Morgan

This is what you call a proper car. None of that modern rubbish but real design and quality. That is Morgan. At least I think so. This fine example belongs to Hotel On The Park in Cheltenham, and advertises the in-house restaurant Parkers. The hotel overlooks Pitville Park and the vintage car suits the hotel perfectly. Classy.

Hitting The Heights At 600

Today is my 600th post! I can't believe it, 600 ramblings about Cheltenham and nearly 700 photos. The time has flown by. Thanks to all the regular visitors and people that leave positive comments, it means a great deal to me knowing that people out there like my little blog and my photography.

This sign caught my eye as I was leaving the Regent Arcade car park the other day. Surely if you are driving a beast-of-a-car you've got an idea of the height of it and whether or not it can make it under a height barrier! Or are the people that drive them so rich they don't mind a seriously scratched roof as long as they get a parking place?!

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Trusting

If I was an unscrupulous character I could now be posting from a new laptop, but I'm honest as the day is long so I'm not! I know that Cheltenham is seen as a safe place to live with little crime but crime is everywhere and this was the perfect opportunity for an opportunist thief. The owner of the car, laptop and box was a couple of car lengths up the Prom paying for his parking ticket but he obviously wasn't worried that someone might make off with his stuff! I should have taken it to teach him a lesson!

How long could you leave a laptop on the street where you live before it grew legs and walked?
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Taxi!

New York meets London in Cheltenham.

At last I've captured the elusive yellow taxi! This innocent looking vehicle has been taunting me for months. Its been driving me to distraction. I've seen it travelling around town, I've seen it going up and down my road, I wanted it for the yellow theme day, but I never managed a photo. Until now. Here it is parked in the taxi rank on The Prom in the middle of town. My quest is over. My next challenge? To join Babooshka and Gail's Man in the hunt for the white dog poo!

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Amusing Mechanic

This is just one of those posts that I had to share, not the best photos but they say it all. The above shot shows one of the children's rides in the Regent Arcade and the photo below tells the story. I can just imagine the mechanic sucking his breath in through his teeth and saying "its gonna cost you"!

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Little Britain

Well, its 'Little England' really but it doesn't sound as good! I spotted this customised Smart Car at a local Garden Centre and it looked very patriotic. At a first look you would think the owner supported the England football team but that's not the case. He doesn't even like football! The chap that owns it wanted something a bit different, something that would stand out from the crowd, and he certainly got it. He said that he once stayed overnight in Wales and found the car vandalised the next morning!

These photos were taken on my camera phone.
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One Day...

The rich and famous are in town this week as the Cheltenham Literature Festival takes place (more on that tomorrow) and someone was taking the opportunity to show off their new toy. This is what you call a proper car, and it's nearly as good as my Ford Fiesta! The little boy looking through the window just says it all. It would have been a better photo if there had been a Traffic Warden slapping a parking ticket on the windscreen, as this Rolls Royce is parked on double yellow lines!

And now the moment you've all been waiting for...the winner of yesterdays guessing game! The best idea for what TEG stands for came from Ken Mac with tensile epigrammatic gobsmacked! Ken, that word of the day toilet paper is paying great dividends!

Hit The Road

And that's just what I did. Well...actually...I stood on a bridge over the M5 motorway, but you get the idea! I thought I'd try out my new tripod, and I'm really pleased with the results. I know its not a perfect photo, it would be better with more car lights, but it's not bad for a first attempt. Some of you may remember my photo of the Town Hall, when I had to rest my camera on a skip, well this is much more civilised!

Who feels like making their voice heard? Remember my incident with a security guard in a shopping centre? Head over to South Shields DP to show Curly some support. Things are getting out of hand!

At The Car Wash

I've been waiting for ages to get a photo of this bubbly Beetle. I keep seeing it driving around town advertising a valeting service and on Monday it was parked in the Prom, so I finally got my photo. Its not the best shot, as the bubbles aren't showing up that well, but it is brilliant for highlighting a recent report in the news.

Back at the end of July The British International Motor Show carried out research into car washing and they discovered that British kids are generating a summer car wash industry worth £50 million! FIFTY MILLION POUNDS! This profit is created by the 64% of parents that pay out £5 a time for their little ones to wash their motors. The following stats are taken from an article at www.easier.com "Three quarters (75%) of the skinflint parents who pay their children £1 or less say it’s because their kids only clean the outside of the car with soap and water. In contrast, over a third of kids (37%) who wash, but also give the interior a thorough clean, make between £5 and £7, and 100% of kids who are paid between £15 and £25 thoroughly wash, wax, buff, vacuum and polish inside and out."

So if your on your school holidays, and you want some extra cash, you know what to do. Get washing!

Giant Crusher

I spotted this bike flouting the rules outside The Jolly Brewmaster pub. I guess the landlord is a Triumph owner. Although, while looking for some info on Triumph motors, I discovered that Triumph started out making bicycles in 1885, so whoever the bike belongs to is well within their rights to park it there!

Some of you may have picked up that I've been lacking inspiration over the last few days. I got myself out onto the mean streets of Cheltenham yesterday evening to try to recapture my enthusiasm. While walking I decided that I'm going to write less and post photos that interest me more. I'll still show you Cheltenham's fine Regency buildings and share with you some of my towns history but from now on Cheltenham Daily Photo is going to be more about the photos. I hope you all still enjoy visiting!