened me
most was that on one occasion I actually saw the Mississippi river actually
flowing BACKWARDS whilst visibly rising every minute".
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