1000 miles short

This blog follows on from the previous one. Well, they all do, but this one is particularly closely coupled as I am sat typing it right after finishing the "We're off" post... So, here goes.

In Birmingham after eating out dinner with my parents

We drove away from the house at about 3pm and made our way towards the M6. Harrison was going really well and I was up to our 50mph cruising speed with ease; he was pulling much better than when I moved Cjc and this made us feel more confident; obviously I had put more weight into him with all those books than I realised. We chose to go via the toll to avoid all the traffic on the normal M6/M5 junction and this was a good idea as we arrived at my parents at 5pm which was a little ahead of schedule. They had prepared a wonderful Spanish chicken casserole type thing which was very tasty and chased by some lovely baked apples with custard; all in all it was a very quick stop but really welcomed and it was so good to see my parents one final time before the off. They came out to Harrison where we had parked him and took a picture of the two of us stood in front of him. So far, so good....

Harrison only just fitting onto the boat!

.... until my phone rang about ten minutes later and it was my parents as A had left her phone at their house! My dad said that my mum was on her way out of the door with it and which services should she meet us in. What a star! We got to Warwick services and parked up and I had time to go to the toilet and buy a coffee for A and then she pulled up and got a few huge hugs for her efforts and we were off down the M40 towards the ferry. We arrived in Dover about 11pm which would give us, we thought, time to have a bit of a doze before getting on the boat. We were in the back, just starting to doze off, when a port employee banged on the side and roused us and we were up and on the earlier ferry, pretty much the last vehicle to go on! What a bonus, a two hour head start to the continental crossing. I wasn't hungry but A was so she got herself some food and then when she sat down I was hungry so went and bought some as well. After that I put my head down and I must have slept as before I knew it we were near Dunkirk and I had to try and wake myself as I was doing the first bit of the drive over here.

Sunrise in Belgium

Super duper driver

It did not take long to get unloaded and then we were following the loooong trail of trucks from the boat out through the feeder roads and onto the motorway and away. A put her head down for a bit and I set myself the task of driving until the sun came up; it was about 3am local time by this time. Harrison was making a slightly louder noise from his drive train than he had, and on the drive down we had realised there was a clonking coming from somewhere which, after investigation, we realised was the FRONT left suspension; it looked like the arm had come loose and was banging a bit as we went over bumps so we had to be really careful when we drove and try to avoid any and all potholes, and slow down for bridges when we went over the expansion joints. I worked out a speed that stopped it from making the bad noise and settled down, but I couldn't avoid everything unfortunately. Slowly the sky lightened and then just as I was getting tired A woke up and we were able to stop and swap drivers.

A making up wraps

I had made it to Belgium by this time, having crossed France with no problems, and so A was told the little tips I had worked out while she slept and then we were off again. I stayed awake for a little bit but then put my head down and against the odds, with the sounds of Harrison wailing when he was at a slightly wrong speed and clunking when the inevitable bump was not quite avoided, I fell asleep and didn't wake up until we were all the way into Germany. One of the few bits that we had actually completely forgotten was the frying pan so we made up wraps for a breakfast / lunch type thing when we stopped to swap drivers. They were really really nice and filled a hole very suitably.

A picture of a bridge for my dad

I then took over the driving for a bit and A settled down and dozed; this routine was really working well as we had both been able to catch cat naps. Harrison was still making the noises and the clonking, while not worse, was certainly not any better either. Our original target had been to get to Germany and stop for the night somewhere around Frankfurt which is where, on the way back, we had driven from originally to get to Manchester on the last day of travelling. With the excellent luck of making the earlier ferry, and the fact that Harrison was going so well and making such good speed even on the hills, we were well ahead of this schedule and pushing on for Austria maybe.

A traffic jam in Germany. Again.

It was around 4pm local time, and near Frankfurt, when we hit the first traffic of the journey. This was caused by some roadworks and was not a very long queue but the one benefit we found was that we could actually hear the music as we crawled along; the noise was definitely getting worse from the drive train and, when A had been driving, I had felt that there was movement in the wheelarch on the left side from which the clonking was coming; it seemed the problem there was not just a slightly loose suspension arm but maybe more serious.

A camping chef

After a few failed attempts to find an open mechanic at a Motorway service station (they have Spanner icons on the signs but when we get to the service station there is nothing like a proper garage; never mind) we decided to just rock on and cross our fingers. So far, so good and all that. I drove while A slept and then I got so tired that I pulled over and we both went to the bed in the back and slept for an hour. I woke up feeling so much better from that, and it was good to know that our nest in the back would be comfortable. I drove on for a bit more then we found a place to stop for dinner so pulled over. There was a Lidl just by the service station so I went looking for a frying pan but only found scissors, some toothpaste and animal shaped baking trays as a gifty for A. Sadly at the till they wouldn't take VISA(what kind of third world country IS Germany anyway?) so I had to leave it all behind. Dinner was macaroni cheese from a tin and baked beans and it was a bit rubbish but filled a hole very nicely. We also refilled the thermos flasks so we could keep making coffee for ourselves then A took over the driving and we headed onwards to Austria.

