www.jec.org.uk

well,

my wife and i booked into the Henry VIII suite for the whole weekend, a total indulgence with regard to the room and the excellent food throughout the stay , and a chance for us to escape our 22 year old disabled son for the weekend , dont worry , he had a wonderful time at his ' nans ' getting his hearts desires all weekend to ( he is around ten years old in his head and always will be with regard to his abilities ) this is our only time away without him for the last six years........... and we left our 20 year old son in charge of the house...................

onto the JEC southern ' weekend ' .

i was happy with how my car coped with the journey, and left her in the ' private' parking space for the old house historic rooms , where several other great Jags were also parked ,
This was the first time my car had ever been outside overnight in over eight years, and definatley not since being restored , so i was a little nervous to say the least, but well lit secure place that didnt really have any access for anyone wanting to damage cars ,

There was a ' meet and greet ' at 1800 hours in the entertainment room with bucks fizz laid on and for people to get their passes and other JEC information for the weekend, this is where i accosted our chairman Rob and introduced myself . He didnt have much choice to be honest, lol


A very enjoyable and relaxing day and a half lead up to the show day , we even sat down to eat in the old house Olivers restaurant with our Chairman Rob and his charming wife on the Friday evening, and had a great time, then off to the late lounge for drinks later on ,

the saturday before the event i went down to detail the car while my wife went for a relaxing swim , though i dont think 40 lengths of the pool is relaxing, but what do i know , lol
My XJS was parked under a tree , and i was amazed at how much tree sap and other debris and detritus had gathered on her, so she got a wash down and buff with a micro-fibre cloth , and i cleaned the wheels, we had been asked to try and get our cars on the field the day before to avoid chaos on the show day , so while driving round i took the opportunity for a pic or two in front of the old house , what do you think ?


BTW , our room was the two windows above my car on the first floor ,

I then took her down to the allotted area for the forum , and left her there , ready for final positioning on the show day its self.
the next morning i got up at 0730 and went down to the car, well, i shouldn't have wasted my time the day before, lol the car was totally soaked in morning dew and the inevitable stuck on flies and bird poop , so once again i set to with cleaning her down , but it didnt take too long, and i positioned the car where i was instructed , and again , and again , lol
then went off for breakfast , and changed into some shorts, as the weather was to be fantastic ,

The show its self is sort of a normal affair as described in other threads, and i had an enjoyable time , as expected my main interest is in other XJS's , especially a very nice Lynx Coupe at the bottom of the field that was very well presented, and i had a good chat with the owner, his wife wanted to take me home so i could work on the car,

It was at this time i wandered back to the car, and i was informed that Nigel Thorley was ' looking for me ' ,, so i went in the opposite direction and bumped into a good friend of mine who had brought his Aston Martin along, It was while i was talking to Justin that Nigel appeared over his shoulder with the immortal word ( over the microphone ) , " here is the owner now, i wonder if he will talk to us ?" , cornered as i was i had to capitulate, and somehow managed to string some coherent words together whilst cowering inside , lol , thankfully he was very gentle with me , and it was all over in less than a minute, but felt like hours..........

During this time my wife went for a Spa treatment and massage , the day was finished off in good company in the bar and a very nice evening meal , Sunday evening was relaxed and slowly got ready to leave in the morning, I covered up the car that night , which made all the difference the next day , and she started on the button,

I got 20.4 mpg on the way home ,

all in all a great weekend , with good company and some fantastic cars to look at, i feel my car was well received and admired on the most part , lets face it , its not everyones cup of tea, but she is mine, and i like her

BB

glad you enjoyed the weekend BB, shame about your dinner company on Friday night, dammed X Type owners!!

Excellent! Glad that you had a good time and thanks for going on display

Glad all went well for you and your wonderful car BB, it looks just right in front of that magnificent house. We went to the previous Littlecote and I wondered if the old lady who did the ghost tours was still there telling gruesome tales of a newborn baby being put on the fire and a bedroom which unlocked itself. I asked her if the ghost still lived there and she said she had spoken to her/it on the stairs that morning. She was employed by the de Savery family when they lived at Littlecote and the Warner people kept her on.

I told the story to my son later only to find out that he had slept in the fateful room at some corporate 'do' and enjoyed an uninterrupted night.

thanks for the comments guys ,

as for ' X-Type owners ' , dont forget i am one to , lol


and she ( X-Type 54 plate 2.1 manual ) threw a wobbly when we got home with a failed starter motor , but to be honest, it was one of the simplest starter motor changes i have ever done, took less than an hour, and that was working at a sedate pace to , lol

BB

BB - Naughty starter motor?. The Littlecote ghost must have followed you home.