All for the Best

I've often spoken here about a week being made up of distinct parts, each with its own - often totally different - characteristics.  Despite being a 'non-working' week, this one has been the same.  It fell into four distinct sections, but each of them had an element of pain, and an element of good despite the pain.

Take Monday, for example.  I took the van to the garage for a service, thinking that, while this was being done, I could concentrate on my preparations for a trip in the motor-caravan later in the week.  It wasn't even mid-morning when they rang to give me a whole list of things that needed doing ... in addition to the growling noise that I had complained of.  In the event, they attended to most of the other items on the list but, having decided that the noise was probably caused by the baffles in the silencer coming loose, but not being legally or mechanically essential just yet, this was parked for another time, 'to spare my bank balance'.  How thoughtful.

Also on the list was severe wear on all four tyres, which were now sadly in need of replacement.  I dealt with this in the afternoon and, while I waited for it to be done, I checked on the miles the old ones had done for me.  One pair had served for nearly 47,000 miles, and the others over 59,000, so I feel they've deserved their place in the heavenly tyre-mountain (or wherever they go to retire).

In the evening I enjoyed bellringing as usual, and afterwards came further pleasure as I thought to join the usual handful in the pub.  This week, however, one was tired, one hadn't had his tea after working overtime, and so on.  There finished up being just me and one other.  We had non-alcoholic beverages, and an intimate conversation about family life in a great many aspects.  Perhaps the most telling moment was as we parted outside the door: she had bought the drinks, but it was she who thanked me! I think it had been a useful time for each of us to unload some 'stuff' that clogs up clear thinking from time to time.

Tuesday was the first of a three-day visit to Sussex.  I had planned it to accommodate a visit to a motor-caravan centre near Hastings, where I had arranged to have a C-rail fitted to my vehicle enabling me to fit a drive-away awning when required.  They also provided a suitable awning, and the bits that fit in between.  While I was there, their workshop also overcame a problem I'd noticed earlier with an over-active cooling fan so, although of course I had to pay extra for this service, I was nonetheless satisfied.

I then drove just three miles down the road to an exclusive campsite (I say that because of the fees, rather than the facilities, which were good, but not outstanding).  Here I was able to try out my new purchase, managing after two hours of trial and error to erect it and fit it to the vehicle.  The most significant lesson learned was not to pitch it too close to the motorhome; by so doing there wasn't sufficient room to stretch the full 'tunnel' between the two, so there was an awful lot of flapping fabric to catch every passing breeze, never mind actual wind!

Wednesday was beautifully sunny from the word 'go'.  I had come equipped with all sorts of things that needed to be done, or which could fill an active mind while training the body to relax and enjoy tranquility, and during the course of the day, I managed to devote a little time to most of them, including picking up once more the 'Teach Yourself Welsh' course that I abandoned ... gosh! over forty years ago!  I wonder how long before it gets abandoned again?  I also went for a short walk in an attempt to discover why SatNav had taken me such a long way round, and through narrow lanes to get to the site, which was only about 200 yards off the main road.  I decided that it just didn't like the idea of turning from an A-road directly onto an unclassified road when there was a B-road within yards of the junction.  Unfortunately, the required route meant turning off this B-road after a short while when it bent in the opposite direction!

Late on Wednesday afternoon, I decided to take the awning down and attack the 'packing-it-away' challenge, which I knew might be difficult.  However, after only a minor struggle (and no more than I'd expect with things to be rolled up with air inside them) I fitted each part in its proper container and found space for the fabric in the rear locker and the poles in one of the inside cupboards.  This early effort eliminated the need for a delay yesterday morning waiting for it to dry, and then the time to dismantle it.

Thursday thus began with a leisurely tidying of the vehicle ready to travel, and a look at the map to see what other attractions might be nearby.  I found a preserved railway that, according to the internet, was 'in steam today'!  I got there in comfortable time to sample the fare at the refreshment room, purchase a small souvenir from the gift shop and then take a trip to the end of the line and back.  Here, I found the bonus.  As a Norfolk boy, I had undertaken a school project about our own WWI heroine, Nurse Edith Cavell, who was shot by the Germans in 1915 for helping allied soldiers escape from occupied Belgium.  Now at Bodiam station, I found preserved the goods wagon which had been used first to convey her body from Dover for a formal funeral at Westminster Abbey before it was buried at Norwich Cathedral, and then in two other similar repatriations, including the famous 'Unknown Soldier'.  Although the train only stopped long enough to move the engine from one end to the other, it was long enough for me to satisfy my photo album!

And today ... it's been a wet day.  My day began with a quick trip across the road to a convenient car spares store to buy a replacement bulb: not for either of my vehicles as such, but to provide the correct illumination for reading in bed when I'm using the motorhome.  I had noticed that the light fitting above the bed had two 'on' positions, but only one that worked. Investigation revealed that the source of light within was a simple 'stop and tail' bulb such as would fit an ordinary car.  Remedy was the work of minutes ... and then the rain started, leading to a day indoors, tidying loose ends ready for work again next week.