Harrison where he rested up over night

It was about 10pm (and 980 miles on the clock from home) when we pulled up in a dark layby just inside Austria where we could park up and sleep; there was not much faffing around we just locked the van and climbed in the back and I fell mostly straight asleep. At some point in the night I was woken by the feeling of the van moving slightly and then A woke as well and we listened; someone was messing around with the front doors. I opened the shutter and jumped out and the sound of us moving must have scared the scrotes as a BMW shot off as I appeared and screamed out onto the motorway. We had been worried about the Romanians attempting to steal stuff but it turns out Austria has its share too. After this it took a little while to sleep; another car pulled up behind us at one point and I peeked out to check but they were fine, but eventually I slept and slept so well we got an accidental two hour lay in and woke at 6am to the sounds of the birds singing.

Red sky in the morning part 1

Red sky in the morning part 2

I drove first this day and A was in charge of the camera and was able to capture some stunning photographs of the sky as the sun rose. The feared for snow-geddon had failed to materialise so far though there was a bit of snow still in evidence in shaded areas by the road, and the sun had been a pretty much constant companion all the way which certainly was helping our mood. The roads were not great however and this was quite stressful making for very active driving; we had to make a call as to whether turning to avoid the bump was better than going over it as the creaking sound was happening when the wheels were turning as well. However, so far so good...

Lovely bacon butties

At a service station further up the road we pulled over and I fried up bacon in the saucepan as we were still without a frying pan. A had disappeared to the toilet and came back amazed at the self cleaning loo and how spacious and clean it was. I'd put the kettle on again so we had more hot water for the flasks and so I drove off after breakfast to give A a little more time to doze which she did. Our plan was for me to drive across Austria, A across Hungary, and then we would sleep for a few hours before entering Romania and driving over night to arrive at Ken's in the morning to collect Rambo and be back at home by the end of the day.

The Alps seen over the sound baffle

Harrison did really well with the huge hills in Austria and with being so much higher above the road than when I did this in Julian we were able to see over the sound fences and admire the Alps in the distance, glinting in the sun. A did fall asleep as I say and she missed the stork that was flying along (this is NOT a sign of Bulgarian spring, however, as we are clearly not in Bulgaria) and also a load of eagles floating near the road. Eventually we crossed the border into Hungary where we were stopped twice by two different police checkpoints for our passports but waved through quickly with a smile at both. The lady at the vignette office couldn't have cracked a smile if she had tried, however, and would not take card so we drove on a bit and got the vignette, and a full tank of diesel, at that point when A took over.

A monument to a dragon; Hungarian culture

Hungary is the most boring of countries and I really don't like it very much; A even complained that she would have to drive through the boring country but I pointed out it just meant she would have the pleasure of  looking at the scenery in the not boring countries so she quieted up. The journey was going well and as always we were getting on famously; there are few people I can spend this long cooped up with and not get annoyed but I was not even slightly feeling that at all so far. After a boring drive over the plains we started into some ripples you could possibly call hills and spotted a huge dragon statue on a hill. I had time to change to the zoom lens and snap a load of pictures as we proceeded past and I think this may be the only redeeming feature of Hungary.

The wheel doesn't look right.. No, THAT isn't right either!

It was as we were going up one of those inclines that it happened. There was no bang that I heard but suddenly Harrison started juddering and grinding really badly. We immediately pulled onto the hard shoulder and I jumped out and looked underneath but couldn't see anything; one thing which distracted me was some rumble strips just where it had happened and I thought it might just have been going over them; we were not far from our change over point before Romania by this point anyway so I said I'd give him a drive and we got back in but as soon as we got up to 20mph the sound started again and it was clear something quite serious had occurred; maybe even the drivetrain which had been making terrible sounds had finally seized up. The crown of the hill was just ahead of us so I laboured up to that and then, amazingly, we saw a service station a few hundred metres further on so I coaxed Harrison down and pulled up next to the SOS phone. When we got out and looked again it was suddenly clear what had happened; the front left wheel was at a very strange angle and inside, where the clonking and vibrating had been happening, the metal had torn and the suspension was protruding through. This did not look good.

Trying to rescue Harrison

We went into the cafe and I tried to explain to the waiter who spoke a little English that we didn't want SOS but would prefer a friend of his who may be a mechanic however he didn't understand or didn't have any friends but he was helpful and rang SOS for us and explained what had happened. The rescue guy would be there in ten minutes, we were told, but it was 200EU for the callout. We ordered a beer, sat in the sun, and waited and sure enough very quickly a friendly long haired guy who spoke English as well arrived and took a look. He was also not very impressed with the situation and called for a recovery vehicle to tow us to their Service Station, a service for which an additional 100EU was tacked onto the fee. He sat and talked to us while we waited for the tow truck to arrive and after half an hour it was there and, with some little trouble, Harrison was attached to the back and we got into the car with the first guy and followed as we were pulled at slow speed towards Budapest.

