Thursday 18 October 2012

Sensible Colour!

Having promised to catch up on a few posts, events took over and I had to make a trip to the UK. Well I didn't have too, but second-hand vehicles are generally cheaper in the UK, especially 4x4's.

Why a new 4x4 - well the other one had a bit of a mishap and was written off.  Oops! And a very expensive oops at that.  I must admit I wasn't fully paying attention and I think either the vehicle or the trailer got a puncture (both had punctures by the finish).  The car suddenly swerved to the right and although I hauled the steering wheel over it was too late and it hit a boulder (one of the biggest alongside this stretch of road).  I eventually slide to a halt and at first thought I'd escaped with just a damaged wheel. But after putting the spare wheel on I realised it was worse than I first thought - I just didn't realise how much worse - hence the write off!  The trailer was upside-down in the road but surprisingly the plasterboard survived the crash with only minor damage and I was able to use it still (well some good news then!). 
New 4x4 ( in the dark)
So I now have a new (2nd hand) 4x4.  And having said I didn't want a silver/grey vehicle because, one, it's not my favourite of colours(?) and two, the majority of vehicles are that colour (limited choice) I've ended it up with the most suitable colour for a Normandy smallholding - WHITE.  Now one thing about silver/grey is they don't show the dirt but where are all the bright coloured cars now?  Anyway hopefully vehicle wise I'm sorted now.

Whilst in the UK I stayed at Sally's (my sister) and on Sunday we went to Stanage Edge.  We choose not to take climbing gear as the weather looked like it would rain later (how wrong we were) and decided on a good walk.  The weather was great all the time and many were out enjoying the October sun to climb. Well we chose to walk, but it wasn't long before temptation took over and we did some bouldering.  

We walked down to Redmires Reservoirs (there may be a clue in the name to see where this is going) and had been told there was a path back to where the car was parked.  There wasn't.  Okay I know we should have had a map but.....  So there we were happily heading along a path in the right direction, towards the car, when it took a change of direction - for the worse.  As time was getting on we decided for the direction approach - or as I now call it 'bog walking'.  So whilst Rosie and the boys were enjoying a lovely autumn walk, my sister (well I sorry someone's got to take the blame!) took me bog walking.
Bog Walking

Fortunately we could take a bearing off the edge of Stanage Edge and headed for that.  This meant squelching through bogs, tramping through heather,  jumping streams and circumnavigating sheep poos.  This was followed by squelching through bogs, tramping through heather,  jumping streams, circumnavigating sheep poos and finally before getting back to the road (and car) we squelched through more bogs, tramped through more heather,  jumped another stream and circumnavigated a few more sheep poos and also found a few knee jarring holes.

And we finally made it back to the road.  Wet footed, and in my case disintegrated boots and very wet socks,  it was great.  Knackering but great.  Good walking, good views and lovely weather. I'd do it all again - well maybe not the knee jarring holes.

The rest of the 4 day stay was looking for a vehicle.  Very tiring. And I couldn't have done it without Sally's friend Neville.  He drove me to various auctions and car sales on Monday and Tuesday and it was a great help. A big thank you Neville.  And I promise I won't buy you another BCA coffee again! Ugh!  Though must admit the tea was okay and don't tell Rosie how many pies I had (yummy).

And talking of coffee - please Pumpkin (Derby Station) or Costas or BucksTax (nearly an anagram) of another seller of coffee who avoid paying taxes.  Please, I just want to order a coffee. I don't want a latte, or a cap-o-chino or an amer-i-can - I want a coffee.  I when I ask for a coffee I would like a coffee.  Believe it or not I went to the coffee bar and asked for a cup of coffee.  'We don't have coffee - would you like a latte or a cap-o-chino or and amer-i-can' was the reply.  'No I would like a coffee - black with milk?' I ask hopefully. 'No don't have that would you like a  latte or a cap-o-chino or and amer-i-can?'  'Is an amer-i-can like a filtered coffee - black?'  'Yes'  'Can I have one of those please - with cold milk.'  I nearly, very nearly, apologised to the man for the inconvenience I caused him, as he let out a huge sigh and said 'One amer-i-can COFFEE, with cold milk to go' to his colleague . And all because I wanted a coffee and not something that looks like - well nothing like a coffee.

1 comment :

  1. It's always a bit of a mission buying another vehicle, we have just done this ourselves.
    Re. the coffee, maybe you should ask for a 'long black' with a jug of milk, that's what we would ask for in NZ anyhow, not sure if they would understand this in the UK since it has been some time since I was there and we had a hard time finding a decent coffee...!

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