~for the love of Evangeline~

as mentioned it is not my aim to restore Evangeline, but to preserve her as she is today, with all of her Paris bumps and scrapes~i want to retain her special character.
however she does need an 'mot' quite badly, which started on monday, with her being stripped right back to her component parts, cleaned at the kitchen sink and some bits being re-built on the kitchen table!
as i write, her frame, forks, wheels, mud guards, seat handle-bars and back rack are on the floor behind me.
today she will start to be returned to her former glory, with a new addition.....












we went to our local bike shop yesterday to buy a new peddle axle, they did not have one but phoned their branch in christchurch, and we said we would stop by to collect it.
so off we went today only to find the chap having no knowledge of the call~i think someone forgot to pass on the message~and no he did not have what we needed, not even in his box of spares. but he did tell swampy how to set the turn on the axle so it is just right.
he also had in stock the exact bell i wanted, a big chrome 'ding dong' one~and the nice man let me have it for nothing for what he said was a wasted journey~what a lovely surprise!





*next week she will have a nice willow basket*