Back at the Service, taking a closer look

There were a few interesting moments round some of the corners where the tow yoke actually grounded and then, as we turned down into the service yard the back of Harrison was also scraped a bit, but largely it was an easy and uneventful trip. When we pulled up the boss guy took a look and one of the other mechanics, who looked like a horse warrior and spoke good English, explained that they needed a specialist to look but he would not be able to get to see if Harrison was even fixable until Tuesday. Not good news but that is life. We had already spoken to Ken who said he was ready and able to come and collect us in his van if we needed so at this point A called him to explain while I went with the first guy to a cash point to pay the rescue charge. It turns out that 300EU is about 90,000 Hungarian so I felt rich pulling that much cash from the hole in the wall.

When we got back we were settled in the waiting room to wait for a lift to a hotel to spend the night as Ken couldn't get to us until the day after. The horse warrior guy came in after a while and told us that the specialist would, after all, be able to get past this evening and so we would know the price and time it would take by about 5pm local. I rang Ken back and explained and told him to hold off setting off until we had the news. And so we sat and sat and waited and then the news came and it was not good at all; the specialist had looked and not only was the wheel arch rusted through, the bit it attached to was pretty much gone as well and it was not a fixable breakdown. What a nightmare! I was back on the phone to Ken to tell him and he promised to be with us by the day after and then I set in motion the scrapping of Harrison which the garage was able to do.

Dinner; and it wasn't great

There wasn't much more to be done and so we were told that we would be taken to the hotel soon but it took ages, and the waiting room wasn't heated, before the boss turned up with paperwork for scrapping and then finally we were in his car and being taken to the mythical hotel. It was around this time that the day finally started to look up. We pulled up by a nice looking place and the man at the counter spoke good enough English to sell us some beers, order a pizza for delivery, and give us a room which was clean and tidy and had a bed that was sleepable on so what more could you want. The pizza turned up after quite a while and was cold and not great but the beer was cold and great and it all filled the hole so we were quite happy when the light was turned off and we both slept pretty well.

Inside the hotel

Outside the hotel

And so this morning we woke without any alarm call and with no sense of rush. There was no kettle in the room however we had brought tea, coffee, milk, and cups with us so A was able to get hot water and that urgent requirement was satisfied quickly. Breakfast, however, was not on the cards and her exploration turned up no cafe anywhere within easy walking distance. No matter, we had a banana each. Ken was running early as well so as I type this we have already called for our return lift to the garage to start the process of unloading again (I'm just glad we have no scaffold!) before he gets there so we can put as much as possible into his van. I am going to publish this, get a shower, then go and join A in the garden where she is reading and getting air. The hotel has been a lovely place as you can see from the pictures but I just can't wait to get home.

From here we go to Ken's and then unload and put the stuff into another van, maybe, or wait there for Ken to be available to take us on down to our place. It may be a good thing as reports of over a metre of snow near where we live and being cut off so being in a rush may be pointless however the feeling of just wanting to get there is pretty strong. Anyway, I'll leave this here and maybe next time I blog we will be home at last!

And we're off...

This if the first of a two part update which I am going to do this morning; the reason for breaking this down will become apparent pretty quickly I hope. I've lots to write so without any further ado, let's cast my mind back to last week... the last week in the UK for A, and the last for a while for me.

What my test oval will look like

I have been enjoying work recently and Monday was a good day in the office, with a new guy starting who seems really nice and on top of things. In the evening I was able to lay out the new track into an oval and it fit so I attached the two sheets of chipboard, leaving a slight gap so I could route the power cable without difficulty.

The chicken coop from the Dragons

The next task was to take the chicken coop out of the back of Thomas and take it to bits for transport. This really didn't take me much time and once it was apart it fit in very easily by sliding over the top of one of the chairs and acting as a weight to keep other bits from moving around. By the time I'd done this, however, the light had gone and so I didn't have time to do any soldering; that would have to wait for later in the week, if I was going to run any trains at all before leaving.

What a beautiful creature

As I was shifting the coop about I suddenly saw that what I had thought was a wing from a dead butterfly was moving and it was actually a really beautiful creature and alive. With A's help I carried the box into the shed and we lifted it out and put it in safe place hoping that it may survive; it's rather early for a butterfly though so I don't hold out much hope. Anyway, anyone have any idea what kind this is?

Valhalla moored up across the water

Tuesday was the day of the gig. I had promised A that this week would be free from plans but last week Jon Gomm announced that his tour was back on and the date in Chester was on this Tuesday. I pleaded and won a concession and so, after work, we made our way to the venue and parked up early and in time to order some food. As it happened, Cat and Ryan's boat was moored right next to the venue. They hadn't been able to get tickets as it had sold out too quickly however Cat walked over to join us while we ate which was really nice. The food was also very nice indeed.

