December 2020.

With racing all over , and not much else going on, due to the COVID 19 restrictions , December was another month of  staying at home. At least  for most of the time.

I  did get out and about on a few occasions and on the 4th of December,  my buddy Don Simpson and I visited the Race Shop of Justin Desrosiers.

Justin made us vey welcome at his place , just out side Cornwall.

Also during the first week of December , I joined my friends Ron Morin and his wife Reina for the ‘Drive Thru’ Christmas lights in Cornwall’s Grays Creek.

 

As far as I know, this is the first time this has been done in the City and think it’s a  great idea

I also did a few road trips to kill the boredom, picking up additions to my diecast collection. Here’s two rare Dinky Toys , which I acquired . They were both made by the Meccano company in Liverpool,  UK over 60 years ago.

An Austin A105 and a Riley.

As mentioned in my last report , I started building, a model of my first racing hero’s  stock car .

I used the body of a SIMCA 500 from a Tamiya Kit to re-create the # 5 Doug Wardropper 1963 World Final winning BriSCA F1 Stock Car.  

I completed the job during the first week of December, and was quite pleased with the result.

It went well with a Dinky Leyland Comet I have in my collection.

My diecast collecting began when I was about five years old. and I’ve never lost that interest. When I moved from England to Canada in 1994, my collection was shipped over in packing cases by Pickfords.

Here I am in 1961  , seven years old , in Witney , Oxfordshire,  proudly showing off my cars. The second picture is  a few years later in Dunstable, Bedfordshire.

I never thought I’d still be doing it in my retirement.

Will I ever grow up ?

With the COVID 19 quarantine restrictions in place, it meant no trip to Austin , Texas for me , this Christmas  to visit my daughter Carla, Alex and my two Grandchildren , Benji, and Sophia.

I really missed them.

I had Christmas dinner by myself at home in Cornwall,  Shrimp Cocktail for starters, then Roast Beef, Roast Parsnips and Potatoes, Sprouts , Caramelized Carrots, and Yorkshire Pudding.  Cherry Cheesecake for desert.

We did however, have a big family link up via ZOOM at 11-00 am Eastern Time . It involved family in England , USA and Switzerland.

The best piece of news  on Christmas Day , was that my Mother had been given her COVID 19 Vaccination that morning at her home in Milton Under Wychwood, Oxfordshire.

The Ontario government announced, a few days before Christmas , that due to the increase in COVID 19 cases the whole of the Province would be going into Lock Down once again, from Boxing Day onwards. Southern Ontario ( which includes Cornwall)  for 28 days and Northern Ontario for 14 Days.

This means no more indoor dining, and my Tim Hortons will have to be ‘to go’