Wow! I've ducked in here for shelter. It's raining cats and dogs outside - I just stepped in a poodle.
Which reminds me of the days when Nissan cars were called Datsuns.
A bloke in Sydney, Australia, was restoring a Datsun 190B and only needed one cog to finish the gearbox. He contacted the Nissan distributors who after a day got back to him with the bad news that they could not trace any of them anywhere in Australia and suggested that he try Japan.
After a week of negative results, Nissan Japan suggested contacting their American distributors. Another week of bad news and the bloke was feeling really despondent. He then thought of trying the European Nissan distributors and after two weeks, got some good news. If he were to go to London and personally take delivery, he could have the cog he wanted.
He was overjoyed, but cautious. He double checked that he was talking about a cog for a gearbox for a Dastun 190B. He was assured that that was the case. He promptly booked a flight to London. On arrival at the Nissan distributor, he was told that while the cog was available, he would have to take a whole crate of 144 cogs.
He was naturally shocked - but, he needed the cog so badly that he agreed. The crate, weighing one tonne, was deliverd to Heath Row Airport and loaded into the 747's cargo bay but not before he had removed one cog and put it in his pocket.
The flight went without a hitch until ash from an errupting volcano in Indonesia caused the jet's engines to lose power. The plane, at this time, was just crossing the coast of Australia. The pilot ordered all cargo to be jettisoned to lose weight. The bloke was annoyed at this but as he had one precious cog in his pocket, wasn't too worried.
As the crate tumbled to earth, the wind ripped the lid off and cogs started scattering in all directions. Down on the ground, a poor hapless drunk staggered indoors where his wife screamed at him, "I thought I told you to stay outside and not come back in until you were sober!"
The poor drunk hic-upped and replied, with tears oin his eyes,
"Yes I know dear (hic) but it's raining . . . it's raining, Datsun cogs!"