Once it was time for the music to start we made our way into the tiny hall and took a seat, saving a pair for Loz and his housemate who were supposed to be joining us. They finally arrived just before the music started and settled down. The opening act was a young guy whose name I can't remember now who lived just up the road from the venue. He was pretty good and did a cracking cover of "Eye of the Tiger" in the finger style which involves using the guitar as a scratch pad, drum kit and bass guitar, as well as playing melodies. Once he was done we waiting for Jon and then he was there, walking on with his hoody up and looking a bit nervous, I thought. He opened with a jam and then got into the meat of his set.

It was an absolutely incredible gig. What a good decision to grab tickets and go. Jon is a Blackpool lad and I have known him on and off for many years. He played for a good hour and a half and it seemed to pass in a flash. At the end he unplugged and walked all the way to the middle of the hall so the people at the back would be able to get a better look at what was going on and when he did this he had us all singing along to a Bob Marley track. Unfortunately it was too dark when he was back there to get any good pictures or videos but it was a magical moment and once again I say it was such a cracking night; amazing.

Jon Gomm of the Three Hands - AMAZING!

Too soon the music was over and we headed back through the night to our little house, having said goodbye to Loz and the housemate and left them at the bar where they bought a couple of CDs and got Jon to sign them and everything. As it happened I didn't actually get to speak to Jon at all; when I saw him before the gig he was shooting off somewhere and then afterwards we were so tired we had to leave however just getting to watch him play was enough.

Tiny plug for the back of the Z21

Wednesday there isn't very much to say about; we were shattered and so didn't do much other than read and chill on the sofa. About the only thing I achieved was to strip the wires using my new wire stripper tool and then attach the socket which goes into the back of the Z21 DCC controller to get power onto the tracks. I also put together the soldering iron but it was too dark to do the actual soldering once I had finished so again I left it and read.

Not my topmost best skill, soldering

Thursday was a double pub day; at lunch time we went for food from work though sadly A was not able to get to meet us as she had work to do. After work Loz came to say goodbye to us both finally and got a cake from A (the true reason he came, obviously) and then I set to with the soldering iron and had a 50% success rate. I have never been very good at this task but practice does make perfect so I will just keep at it. Eventually it got too dark (again) and so I stopped trying and we headed to the pub for a quick pint with my boss before going shopping at Tesco for the journey. It was great to chat with Gerd in a social setting and afterwards the shopping was quick and painfree, though slightly expensive.

It has rubbed in the past

This last Friday of the week, the last before the final return, I actually had to go into the office for a meeting so my lay in wasn't quite as awesome as it normally is. No matter, the meeting was useful and I was back home by about 11am and able to work from home and achieve loads to prepare for the off. One thing we had decided and that was that I would be cutting the bodywork on Harrison to prevent any bodywork rubbing on the back wheels. You can see from this picture that it has happened at some point in the past. I sent A off to get more hacksaw blades while I was in the office and so when I got back I set to with them. I quickly realised that I would not get anywhere without a drill so I knocked on next door and they kindly lent me one. This enabled me to make the first impression on the fibre glass however after twenty minutes of sawing I had made almost no progress and was starting to get very tired.

Using the reciprocating saw

And so it was back off to B and Q for me where I found a cheap reciprocating saw with some spare blades and with the correct tools the job was easy. I was able to cut off both arches for the wheels in about twenty minutes and did it with a smoother cut. I also looked damned cool while I was at it. A had by no means been idle in this time and had baked more cakes, one of which was a gift for my parents, and also packed up the final bits and pieces which we easily fit into the back of Harrison. With the arches cut away I was so much happier; maybe he would even make it all the way.

So at 3pm I signed off from work and pulled Harrison forwards off the drive. There were a few forgotten items, including straight away "where is the Sat-nav?" "Oh, I thought it was in the van?" which was quickly rectified and then we were on the road and rolling.... rolling towards home.

One more week to go

Sunday night and I’m once again sat with the laptop trying to force some words out to remember this past week through; today it seems like this will be quite a difficult post to write as I’m tired (but when am I not at the moment) and the words are not flowing as freely as they often do. It has been a pretty brilliant week, however, so it is worth my while to put the effort in and see what comes out the other end. As it were.

House band, with blind drummer, gets going

Of course this post will not start with the Sunday as that has already been written about in the double header I treated you to last weekend, caused by the fact that packing Harrison was more of a pain than expected. So: Monday. Work was pretty standard and at the end of it I went home and we ate before going into Manchester to the jam night at our old local with John and, unexpectedly, his girlfriend. Jam night turned out to be slightly different to the Wednesday Reggae Night (I think I do prefer Reggae Night) but it was enjoyable and worth getting over there for. There were a couple of highlights the first of which was the house drummer was actually a blind man. We watched him with a lot of respect as he set his kit up using just his touch to work out where things should go. He was quite a solid drummer as well which obviously helped, though the band were no way as tight as the one for Reggae Night.

