The blog is late this week - there just hasn't been enough time to catch up with all that's been going on. Suddenly it's the end of February and the start of March and pre season practice is almost upon us - so it's been Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at the track with the prospects of three whole days this coming week. No wonder my wife introduced herself to me in the kitchen - I think she's forgotten what I look like. As Gerald says, "Speedway's a disease," and at present we're all infected!

But what of the title to this particular blog? In a moment of philosophical musing while hanging the green netting I started to ponder on what has been the single most significant development in the history of speedway. Of course, Jon Hoskins has some claim to this, as does Sir Arthur Elvin (Wembley speedway), the JAP engine, Ove Fundin, JAWA, GM, two stroke, four stroke, air fences, World Championships, Rune Holta ... the list goes on and on.

But I think that the title of "The Greatest Development in Speedway History" must go to ... the person who developed the "cable tie". The humble cable tie has revolutionised the sport and is to be found in virtually every aspect of the sport.

Kickboards are attached to air fences with cable ties; the air fence at Swindon will be attached to the safety fence with cable ties; green catch netting is attached to the air fence with cable ties; cable ties can be found on the bikes; I've seen cable ties used to keep errant kevlars tight - the list just goes on and on.

So let's hear it for the Cable Tie!

But I digress ... time to get on with the blog.

Now before Swindon fans start having palpitations, the above photographs are not of the Abbey Stadium! As regulars will know, the Edinburgh crew have been true supporters of the blog almost since its inception so it is great to be able to show some of their work.

The two photographs taken by Edinburgh track staff man Ian Hawkins shows a before and after of the track. The boards have been put up and quite a lot of work has been put in to grade and level the track after the winter months. Of course, the 260 metre Armadale track is significantly smaller that Swindon, and there is no need for an air fence yet, but a great deal of work has to be put in by track curator Alan "Doc" Bridgett and his team of helpers. I really hope that we'll be able to keep the Blunsdon Blog alive with more photographs from Edinburgh (hint, Ian!) and from any other track.

There is a rider link between Armadale and Edinburgh and Swindon - the track record holder at Armadale is Theo Pijper who recorded a time of 54.6 seconds on the 22nd September 2006. Theo has joined Swindon for the 2008 season - let's hope he enjoys his time her as much as he obviously did in Edinburgh.

But what about work at the Abbey? Roy is away on holiday - I hear that it's pure hell on those beaches in Bali - so Gerald Punch and I were joined by Mick Hunt in the morning.

With the season racing towards us at a frightening speed, we set to re-aligning and replacing some of the kickboards that surround the track. Because we have altered the contours of both straights we have had to re-align the kickboards to make sure that they sat level on the newly laid surfaces.

Mick's appearance meant that I could get on with the air fences. A close inspection of the fences on turns 1 and 2 showed a number of small holes and tears in the fabric - all of these had to be patched. The next task is, perhaps, one of the most back breaking tasks known to man - attaching the thick rubber kickboards to the bottom of the air fence. The kickboards attach via 12 thick cable ties and, on knees, I ended up replacing the cable ties on most of the air panels - over 150 in all throughout the day.

While I lurked in the mud and mire Gerald was blading the training track. Last season the archaeological digging and the floods meant that the training track fell into disrepair - this year we've decided to revitalise it, not only for the benefit of the youngsters but also for our team practices - it's one thing learning to power your way around a massive track like Swindon but you've still got to go to the "tiddlers" like Lakeside, Wolverhampton and Eastbourne. Hopefully our lads will be able to get some small track preparation in on the training track.

With the kickboard rubbers attached on turns 1 and 2 I deflated the panels and used the opportunity to check the bindings on the backs and tops.

Looking back up the main straight the surface is so much smoother than I can ever remember at Swindon - certainly the "hump" near the start / finish line is much less obvious.

The first Robin of the spring swooped in during the early afternoon - a much refreshed and relaxed Mr Adams was being filmed for a interview and used a few spare moments to chat with us.

A long day on Thursday but by the end of it, the kickboards were straight and even and the old track was looking ready for action.

Saturday morning and it's a massive painting day. Bright and windy, and we had Keith, the daVinci's, Gerald, Punch, Mike Hunt, Rosco, Brian "No problemo" Cox and uncle Tom Cobbley all working away.

Brian is decorating the new massage room for Karen to work in this year. This means that the track staff tea room has ha to be re-located; at present there is some debate about where it will go!

While I continue to work on the air fences and the daVinci's and Keith carry on painting in the pits, Punch has got his hands on a hired digger. As soon as we see it lurching towards us and perceive Punch's manic grin from behind the windscreen we all know what to do - dive for cover. He's supposed to be turning over the stones on the main drain at the bottom of the circuit on turn 1 but we're already swapping bets on the the chances of him dismantling the pits gate as he manoeuvres through.

The new floor paint in the pits not only makes them look so much smarter (and bigger), it should also render them easier to wash down between meetings, and so is considered a "good thing".

Another "good thing" is the arrival of our leader complete with supplies. In a new off shoot series, we present episode one of "Rosco Recommends" and this week our genial chappy is putting his full support behind "Red Label" tea bags. We do get through a lot of coffee, milk, sugar and tea bags in a season, and Punch provides most of those for us, so Alun's gift of a massive bag of tea bags, three large bottles of instant coffee and a container sized vessel of sugar is much appreciated.

I've harked on about the benefits of number 96, our staff room, all winter, but one real benefit of a comfortable and relatively clean area is that morale is very high - there's lots of banter and laughter in between the hard graft, and it's all centred on Number 96.

Out the back the lads from Hewlands, who help us keep our ancient tractors going, are battling with the hydraulics, or rather the lack of hydraulics on one of the two museum pieces that we own. Whilst the red grader comes down all right, it is reluctant to lift clear of the ground.

It's amazing that when something doesn't work, there's always a three some who appear and wisely offer up the astoundingly obvious. In the case below Mike Hunt and Punch are joined by an electrician and together they come up with a diagnosis for the problem : "It doesn't work very well." The mechanics utter curses and oaths that I couldn't possibly use here while the "Brains Trust" continue with ... "It's the hydraulics, you know."

And so to Sunday morning. I escape the house early hoping that the kids will remember that it's Mothering Sunday.

We're back this morning because we need to get the green catch netting up in place before Monday ... more of Monday's activities in the next blog.

This green netting is hung from the top of the safety fence and attached to the air fence panels with, yes, you've guessed it - let's hear it for the "cable tie" - and prevents the air blasted shale from landing on the dog track. This year's netting has come in 50 metre long rolls and is 3 metres wide - but we only want one metre wide, so while Gerald and I hold the edges, Punch uses a pair of decorating scissors to cut the width down. This takes a long time and causes serious amusement to Keith Johnson when he pitches up at 8.50am to find the three of us drowning in a sea of green netting in number 96.

With the netting cut Punch and I hang it from the top of the safety fence and then I inflate each section and cable tie the bottom of the netting to anchor straps on the back of the panels. This takes me most of the morning but when it's done it looks really good and should halt all but the finest pieces of shale thrown up by the spinning back wheel.

Steve Gobey has arrived to sort out some of the electrics and Steve Masters is putting up new advertising boards.

We're almost ready.

Footnote: It's Roy Hick's birthday today and he's officially an OAP. I wouldn't normally mention such a fact in public but since he's sunning himself on a beach in Bali and we're coping with Siberian gales here and the chance of some snow and sleet tomorrow, he gets no sympathy. Anyway mate, happy birthday!