Classic car mechanic – Christmas Turkey

‘In the corner of the workshop, Olli Ragbin sits watching events unfold before him’

Christmas is nearly upon us and last Friday Eric rounded up the CCM chickens for the annual Christmas meal. 18 folk descended on the Royal Exchange and many of us were surprised to find all the parking spaces gone on account of a retro-cool camper van berthed in the carpark.

‘I’ve had full written permission from the landlord’ was Dr Ray’s only response.

Mrs Olli and I found ourselves at the young end of the table. I suspect Ingrid placed us there on account of our youthful looks and ability to connect with the young generation. Either that or she was worried that the grown-up conversations happening elsewhere at the table may make their way into the blog if I was allowed to roam wider.

It was all very organised with place names and a little gift bag for everyone. Before I had even opened mine up I was informed I was not allowed to use my gift….ever. It was a multi-tool. The stories of my feckless servicing attempts on Eric and I’s old GSXR750 still refuse to die.

I did however learn a few interesting facts from the young end of the table.

Fact 1. Alfie has a place at Brooklands for his engineering course and there are 13 other young talented folk with him…13 out of over 1,000 applicants…! That means that our new recruit is in the top 1 percentile. Impressive.

Fact 2. Whilst Will (I aint) can most often be seen with a hat placed on his head, he is in fact hiding a very special haircut

(Outside of work Will likes to let his hair down and relax. And yes, he is a natural blonde)

Apparently with the youthful ones these days, there are different phases at the start of a relationship. I’ve got myself in to big trouble in this space with my 18-year-old when I incorrectly used the term ‘girlfriend’ and was thrown a look that would curdle milk.

So this is my (shaky) understanding to things. Firstly, there is ‘just talking’. I think this covers the constant use of snap chattery and whatsappery to send each other messages. (Doesn’t sound like talking, but let’s not get hung up on details).

Following this comes ‘Hanging out’. I think this implies that meeting up is ok and it’s ok to be seen together. I think (though I'm still very sketchy at this point) that this isn’t quite in the realms of girlfriend/boyfriend and implies you could hang out with more than one of two people, but I'm not certain.

Finally comes a stage of ‘exclusivity’. Again I think this is hanging out, but now only with one.

I could see Eric was distinctly befuddled by the whole thing as he muttered something along the lines of ‘first courting and then you get married…what’s wrong with that’…..

Mrs Olli and I were sat with Will (I aint) & Abbey and Alfie & Fina. (I’m avoiding all ‘boyfriend/girlfriend’ tags as it will probably raise an eyebrow with the youth and earn me a swift kick in the shins from Mrs O…)

Charming company one and all…when did youngsters get so polite? I’ve taken notes to replay to my own teenager.

This leads us nicely to fact 3. Abbey works for Coutts bank who as you may well know are the bankers to the Royal Family. Apparently, the Queen has Abbey’s mobile and occasionally rings up to check her balance.

Final fact is that Fina is a performer. I could see Eric nervously shift in his seat when he realised he was in with the professionals. This would explain why he was swift to get his phone out and start running through all his ‘finest theatrical moments’. I think he thought Fina might have connections to see him break out from his current ‘Jack and the beanstalk’ stage and onto West Side Story. Fina smiled nicely but I think underneath she thought Eric may need further practice on the dancing element of his work.

(To the front Eric, to the front!)

Busy-ness preparing for the CCM night out has meant that photos of actual work from the workshop are light on the ground this week.

My striving toward ‘most loyal customer’ continues as we’ve had two of my own (money draining) toys in the workshop.

(money drainer #1, The ‘Priller.)

Will (I aint) has been getting himself up to speed with the world of Italian motorcycles and has changed a coolant hose on the Aprilia (massively fiddly job that one).

(money drainer #2, Patrick the Porker)

Dr Ray has re-fitted the gearbox to the 911 and is in the process of sorting out a minor aircon leak before full road test and handover. Thanks gents. Can’t wait to get both back!

Before Mrs O and I left for the evening we had a quick tour of Harry, Dr Ray’s beloved camper. What a thing! I absolutely love the styling. Velour and a carpeted dash. If the scooby-do gang ever updated their minibus, I guarantee it would look exactly like this.

Bit light on the wider tech news this week so next week I’ll make sure you’ve got a full and proper debrief from the Shrimp eye Justin/Young Chris side of the workshop.

Finally, a huge thanks to Eric and Ingrid for a lovely evening. It’s been a great first year of business and it was a mighty generous gesture to take the extended CCM family out for Christmas. You’re both very kind.

And so from Eric, Siobhan, Tasha, Dr Ray, Shrimp-eye Justin, Young Chris, Izzi, Ingrid, Alfie and Will (I aint) have a great week.

Ho ho ho

Olli

ps. What connects the invention of the Donkey Jacket, Omar Sharif and CCM? This story will have to wait for another day, but it’s an absolute doozy!