The next highlight involved a character that we know from the Reggae Night and who I have mentioned before. They are a lovely couple of come in on the bus, stop to play a couple of songs, and then head off and the guy has the BEST laugh I've ever heard; rich and loud and you can’t help but to join in. Until it is their time to play they sit together, he strumming his guitar with no chords (or timing, but that doesn't matter) and she leaning on his shoulder with her head next to his. This night it was Tom the Horn Player’s birthday (I've mentioned him before also I’m sure) and so for their songs they chose three and turned them into a “Happy Birthday” medley. I present rather a long video of this above and hope you will click through and listen to it all.

The next and final highlight I have for you from this evening was my mate John getting up and bashing out a couple of tunes for us. John was in my very first band with me many years ago and we wrote our first songs together and it was good to see that he at least has kept his music going (I am sadly not able to say the same for myself). He did a really good job on Johnny B Good and then followed it with Comfortably Numb which maybe was a little too long and difficult to do with a scratch band on a jam night. Either way it was brilliant. After he played myself and A finished our pints of Guinness and headed home; we were both exhausted from the weekend and while happy we had made the effort to get out to do this evening we were ready for our beds.

Taking the boards BACK off Harrison

We had planned to see my old boss MDickens on Tuesday however sadly he had to call off as he didn't have access to a car in the evening which was a shame. Our efforts to organise to see him before we’re off next week failed so I’ll just have to catch up with him when I get back, whenever that is. Our evening, instead, consisted of once again reorganising the van with Loz's uncomplaining help once more. I had, over the weekend, pulled things out of the way so that we could easily get to the planks and we very quickly got to work to remove them. This involved taking the sofa out and putting it by the van, removing the planks it had been sat on, and then moving the fridge into this void so we could get to the planks that had been underneath that. If you see what I mean? Between us (Loz passing them out and A helping me to carry them to the back room) it took no more than half an hour to complete all this and get everything squared away. Loz refused our offer of dinner as he had to go shopping and so when he has left we set to putting the least heavy black bin bagged kitchen units into Harrison and stacking everything else around.

Another (failed) attempt at loading

As we loaded I was jumping down very regularly to check the situation with the suspension and it was looking much better. We got everything in and secured very quickly; we really are getting expert at packing and unpacking the van and it was about 5.30 and no later when I snapped the picture above and shut it all down. As per usual my mind kept turning, however, and I went out again to check and was pretty unhappy with the suspension on one side. I made the decision then that none of the kitchen units could come with us and we would have to dig them out once more.

This was not a task for Tuesday however so after work Wednesday I shifted the few things I needed to allow my access to the kitchen units which had been slid down behind the three seater and, once they were all out, repacked it completely. I think I am now finally happy with how the suspension is sitting and hopefully there will not be any more need to take things out; we do have a few items still to pack and obviously our travelling stuff including water and fuel which is heavy so that may yet still change. I hope it doesn't! I’m bored of lifting and carrying for a bit and certainly A was really stating to flag by the end of Wednesday with all of the effort we had put in to getting this packing completed.

After we had sat down and rested for a bit I got it into my head that I really wanted to see all my locomotives so I pulled them out of their boxes and set them up on lengths of track in front of the fire. This did prompt a plaintive complaint from A that we had only just managed to tidy up the front room and now it was being filled with boxes once again but never mind. The Virgin Pendolino looks particularly good and I was also able, this week, to work out how to join the two carriages of the Class 150 together but I’m going to resist that until I get it to Bulgaria as I can’t see how to then disconnect them easily.

The Pond-ness Monsters

And so to Thursday and first of all vindication for A. For the last few days she has been convinced there was something living in our tiny pond; she called it “The Pond-ness Monster” and I just thought it was methane from the rotting vegetation however she was correct; during Thursday while she was looking out the back window she spotted seven frogs (or maybe toads) swimming around and basking in the sun and generally making themselves very comfortable. This picture was taken through the back window using my zoom lens and you can see no fewer than five frogs in it. There is a follow up to this saga which will appear in next week’s post so hold your breath if you care.

Happy Family

A came straight to collect me from work and we were off up north to Blackpool as Thursday was the date of the 8^th birthday meal for Rock Hard Studios. Every year we go for a meal with the staff and partners to celebrate surviving the previous one and this time we’d decided that a curry was in order. It was a really lovely evening, enjoyed by all, and full of laughter and fun. The food was pretty good particularly when compared to the disaster at the casino last year, and I found the beer going down rather better than anticipated so A ended up going onto soft drinks and driving us home. Fortunately it wasn't too late a night and we were in bed tucked up before midnight.

