Yeah, I think I know the difference between a proper cab and a "MiniCab".

Aren't minicabs all dented, smoking heaps with 500,000 miles on them that smell like a kebab shop with a faint whiff of vomit thrown in.

Actually, that sounds just like most Taxis in Aus!

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Brett Nicholson
Greendale (near Ballan) VIC.
1971 Morris Mini Moke
1966 Austin Mini
1965 Morris Mini Traveller
1973 LR Series 3 88
2007 LR Freelander 2

We went to Slovakia last year, stopped over for a night on a trip from Prague to Rome.

Bratislava is lovely but our hotel was like stepping back in time and like the last 20 years and the collapse of the iron curtain never happened.

They checked us in and proudly told us that everything in the minibar was free. GREAT we thought!
Got up to the room and the porter shuffled off and brought in a coke and a beer and opened the minibar to add them to the 1 bottle of coke and 1 bottle of beer already there

Then he said he'd get us some towels, went away and came back up with a big bath towel and a small hair/hand towel.
We asked if we could have two sets of towels as there was two of us, he looked at us in disbelief for a minute and said " but you have two towels", gesturing to the large & small one he'd brought us!! It took a good few minutes of convincing that we were serious and wanted a set of towels EACH!

Haha, funny!

My hotel is very different (Crown Plaza). Top notch. But it should be for what it is costing the company I work for.

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Brett Nicholson
Greendale (near Ballan) VIC.
1971 Morris Mini Moke
1966 Austin Mini
1965 Morris Mini Traveller
1973 LR Series 3 88
2007 LR Freelander 2

Haha, funny!

My hotel is very different (Crown Plaza). Top notch. But it should be for what it is costing the company I work for.

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Brett Nicholson
Greendale (near Ballan) VIC.
1971 Morris Mini Moke
1966 Austin Mini
1965 Morris Mini Traveller
1973 LR Series 3 88
2007 LR Freelander 2

I'm now in London!

Bus tour organised for tomorrow.

Caught the Heathrow Connect train to Paddington and walked the few blocks to my hotel. It's a but of a dive of a hotel, but it's coming out of my pocket, not my employer's, so sacrifices must be made.

I was hoping to pick up some stuff cheap on eBay, particularly a set of disc uprights so I can finally have a complete set of S discs for the Traveller. But no luck.

I passed a wreckers on the train, but it was all boring late model stuff, no Minis.

I went for a walk around Paddington this afternoon. I saw plenty of BINIs but no Minis! Where have they all gone?

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Brett Nicholson
Greendale (near Ballan) VIC.
1971 Morris Mini Moke
1966 Austin Mini
1965 Morris Mini Traveller
1973 LR Series 3 88
2007 LR Freelander 2

Hey Brett...get yourself a Teddy Bear in Paddington

I found the same thing when I wandered around London in June...very hard to spot a classic Mini. Enjoy the trip.

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"Show me the Mini!"

Het Brett, it's winter there, so they are all locked up away from the salt.

When I was there in August last year I averaged one or two a day spotted on the road, and a Bini every fine minutes or so (I went about 20 mins one day withouit seeing any and thought there was something wrong).

Have fun tomorrow (Monday).

Cheers,
Watto.

I'm now back in Aus.

I made the trip to Mini Spares at Potters Bar. Problems with the underground loop line in peak hour made me feel just like I was back in Melbourne!! But I managed to navigate my way around the problem via another train line. London's public transport is surprisingly easy to navigate.

I did some research before I left and found the No.298 Bus from Potters Bar station runs every 20mins each way and stops right outside Minispares front door. Cost is GBP2 each way. Alternatively you can organise a "station car" (licensed cabbie in a modern boring eurobox) for GBP4-4.50 each way.

It was well worth the trip to Minispares, they were very helpful. I bought some goodies for the Traveller of course, focusing on parts that are difficult to get in Aus. I bought a front bumper lip panel, a rear door step and the rear finishing strip between the rear bumpers. They packed them nicely for me and I checked them in as oversize baggage. Qantas managed to deliver them to Melbourne intact.

I resisted the temptation to buy a woody kit as this would have really melted my credit card! I'll just have to find another reason to go back again when the Traveller's bodyshell is closer to completion. At the current rate of progress, that's probably 2015!
I met a guy at Minispares named Jeff who was from Malaysia and was buying parts to take home too. It turned out he was actually flying to Singapore on the same flight as me! We shared a cab back to Potters Bar station and talked about Minis all the way back to London. I didn't see him at the airport though, probably not surprising considering how many people fit on a 747.

The classic Mini count was considerably better on Monday. I saw a British Open, a 90's Cooper, a Sportspack and a couple of tatty 80's Mini 1000. That's not including the Mini City and Sportspack outside Minispares.

Cheers,

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Brett Nicholson
Greendale (near Ballan) VIC.
1971 Morris Mini Moke
1966 Austin Mini
1965 Morris Mini Traveller
1973 LR Series 3 88
2007 LR Freelander 2