From John Townes
LONDON LIMOUSINES OF RENO
I hope this message finds you well and looking forward to the festive season. I will be seeing some of you over the next few weeks and I will be able to wish you Happy Holidays personally.
To everybody else, may I wish you the same.
Let us hope that 2013 will bring us all, better and more prosperous times.
The last 12 months have not been my best year businesswise but I am still here and about to enter my 8th year in business in Northern Nevada.
2012 has been quite an eventful year for my family and me. My daughters, Alice and Emily both graduated from college in the UK.
Amazingly, they have both found work very quickly. Alice has started a film make up apprenticeship though a scheme operated by Pinewood Studios and has just finished a 4-week stint on location in East London.
Emily has started working in the fashion industry in London and is writing a blog on fashions trends.
I am naturally very proud of both of them.
My son Henry seems to have found a job which he loves, as a cocktail barman in Brighton. This summer he spent 3 weeks in Poland visiting his new girlfriend’s family. Sounds pretty serious. Sadly I missed him when I was in England as it clashed with his trip.
My UK trip was quite amazing. Apart from visiting with family I spent a good deal of the time with a Reno friend, Bill Charney, at The Goodwood Revival. This is the World’s largest Classic Car Race Meeting. In addition there is an aviation event that includes an Air Show with such iconic aircraft as the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (Lancaster, Spitfire and Hurricane) and a static display of pre 1967 aircraft. Bill is flying his 1944 Beech Staggerwing “The Red Rockette” around the World. He is in no hurry having spent 4 years flying to the UK from New Zealand, where it was completely rebuilt. He estimates it will be another 2 years before he finally gets back to Reno.
During his visit to the UK, he also stopped by at the original Royal Naval airfield at Lee on Solent near Portsmouth. Very appropriate, as his plane belonged to the Royal Navy during World War II.
THE AEROPLANE MONTHLY MAGAZINE RECENTLY PUBLISHED A 4 PAGE STORY ABOUT BILL’S PLANE. HERE IT SHOWN OVERFLYING THE ISLE OF WIGHT ON ITS ARRIVAL BACK IN THE UK AFTER SOME 67 YEARS. THE UPPER ILLUSTRATION IS AN ARTISTS’S IMPRESSION OF HOW THE STAGGERWING LOOKED DURING WWII.
My cousin Mike Cross kindly arranged use of a hanger on this field to prepare for the Goodwood event. Bill did such a great job of this that it helped him to win 1st Prize at the event. Also in attendance was Malcolm Smith from the Croydon Aircraft Company in NZ who did a wonderful job of restoring the Staggerwing to its “as new” condition.
AN ICONIC PICTURE OF A LONDON BUS AND THE RED ROCKETTE. THE BUS BELONGS TO THE OWNER OF THE SPITFIRE FLYING SCHOOL AT GOODWOOD.
BILL AND YOUR’S TRULY ALL DRESSED UP FOR GOODWOOD. WE SWAPPED AIR FORECES. I AM EX-RAF AND BILL EX-USAF. HE IS WEARING A PILOTS UNIFORM FROM THE EAGLE SQUADRON, AN AMERICAN SQUADRON IN THE RAF DURING THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN. BILL FLEW F100S IN VIET NAM AND WENT ON TO BECOME A 747 CAPTAIN WITH UNITED AIRLINES.
My other big event of the year was to change my faithful company Lexus sedan for a Mercedes S550 4Matic. Back in the 1960’s I was sales promotion events manager for Mercedes Benz in the UK, so it is nice to be back with the brand. I love driving this great car and my customers are enjoying being driven in such luxury. The old Lexus, with 215,000 miles on the clock, is still doing sterling work as Carole’s everyday car. Now that she has got used to all the buttons, she is really enjoying it.
While on the subject of business, quite a few of you have already made bookings during the holidays and the upcoming skiing season. If you are planning to come to the Reno/Lake Tahoe area in the near future, I would recommend booking early as I am starting to get busy once more.
To those of you who have used my service in the past, thank you for that and I hope I can be of further service in the future.
May I wish you Happy Holidays and a prosperous New Year.
Kind regards,
John Townes