Scrubbing the tracks clean from rust

Friday was very much welcomed for its Work From Home status and I was up and happily ensconced on the sofa by about 8am. The internet was once again up and down terribly and it will be good for A’s state of mind to be back to reliable internet in Bulgaria I think. At lunch time I popped out to B and Q to get a sheet of hardboard on which to tack down the oval of track for running in my locomotives. I also picked up some wire brushes and a few other bits and pieces which I knew I would need for the task. The dirty curves I had selected cleaned up very well with the wirebrush and a bit of hot water with no need for any other agent so that was quite gratifying. What was less pleasing was finding that the curves I had picked didn't marry up to the straights. Now I knew that I had two different “finenesses” of track in my collection and I have planned around this however I was careless in not leaving the same type out for my oval. I knew I had one more lot of track coming and it would contain straights and curves so I would just have to wait for that before I could lay it out.

We had a nice restful Friday evening and then were up relatively early on Saturday morning. By about 9am we were in the car, after I had eaten a slice of toast to keep me going, and heading down south and east towards the Fens to go and stay with a couple of very friendly dragons. No, really. The drive was easy and we arrived about 12.30 to a lovely welcome from the dragons and their huge and lovely dogs, Freya and Loki. After a cup of tea and a chat it was time for lunch which was a really tasty tapas style feast with the homemade croquettes being my particular favourite item.

The remaining migratory swans

After lunch it was time to take the dogs for a walk and I went along as Mr Dragon took them along the top of the dyke that runs right past their lair. It was really blowy and quite cold but we were wrapped up warm and had a really nice stroll for half an hour or so. There are huge numbers of migratory swans which live on the water here over winter, I think he said upwards of 10,000 this year, however only a few were remaining and without my zoom lens it was hard to get a good picture of them. When we got back, thoroughly blown through and a little tired, we found that Mr Dragon had lit the fire which was most welcome. Dinner was a superb Mexican feast of Enchiladas and Chilli (given a BIG thumbs up by A who is most picky about her Chilli) and set us up for a wonderful evening of beer, wine, whisky and port. I headed to bed relatively early and left A and Mrs Dragon to kill off the rest of the port and I’m glad I did as I got some sleep before I struggled to sleep. It was rather nice to lay looking out of the window of our room at the stars so bright here where there is no light pollution, and then this morning as the sun came up I watched all the colours changing from night to day. I would much rather have been asleep though.

Me with Freya

Loki saying hello to A

I finally dragged myself out of bed when the need for a cuppa overcame the desire to lay in and found that our hosts were already up and had taken the dogs for their morning walk while we were still pretending to sleep. We sat around then had breakfast and it was a really good relaxing start to a Sunday. Breakfast was particularly fine with excellent sausages and eggs from their own chickens. Talking of chickens the Dragons had very kindly given us a chicken coop which will now be added to the weight of Harrison and hopefully won’t tip us over the edge again. We were both cuddled by both dogs repeatedly through the morning as the pictures above testify but with a final brew it was time to head off and say our sad farewells to our marvellous hosts. Mr Dragon walked out to open gates and things and I tooted Thomas as we drove away into the teeth of a gale.

I'm not the only one with this sense of humour

It was a pretty difficult drive what with being so tired and the weather being against us but we made it back safely without any problems; there was a quite bad accident on the M6 Toll going southbound that had obviously only just happened, with a car on its roof and the emergency services in attendance, which just went to show how treacherous the roads were however we stayed safe. We stopped for fuel near our guests at a garage called “Harrison Ford” which just had to be photographed. When we got home I left A in the car to drive herself to Tesco while I just about managed to drag myself upstairs to bed where I slept the sleep of the nearly-dead for an hour or so.

Since then it has been dinner (lovely spicy pork pasta) and a few brews, A had a bath while I was typing, and I also realised that the track I was waiting for to do the oval had already been delivered and I’d packed it into Harrison. I remembered exactly where it was so I’ve dragged it out and now this week I can do the soldering and set the oval up and run in my new locomotives in time to take them over next weekend.

Next weekend!! Can you believe it! This time next week we should be in Hungary, I hope. I’ll sign this off now and probably the next time you read an update it will be from our home, the Old School.

The Great Pack Debacle

So here I am, sat on the freecycle sofa in a front room that is still full of boxes and things to be taken, on Monday evening, and with just as many questions left unanswered about the packing as I had on Sunday morning. Indeed I could probably say that I have many more questions than that simple, innocent time.

 

A putting bubble wrap around the extractor fan

We were up at 8am Saturday morning feeling rested (I had slept better again) and I got started straight away on the task at hand which was to fit everything into Harrison. The first thing I started on was removing the hinges and handles from the doors of the kitchen units; the fitter had done a pretty good job packing the units up but these little details weren’t done and it was clear that they would both risk being damaged and take up more space than needed if all these bits were still on. I got them all removed while A headed to the shop to get some super strong black bags to act as additional packing around the unit packages. When she got back we finished off wrapping up the delicate items in the smaller bubbled bubble wrap and stacked it all carefully, ready for putting on the van.

