Hang-in there.

Right click link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOK7ijzywgs

Catisfaction.

Fiat 130 Coupe before and after a light-shower.

Gotta love 'em though!

Old Mini Ad.

The damp and glistening streets of London.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDT1sx1yePM

Rain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15kWlTrpt5k

Polly being adorable.

The best cat in the world!

Aston Martin V8 and Bristol 411 (?).

These two beautiful British classics were parked feet away from each other on a London street a couple of Saturdays ago; my heart raced and my camera phone clicked!

Cheesus!

Kelly Ramey of High Ridge, Missouri, was just crunching along when she spotted "Cheesus," the crucifixion-reminiscent single Cheeto she's now storing in a special box. "I looked at that and thought, oh, my, that looks like Jesus...it was just like wow!"

Dear Fork.

Morris Mini Pickup 10 MWL

10 MWL was a grey Mini Pickup that sat decaying in our garage during the 1970s - see really old, really bad pic of Bowlzee and 10 MWL from 197???





On long lonely afternoons I played in 10 MWL steering it dramatically along imaginary roads to imaginary destinations, I would often pretend that me and 10 MWL were in the film The Italian Job driving on pavements in Milan. I had no idea then that the little Mini Pick-up languishing in our garage had itself once been famous in its own right. One afternoon, with nothing better to do, my uncle Gordon and I pushed the little Mini out into the baking heat of the summer of 1976 with the intention of restoring it together and then, when I was old enough and could reach the pedals, I would learn to drive ( properly drive) in it. A few months later on a crisp autumn morning we pushed it back in the garage again, untouched; it stayed there for the next ten years. The car was actually my aunt Joyce's, it had been her first car, although to me it was now mine because I was the only one who took any interest in it and it had sort of been promised to me for when I was older. We had a three car garage and 10 MWL sat in the middle dwarfed by whatever vehicle happened to be on its left or right. My uncle, annoyingly, used the back of the Mini for storage, I would always carefully remove whatever I discovered in the back of it and relocate it somewhere else in the garage.

I was aware that my aunt had written two books, "Most Women Do It" and "What Every Woman Ought To Know About Men And Motoring" but was not terribly interested in them as a child and, looking at them now, the kindest thing I can say about them is that they were of their time. However, looking at the back cover of "Most Women Dot It" one day I noticed that the picture of my aunt also featured 10 MWL; it had been famous! I later discovered that it had also featured in magazine articles that my aunt had written after her books had been published. This, in a rather shallow way, made me love 10 MWL even more. I started to clean it regularly, be even more vigilant in clearing my uncle's junk out of the back of it and spending more and more time sitting in it thinking of all the adventures we'd have together when my feet eventually reached the pedals and I was able to drive the little truck.

Then one day something happened, I started to have real places to go and friends to go with, suddenly I didn't have time for 10 MWL anymore, in fact, it seemed really childish to sit in it and pretend to drive it; I was growing up. I stopped playing in the little Mini pick-up and pretty much forgot about it then in 1983, when I was 18, I moved away from home to London and didn't think about it at all. My aunt and uncle retired to Italy in 1986 and 10 MWL was sold. I never thought about it again until a few years ago when I found an ad' for it, it had been restored and was coming up for sale in auction. I was amazed at the facts that I discovered about "my" little Mini Pick-up, 10 MWL, in the accompanying auction notes. I have included them below.

"Here is an interesting classic car for sale: a 1961 Morris Mini Pickup. This car will be auctioned on 18th, April 2007, at the Pavillon Gardens, Buxton, during the H&H classic auctions.First registered on September 1st 1961 to Morris Motors Ltd, '10 MWL' achieved considerable fame later that month when it was driven from Oxford to Moscow on a single tank of fuel by The Mayor of Oxford Ald. Lionel Harrison and local solicitor E.A. Ferguson. Although, the six-day trip had been orchestrated with help from BMC's chief experimental engineer J.E. Whitehead, the pick-up was to standard specification save for a RAC sealed 50-gallon petrol tank, radio and spare wheel. Arriving in Red Square with thirty minutes and 6-gallons to spare (having averaged 43.18mpg) on September 29th, '10 MWL' was given a hero's welcome. Repatriated by BMC employee Paddy Howells and E.A. Ferguson, the Mini lost its oversize tank and mayoral regalia before being sold to the acclaimed journalist / competitor, Gordon Wilkins, on October 30th 1962."

A kind gentleman having read my previous post about 10 MWL then contacted me and informed me that 10 MWL was now in Japan! See below the last picture I saw of her, if anyone knows where she is now I would be interested. This amazing little Mini Pick-Up that was once owned by my family, now over 50 years old, is currently somewhere in Japan or has it driven off to a different country, moved on to another continent; I’d love to know!

A Frosty English Garden.

The set of The Pride at The Theatre Royal Brighton.

A huge mirror that filled the stage and, interestingly, reflected the audience in the interval.

Bowlzee was in Brighton last weekend.

And it was bright too.

Stark and brittle winter.

OK January, I am fed-up with you now; be GONE!

These illuminated tires were developed by Goodyear in 1961 - I just love this pic!

The avenues and alleyways of Soho.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj4UFqKG5YI

Oh no! It's Monday tomorrow.

Valentines Park, Ilford - then and now.

Hidden Hobbit of Wardour Street, Soho. Revealed!

I love it when this happens, work at 72 Wardour Street, Soho, London has revealed an old (an odd) sign for a long-gone newsagent; The Hobbit. The sign itself is not odd but the name is, I am sure there is a story behind this name, but, I don't know what it is.

Still, I shall enjoy passing the sign until it is covered up again for another decade or so, or worse, destroyed.    

Breakfast's up - yummy!

Every so often I have to go to the main post office near to where I live to collect a parcel, on my way there I have to pass a Mac Donald's and I usually think; I know, I'll treat myself to a Big Breakfast!

Shortly after this thought enters my head I am sat with the above in front of me and just under a minute later I am thinking; why did I eat that? Well, that's what happened last Thursday, and here's the picture to prove it. I am going to keep this picture on my phone to remind of this culinary error the next time I feel tempted by a Big Breakfast.

Pat Phoenix A.K.A.Elsie Tanner from Coronation Street at Star Bingo in 1968

Love this period pic!

Mandaids Bandaids For Men.

Funny.

B.M.W. 2000

Behind the scenes of The Great Sport Relief Bake Off 2014.

Back in September 2013 Bowlzee was lucky enough to take a peak behind the scenes of The Great Sport Relief Bake Off while it was being filmed in Essex. The results are to be shown over the next week on B.B.C. 2 at 8.30. See trailer below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2wuNpBUlvQ

Jaguar C - Type

Lancia Fulvia crashed in a ditch - I want to weep!

New Romantics in London in 1981..

I like this photograph, although it makes me feel old - it's my era. Steve Strange and a  friend walk through Covent Garden, London in 1981.

A year out the window by Christopher Bowles

I took this group of pictures over one year and, hopefully, have captured the changes in seasons and weather conditions - I am very lucky that I work in a very beautiful place and am able to observe these changes throughout the year.