20 members came to Bergen Tchnical Museum when Bergen Centre had the traditional Chistmas Gathering on Monday 5 January. The menu was the same as every year - the traditional Christmas Pizza. Who says we aren't sophisticated people from good homes? With the pizza, we had precious drops from several brands of fermented grain-based drink. English spotted chicken were in abundance - with octagonal labels and a rich history forever linked to "our" brand of cars. We also tried out less famous, but very appropriately named, "Piston Head" from Sweden and "Old Engine Oil" from Scotland.
But the Christman Gathering is not all about food and drinks. It is also an ordinary members meeting, with an associated programme. The mother club has generously provided funding for, and we have subsequently acquired, a video projector from a well reputed online computer goods merchant. An InFocus portable projector with LED light for robust tolerance against frequent and rough handling and, hopefully, a long service life, was displayed and put to use in order to guide us through the evening's agenda.
Beer is more than Hansa Lager - even here in Bergen. |
The event programme for the 2015 driving season, as it stands today, was presented. Some were suprised to learn that this year's "Sogn Tour" will not go to Sogn at all. In stead, we head east and join the MG Enthusiast Event at Torpomoen near Ål in Hallingdal. The MG Enthusiast Event is held in celebration of the MGA 60 years, and the MGF 20 years, jubilees.
The second major centre activity is also a collaboration. Our neighbouring centre in Rogaland has invited us to join them on a 2 day tour of Ryfylke County. We add third day for ourselves to make it a 3 day tour in the beginning of August. More details will be issued shortly.
The next topic on the agenda was the introduction of monthly Garage Nights. As you may guess from the name, these are gatherings where we aim to get our hands dirty - literally. We meed on the 3rd Monday of every month, except during driving season, in Atle and Eyolfs garage, called the Hen House, to work on some difficult technical stuff. Since we are without fear, we dive straight into the deep end. The first project is rebuilding a B-series engine. We really look forward to this, and we hope for a lot of excitement (of the good kind).
The final topic on the agenda was a photo slide show from last year's Sogn Tour to West Cape. We would like to remind everyone that this was the occation when Truls had to bail out due to technical emergency. The newest part on the car, the fan belt disc on the dynamo, with less than 500 miles on the clock disintegrate completely, leaving Truls without charging and cooling. We think this is a textbook example of shitty spare part quality we really shouldn't accept.