 

How the back of the van looked in the morning

The night before I had done a few bits and pieces in boxes in the space above the driver and then wedged the top of the desk behind the cooker to provide a bulwark against them all falling out. The plan called for the two seater sofa to go on its end next to the cooker and act as a continuation of this wall and A was a superwoman as usual and between us we managed to manhandle it from the front room and put it in place. With this done I slotted a few bits and pieces in the gap behind the sofa (like the all steel spade and a few of the packs of railway track) and then we were ready for the next step.

 

Strong woman with wood

On the left, in front of the upright two seater, the place was to have the scaffolding planks stacked up as wide as a sofa and then to put the three seater on top of them. These had, as you know, been stacked up in the backroom on the Thursday evening by my work colleagues and now A proved once again her super woman status by carrying them through to me to put into Harrison. There were only a very few that were still so wet they were too heavy to carry for her and she did such a cracking job. Shortly after I took this picture she was getting irritated that I wasn’t ready to take the board from her. Ooooops.

 

Planks loaded its time for a brew and then the straps

It probably only took us about half an hour or so to get them all through though I forced a couple of rests. The strictest rule of the day was never to work too hard; to do what you could and then rest before you felt completely shattered. It worked in the main and we kept our energy up well. With the stack built, four wide and six high, I hooked on the straps which would be used to secure the sofa and fridge freezer which would be stacked on top next. We then managed to lift the sofa into place and finally A exerted herself to raise the fried freezer and position it on top of the sofa. We had to do this a couple of times as at first it was pushing the arm rests in a bad way so we took it off and put the backs of the sofa between so it would actually be resting on them and not the arms. This worked well.

 

Bacon and egg for me, peanut butter for her

By this time (9.20 am) I was starting to get a bit hungry so I went in to make a fry up. A wasn’t in the mood for a full bacon and egg butty so I made her some toast which she covered in a huge amount of peanut butter. We sat down with a brew and rested and ate with pleasure. We had reached a point where it would be nice to have Loz arrive soon but were not expecting him for another half an hour or so.

 

I look happy; I'm actually in pain

After the rest I felt good enough to make a start carrying the scaffolding poles round from the back garden to stack up on the drive next to Harrison, preparatory to loading them. A pulled Thomas out and across the driveway so I had space and then I set to. I did a load, then rested with a brew, then went out and did a load more and pretty quickly actually they were all out the front, in organised piles, and ready for putting Loz to get there to help stack them on the right hand side of the van. Towards the end of this process, after having had gorgeous clear weather all morning, it started to snow and shortly after that this turned to rain which set in for the rest of the day; not ideal packing weather and quite annoying as it would mean the scaffolding poles were soaked in Harrison. Never mind, there was nothing we could do about that.

 

Loz watching as I strap up the stacked items

I had been watching my phone but not that closely, to see if Loz has text, but when he arrived he said he had got lost and it was only then I noticed his messages. Stupid me, if I had seen them he would have arrived earlier and could have helped me move the scaffold. We set him straight to work passing a few boxes into the van to fill some gaps and then we dragged the two huge awnings for S and S and balanced them atop the fridge freezer before finally getting the straps and securing the whole lot against toppling over.

 

A large amount of steel piled up

After this there was a short break (quite early in the piece for Loz but I was ready for one after my exertions with the scaffold) and then we went back outside and we put the whole scaffold into the back of the van without taking a break. The weather was getting horrendous by this point and poor Loz (he is from Spain, and he lives for the sun) was stuck out in it getting soaked through passing up pole after pole. We worked very well together, however, and the stack was perfect once we had completed the whole job. It was exactly as I envisaged, including three of the black-sacked kitchen units filling the gaps under the poles. The process of putting the units into the black sacks had been ongoing while we were loading the scaffold as A was working away like a Trojan to get it done for us.

 

Very proud of having packed everything in Harrison

Once we had loaded all the scaffold it was time for everything else and we kept at it with the same routine of a burst of activity, then sit down for a breather. In one of these breaks we had cake (as promised to Loz to reimburse him for his time) and this was a really tasty way to rest. Things stacked in nicely and exactly as I had planned, with the bubble wrapped kitchen doors sliding between the edge of the scaffold poles and the side of the van exactly as I envisaged. The knackered old mattress top laid nicely over the top of those same poles and acted to support the bits of kitchen unit and other stuff that was stuffed down the middle of the van. We lifted the two single seaters on top of the mattress then I carefully put some of the more delicate items on them packed down with the cushions and finally the bookshelf was secured with a strap, the office chair was stashed in and we were done. Look at how pleased and proud we look. What an awesome achievement!

 

The tyre pressing against the bodywork

Very low on its suspension

Everything fit in and there was even space for Rambo at the front. Harrison was at a very slight tilt from not being quite balanced but we had largely solved that by shifting some of the scaffold to the other side of the vehicle. It was only when I reversed him back towards the house so he wasn’t sticking out across the pavement that the big issue became glaringly obvious. I heard a really nasty squealing sound and pretty much immediately guessed what the problem was; the wheels were rubbing on the bodywork. This is not good; at any speed at all we would be facing two blow outs – they were touching both sides.

