… day today.
There I was, sitting in the library reading my book, almost close to lunchtime, and my phone rang. Sure enough, the money has been received and I can no go and rescue the mini-digger.
So just like Janet in Tam Lin
Round the corner to Daventry and Brian James Trailers for my new trailer. And here I was in luck. I should have picked it up a week ago but it wasn’t ready. But here I am, with a trailer and a free gift of two heavy duty ratchet straps.
I”ll need those for holding the digger onto the trailer – in fact I’d just bought a couple at Screwfix but the more the merrier and these are certainly good stuff – better than anything I’ve ever had.
Stuck to 90 kph with the trailer now, so I wasn’t as quick to Droitwich as I might have been. Terry had ordered a huge ladder from the ladder company here so I heaved that on the roof rack. There was space.
Of course, it was Birmingham and the M6/M5 interchange in the rush hour, wasn’t it? The last thing that I wanted. But it couldn’t be helped. “Hier stehe ich – ich kann nicht anders” as Martin Luther was once famously heard to say.
It was 20:10 when I arrived at Accrington via Bacup, and by 20:30 I was on the road again.
But it wasn’t easy, to say the least.
The trailer is a lightweight car transporter so it only has two aluminium channels for the car wheels, and the track is far too wide for the digger.
We improvised with a heavy-duty scaffolding plank but the weight was far too offset to the outside.
While driving round right-hand bends was a dream, driving round left-hand bends was interesting to say the least, with the left-hand trailer wheels lifting.
It was a slow drive. But at least Terry’s big ladder was safe.
We then had to find my booking reference to amend the booking to add on the trailer but I couldn’t find that either. After 15 minutes of fruitless searching on Keele Services and a phone call to Liz, I realised that I would never make it if I didn’t get a wiggle on.
I abandoned that idea at that point, best foot forward, and trust in the Lord. We’ll confront the issue when it arises
After an exciting drive down the M6,M1,M25 and M20, being fleeced something rotten at the Dartford Crossing, I made it Folkestone with just 10 minutes to spare.
They noticed the trailer of course (they would have been blind not to) and so that set me back another £78 – not to mention the fuel that Caliburn was consuming and the blasted Dartford Crossing.
I curled up in a corner of Caliburn’s cab. it’s late, I’m tired and I’ve not done half the trip yet.
