Downstairs things have started moving a little, finally. My wife has taken an interest in sorting, cleaning and numbering the many parts that have been partially in cupboards, or partially heaped in groups on the floor.
It's mostly chrome and vinyl parts, and there's a lot of it.
Since the PMR and Arthritis stop me from crouching, kneeling and sitting on hard floors myself anymore,, I am happy that she is doing it.
Removing all the stickers, glue and dirt from the NOS chrome parts is a monk's job. She seems well into it.
At some point all of the NOS chrome is going to the anodizer for a new coat, together with some 2nd hand trim, some of it still on the parts cars in front of the door.
The vinyl is getting a baking soda and soap cleaning, and after sorting through 5 sets of interior, The best 2 sets will be selected and primed for re-spraying with the spray cans I smuggled in the boot of a friends car in a container from Bulgaria to Taiwan, a few years ago.
Once the working floor is empty, I can proceed ordering the exhibition cabinets, and start decorating the place, turn it into a museum, decorated like a functional 1978 MB garage.
The loss of so much material in the robbery has taken a bad toll on me, and besides promises and paperwork about getting compensated 2 years from now, it's been a tough time.
Insomnia, anxiety disorder, and a pharmaceutical quagmire.
To kick myself into butt, and boost my dopamine levels, I have bought 2 professional go karts and I have taken up racing. One 30hp long wheel base 125/2 stroke for me, and one 7hp/2 stroke short wheel base for my wife and 9yr old son, who seems to be a natural.
The physical beating that comes with trying to compete with racers, 2, 3 times younger than me, in a kart with no suspension, going 120km/hr through the bumpy corners, is impressive.
2x 8 minutes of it required 3 days of rest and healing. The second time I did 5x8 minutes, and I am looking at bruised ribs and blue spots all over. This time around it might take 10 days before I can race again!
It's the most painful mid life crisis one could come up with.Even laughing hurts.
I am now waiting for the workshop to get moving again. The chassis is done, but the aluminium bonnet and trunk have not been done yet. No pictures for a while now, so I take it they have been doing other things the last month.
Guess I will have to pressure them again, so all of it can be finally be shipped here and I can finally be in charge of things myself again.
On the museum front, the exhibition/collection is still growing at a nice speed. Lots of people in Germany and Austria have way more time on their hands now, cleaning out attics and basements, and I have been on top of all of it, snapping up item after item, sometimes several per day. but in general, it's a couple every week. Nearly all new purchases are still sent to Thomas in Germany. That pile is slowly becoming a pallet. I can foresee a new adventure there, moving all of that to Taiwan. But maybe I'll be lucky!
BTW, my FB page gives a good impression of what the museum will be like:
https://www.facebook.com/stan.deegs
