Yet again, the blog has been taking a back seat. Well moving forward from October 2018;
Kev and Leah had a new kitchen installed and knocked down the adjoining wall to the living room. We had our usual tour of the country for our holiday in 2019, buggy race events as and when they occurred. Simon had decided he wasn't going to continue with accompanying me to the events as they were just becoming monotonous. I managed the odd local run out on the bike occasionally.
We decided we'd take the motor-home down for the Christmas week in 2019, with Simon joining us. The plan was to use the MH as an extra bedroom for Jane and I, with Simon using K&L's spare room. That was the plan ....
We set off on the 23rd with the intention of spending a week with K&L, we got as far as just South of Junction 40 (Penrith) on the M6 around 11:30am, when the MH died, we made it over to the hard shoulder and called for the recovery services. Initially they responded within about 40 minutes, sending a pickup truck towing a tri-axle trailer on the back. The driver prepped the trailer, ran out the winch line, started to draw the MH onto the trailer when it became apparent that the MH's length was grounding out at the rear end before we were anywhere near the fulcrum point of the trailer. The recovery guy decided they'd need to abandon that idea and requested a tow vehicle to tow us to the next services (point of safety), Tebay Services. After the best part of an hour a van finally arrived, drew a tow bar out of the back of the van and hooked us up. We set of for the Service station. It did make 50mph, dropping to 35 on the uphill stretches. We never left the hard shoulder for some reason, with all the shit off the road constantly pummeling the front of the MH. When we finally got to Tebay and parked up in the long vehicle area, the driver informed us he'd rarely gotten out of 3rd gear during the 17 mile trek down to Tebay. Anyway we had opted to get recovered back home, no point in going all the way down to K&L's, to then try and find a repair venue that would do it during the week we were scheduled to stay with them. Plan B was to get back home, transfer as much of our load as we could into my Octavia estate and set off again the following morning. It then transpired that the recovery team, that the insurance providers use for that area, didn't have a raised platform beaver tail type recover truck, hence why they'd initially sent out the tri-axle trailer. Obviously it was impracticable to tow us the 100 miles or so back home on the back of their van so they organised for a beaver tail to come across from Darlington, near Scotch Corner to take us back up the road to home. Needless to say that involved another delay of around 1 1/2 hours til that vehicle got to us. Anyway he got us loaded on the back and we set off for home arriving around 6:30pm. The recovery guy was brilliant, apart from his endless narrative of his life story all the way home, when we got to our house he was happy to reverse down our drive and decant the MH in it's usual spot at the gable end of the house.
After a takeaway meal, Simon and I fitted an old set of Roof bars from the garage (Kev had my original ones down at his house, they were due to come back home after that trip). Anyway we cobbled a couple of old bars together, fitted the roof box, loaded the car with all the presents etc., ready for setting off the next morning. It was obvious early on that Harvey wouldn't be able to occupy his usual area in the back of the estate so it was decided he'd need to share the foot-well in the front with Jane. We finally arrived at K&L's mid afternoon on Christmas eve. The sleeping arrangements were rehashed, with Simon making a bed each night on K&L's new sofa in the lounge and Jane & I having the spare room bed, we managed OK, Simon said the couch was comfortable enough.
That wasn't the end of it however. We'd decided that there was no rush in getting the MH repaired as it wouldn't be used again until the spring. Ian, the mechanic I use was briefed that it was a similar issue to the diesel pump failure 18 months previously and preliminary booked for around April to do the necessary repairs. That didn't go to plan though, as he had moved premises since the start of the year and he didn't have the same space facility to store the van while it was being worked on. He was hopeful of getting more room but that failed to materialise, hence it's still sitting here like a lame duck. Another local guy in the village is hopeful of doing it at some point when he can schedule it in. We'll wait and see!
Other than that, 2020 consisted of the Covid 19 pandemic as it evolved through the year. I started working from home full time in March, never been near the office since! the way things are going, it may well be the case that I'll retire from work completely, from my home office desk in August later this year!
We decided we'd take the motor-home down for the Christmas week in 2019, with Simon joining us. The plan was to use the MH as an extra bedroom for Jane and I, with Simon using K&L's spare room. That was the plan ....
We set off on the 23rd with the intention of spending a week with K&L, we got as far as just South of Junction 40 (Penrith) on the M6 around 11:30am, when the MH died, we made it over to the hard shoulder and called for the recovery services. Initially they responded within about 40 minutes, sending a pickup truck towing a tri-axle trailer on the back. The driver prepped the trailer, ran out the winch line, started to draw the MH onto the trailer when it became apparent that the MH's length was grounding out at the rear end before we were anywhere near the fulcrum point of the trailer. The recovery guy decided they'd need to abandon that idea and requested a tow vehicle to tow us to the next services (point of safety), Tebay Services. After the best part of an hour a van finally arrived, drew a tow bar out of the back of the van and hooked us up. We set of for the Service station. It did make 50mph, dropping to 35 on the uphill stretches. We never left the hard shoulder for some reason, with all the shit off the road constantly pummeling the front of the MH. When we finally got to Tebay and parked up in the long vehicle area, the driver informed us he'd rarely gotten out of 3rd gear during the 17 mile trek down to Tebay. Anyway we had opted to get recovered back home, no point in going all the way down to K&L's, to then try and find a repair venue that would do it during the week we were scheduled to stay with them. Plan B was to get back home, transfer as much of our load as we could into my Octavia estate and set off again the following morning. It then transpired that the recovery team, that the insurance providers use for that area, didn't have a raised platform beaver tail type recover truck, hence why they'd initially sent out the tri-axle trailer. Obviously it was impracticable to tow us the 100 miles or so back home on the back of their van so they organised for a beaver tail to come across from Darlington, near Scotch Corner to take us back up the road to home. Needless to say that involved another delay of around 1 1/2 hours til that vehicle got to us. Anyway he got us loaded on the back and we set off for home arriving around 6:30pm. The recovery guy was brilliant, apart from his endless narrative of his life story all the way home, when we got to our house he was happy to reverse down our drive and decant the MH in it's usual spot at the gable end of the house.
After a takeaway meal, Simon and I fitted an old set of Roof bars from the garage (Kev had my original ones down at his house, they were due to come back home after that trip). Anyway we cobbled a couple of old bars together, fitted the roof box, loaded the car with all the presents etc., ready for setting off the next morning. It was obvious early on that Harvey wouldn't be able to occupy his usual area in the back of the estate so it was decided he'd need to share the foot-well in the front with Jane. We finally arrived at K&L's mid afternoon on Christmas eve. The sleeping arrangements were rehashed, with Simon making a bed each night on K&L's new sofa in the lounge and Jane & I having the spare room bed, we managed OK, Simon said the couch was comfortable enough.
That wasn't the end of it however. We'd decided that there was no rush in getting the MH repaired as it wouldn't be used again until the spring. Ian, the mechanic I use was briefed that it was a similar issue to the diesel pump failure 18 months previously and preliminary booked for around April to do the necessary repairs. That didn't go to plan though, as he had moved premises since the start of the year and he didn't have the same space facility to store the van while it was being worked on. He was hopeful of getting more room but that failed to materialise, hence it's still sitting here like a lame duck. Another local guy in the village is hopeful of doing it at some point when he can schedule it in. We'll wait and see!
Other than that, 2020 consisted of the Covid 19 pandemic as it evolved through the year. I started working from home full time in March, never been near the office since! the way things are going, it may well be the case that I'll retire from work completely, from my home office desk in August later this year!
Luckily we and our siblings have managed to avoid the virus and hope to continue to do so. Onward into yet another year, let's see what this one brings with it ....
