So this weekend has been less busy for us (and Hetty). During the course of last week we decided to invest in a new roof for Hetty. She is so spoilt. I think we will have to make it a late birthday present since I am sure there will be lots she wants (or rather needs) for Christmas. She already has a list as long as your arm.
On the last day of November, Hetty embarked on an epic journey to the lovely people who are going to fit her a new roof this week. We spent the weekend getting her ready for her maiden voyage with us (I am not including the time I moved her 2m on the driveway as a voyage).
Our tasks this weekend included a cab clean out. Dave did not like me chasing him around the garden with the old teabag I found but Scrabble loved the old bit of peach carpet we removed from under one of the seats and it became her favourite chew toy for about five minutes; it’s now in bits. There was another item I found that left me wretching slightly and I have a strong stomach. I shall leave this to your imagination!
Windows were cleaned, floors washed, carpets vacuumed. You’ve heard the term ‘polishing a turd’. Well, the less said about that the better. In my mind it looks a whole lot better and I was pleased with the outcome.
Scrabble and Koda seemed most put out that everything has been removed from the back and the comfy chair they previously used to look out of the window was no longer there, resulting in Koda staring out of the door and Scrabble sitting at the back of the van, looking sorry for herself.
Dave focussed on the more ‘manly activities’ such as refitting the floor boards we had taken up (but not before I had vacuumed all of the floor bearers), fixing the screen wash bottle and topping it up, checking the oil, etc. All the sort of things you should do before venturing on an epic journey. Dammit, I realised too late we forgot to check the tyre pressures or buy a large bag of boiled sweets.
Getting access to the radiator was proving to be a tad challenging, so the job was deferred to Sunday as we were fast approaching beer o clock. The last job for Saturday involved checking the lights, in case we needed to replace some bulbs. Houston we have a problem. Why oh why don’t the reverse lights work. Following a check of the bulbs we concluded it was definitely beer o clock and packed up for the day. Maybe we will leave this to the experts to fix, or better yet just never, ever reverse!
Prior to this, one night in the week Dave fitted the new isolator switch negating the need for further stuntman type action involving him holding two live wires together to get the engine going.
On Sunday Dave wrestled with getting access to the radiator and successfully topped it up with water and anti-freeze. He then tested the horn, seemingly disappointed it made the usual horn sound. A test of the screen wash found it all to be working well, so there was no risk of a accidentally squirting a pedestrian. The trade plates were put on. However, the most important and final task of the day was to stick on the brand new gecko shaped grapefruit air freshener. Fabulous. We were ready for the off tomorrow.
We both worked on Monday morning and had taken the afternoon off for our maiden voyage. Lunchtime found us topping Hetty up with 60 litres of diesel before Dave did the final mirror check. And we were off! A successful journey involving no major incidents (I’m counting repeated mirror adjustments because they came loose as a minor incident), apart from my increased blood pressure every time I saw Hetty get really close to the kerb, found us arriving somewhere in the middle of nowhere, vaguely near Malmesbury. So now we are back at home with a naked looking driveway, waiting to hear any news about Hetty’s new roof and anything else they may find along the way they think we should know about.
Leave a comment