What a disaster.

 

Metal poles removed and van repacked; still too heavy

The day turned from a “we’ve finished by 1.30 pm and fit everything in isn’t it wonderful” success into a sudden “Oh no what are we going to do!” problem. The whole point of buying Harrison was to take this scaffolding back with us and now it looked like we wouldn’t be able to. Or rather, it looked like that was ALL we would be able to take. I pulled him back forwards very carefully so we could lower the tail lift easily again and looked at it, then we went inside for a cup of tea; such an English solution but it really does help. After sitting staring at the wall for a bit I decided that we would just have to take the scaffold back out and the rebalance the wood across the floor and see where we got to. It took an hour to do this, with Loz passing the poles out and me carrying them to the back garden. Again. Afterwards we did the rebalance and found that with the sofa and fridge freezer the suspension was still very low and there would be no chance of getting the kitchen in.

 

I've eaten all the chocolates and now I've collapsed

And so it was quite a dispirited group who sat down for a rest inside and waited for the awesome lasagne to be ready. This lasagne was the second part of the promise to Loz in return for his assistance and he was a star all day; with the mistake with the load weight we would have been totally screwed without him; it was only getting so much done so quickly (and to be fair myself and A starting so early) that meant we had time to rearrange things before it got dark. I had been wolfing down chocolates all afternoon as my plan to finish early and relax all afternoon fell apart but the lasagne went down so very well even if I was too tired to eat a huge amount.

So we were left trying to work out what to do. We had taken the metal poles out and also the actual units for the kitchen with only the kitchen doors packed and still there was very little space around the tyres in case of bumps or potholes; a serious issue for the roads we would be driving on. There appeared to be loads of space above each wheel for the suspension it was just the actual body work curved round and across in above the outer tyre meaning the rub occurred. I had the idea of getting a hacksaw blade and cutting the fibreglass away inside above each wheel so there would not be a problem should the suspension compress but this felt like a bit of a risky proposition. Who knew but maybe this design of the bodywork was there to prevent you overloading the vehicle and, if it was overloaded, that could cause problems on the journey if we were asked to go on a weighbridge.

After Loz headed off I went into the bath and soaked in super hot water with loads of Radox muscle relaxant, a pint of beer, and a good book and stayed there for about an hour, topping it up every now and then when the temperature dropped. I really needed to do this. I was by this time feeling really foolish about the whole exercise. I had decided that we would have scaffold to take back and then gone and bought Harrison to take the scaffold back and then collected other things which we now wanted just as much as the scaffold like the sofas and the cooker and the kitchen and now it looked like the original plan, to take scaffold back with us, was a bust.

When I got out of the bath A was asleep on the sofa and so I joined her and we started talking about our options. We discussed getting a trailer (I had decided on Friday night that if everything didn’t fit physically we would just get a trailer to be brought over when I drive on my own) but finding one that was big enough to take the scaffold poles and kichen units however we were still left with the fact the suspension was low and we’d need to cut out above the wheels to prevent blowouts at speed. Then the talk turned to the discarded plan to get a cherry picker and I realised that the attempt to avoid having another trailer had put me into a tunnel vision where I refused to consider all other options. I had a lovely chat with my parents on the phone towards the end of the evening and they told me the same thing, and while we chatted about the potential of them driving with me with the trailer it wouldn’t really work out as their time is limited and driving across Europe twice would mean that they’d only get about a week in between.

Today I searched for cherry pickers for sale in Bulgaria (as of today there were eleven on a well known website in the entire country) and then turned to Greece and I found one about 350km from the Old School and at a reasonable price. I cast around in my mind for someone who speaks Greek and thought of my mate Stu who immediately rang the guy and found he spoke English so I rang him back. It was a strange conversation where he refused to do a cash on delivery deal, but would be very happy to deliver if I came to have a look at it first. I have left it that I will ring him when we arrive and maybe drive over to view it then, with him delivering it as well.

 

The load waiting for Loz to help remove the planks

So after all that it looks like I need to sell this scaffold I was so excited about and of course this means that the boards need to come out of Harrison; yet more packing is to be done. This evening as soon as I got back from the office we sorted out the kitchen units into the front room then unloaded the light stuff from the back of Harrison. Loz, bless him, is going to come past again tomorrow evening to give us a lift off of the planks and assist moving the sofa  and fridge/freezer again. Hopefully with all the scaffold out we can manage to get everything else in, weight wise, but if not I’ll just be left with some kitchen units to go into Thomas for my drive which is not a hardship; we’ll be focusing on the bulky items not the heavy ones tomorrow.

I’ll leave it there now and either update what happens tomorrow (today as you’re reading this) at the weekend or maybe if it is another saga you’ll get another “out of band” update this week. Aren’t you lucky lucky people.