After the removal men had gone (Sat. 19th) we spent most of the next 24 hours cleaning, removing screws and picture hooks and making good as best we could. Also a final visit to the tip at Flusco. We slept in Harry in the garden – incidentally a riot of blue, mauve and yellow (forget-me-nots, honesty and poppies).
Harry and Sally were hooked up in the road outside:
I see your back end’s no prettier than it was in October!
You’ve been in the wars yourself.
Yes, but I got fixed up.
That’s cos anyone can fix you up. I need special treatment!
Tu exagères, voyons!
While they got re-acquainted we had a last look at Garth View:
And the Garth:
Checklist? (We’ve found it best to keep a pre-driving checklist handy and go through it every time; it’s on a yellow clipboard on Harry’s dashboard tray …..)
Where’s the clipboard? ……….. Horrid realisation: the clipboard, with the full inventory of the removal on it, as well as other items, was in the kitchen – taken in for the final meter reading and somehow not brought straight back out. Retrieval impossible. (This was the first setback!) No choice but to phone the new owner and ask for her key back. No way – she was in Carlisle, not Appleby. But she offered to go in next day and post it to us in Potters Bar, which she did, and for which we are very grateful.
So we got on the road, and made for Whitefield where we shared a lovely meal (Thanks, Sean) with all the Offspring and In-Laws before following Chris and Michelle to Golcar where we spent the night on the Chapel car park, after seeing photos and videos of the soon-to-be new Grandchildren. (Chris and Michelle will finally bring their adoptive son and daughter home on Friday 25th – we wish them well in this exciting and challenging venture.)
Back on the road next morning, after confirmation that the completion of the sale of GV had taken place. We travelled on to Welwyn and set up for the week on the Caravan Club site. We really wanted to weigh the outfit and sought out 2 weighbridges: one was closed, and the other was in a scrapyard with limited manoeuvring space. I didn’t risk it. At the pitch, the catch on Harry’s fridge door broke – again! Need to contact a Dometic agent. Things aren’t going all that well!
But we spent a lovely week visiting friends and relatives and scrounging food and drink off people, as you might expect of a pair of homeless old vagrants, and a very nice man came and not only fixed the fridge door, but showed me how to do it myself next time – and there has been a next time!
On Friday (25th) we transferred to Chertsey – calling at a public weighbridge in Hilingdon on the way, which Philip had found out about for us, thanks, arriving much later than planned, partly due to delays on the M25, and we had what we thought would be our last evening meal in England – for now – with Philip, Christine, Carol Jnr, and Judi, at a pub local to P & C’s new flat. Thanks again.
Saturday 26th, heading for Dover with plenty of time to spare. Harry – what happened?
I don’t know. I just felt ill. (It seemed like a stroke of some sort, but ….)* HE wanted me to overtake this lorry, which we were doing, then the lorry seemed to speed up. But it wasn’t the lorry speeding up it was me slowing down. Then the was the horrible black exhaust choking me –
AND ME! –
And everyone else, whenever HE changed gear or tried to accelerate. We just had to stop….
We did! And after two rides on low loaders, with us following –
IN ME! –
Yes, we ended up parked here for the weekend:
Waiting for this place to open:
When it did, they said, “Sorry, it’s bad news; it needs a new engine. Least price we can do it for is £6,000, and Wednesday at the earliest”.
To cut it short, Carol phoned her brother, Martyn, who arranged for his man in Mudeford to have a look at Harry. Another low loader, late last night, at our own expense this time, and we slept outside the repair shop, but within a secure compound. Luckily, an Esperanto speaker lives in Mudeford and he has taken us in! Esperanto speakers do that for other Esperanto speakers, even when they’re not homeless. Google Pasporta Servo to find out more.
So here we all are then. Here for the Jubilee. But not jubilant. The house purchase in France is on hold, unless the vendors withdraw because we’ve missed the meeting and they have another offer. (We think that’s unlikely).
*That’s for ‘Ghost Train’ afficionados – don’t worry about it if you’re not!
Stephen's space 