The plan was simple: borrow Sarah's parent's campervan, drive down on Friday evening to the village where our friends were being married the next day, sleep over, get up in the morning, have a nice breakfast, explore the area a bit, do the wedding, sleep over, then have Sunday to do touristy things with a few of the others who were staying over after the wedding, sleep over, and come back Monday morning.
However, it did not go to plan.
The scene: I, with my family, are in a Little Chef. Jean, bless her, has got food all over herself, so I go out to the van, in the car park, to get wet wipes.
I unlock the back, hop in, go to the box of stuff, and start rooting about for wipes. I feel a slight motion, and wonder if it's strong wind rocking the van, or if somebody bumped into it while getting into an adjacent car as I continue to root. Then I feel a bigger rocking motion, and look outside to, to my horror, see the world moving... the van's rolling backwards, with me in the cargo bay and nobody in the front!
Would anyone listern? No. So as a result the van is well and truelly stuck along the side of the drive.
It all started with the fact that we have been flooded so flood precuations are taking place in the normal parking area so we had parked in front of the greenhouse but then Barbara was having a tea party and her guestys needed to park so the van had to go otherwise the guests would have to park on the grass which obviously wasn't on so the van had to park on the grass. I said it wouold get stuck and was assured that parking along the gradient would mean it wouldn't get stuck.
We got stuck.
We where therefore late for cubs becuase even though we had left extra time for towing out etc... the towing rope snaped and after a bit of a hoohar we transfered our stuff to Barbaras car and headed off. All was then fine until my scouts arrived - we were supposed to go to the village pound to float new year lanterns but alas I had left the reflective jackets in the van along with torches etc... on top of that lots of the kids failed to turn up in outdoor clothing and I was already concerned about the fact it had rained so much - I was waiting for Al to finish cubs properlly in order to send him out on a recky of the area when one of the perants told me it was so bad down there that she wouldnt be happy for her kid to go - it was at this point I realised I'd left the jackets and that behind anyway.
I was very annoyed with myself but I think the lanterns still worked well inside in bowls of water - fortunatly I'd planned for incase we had bad weather.
Still the van is stuck and we are now hoping that the builders are going to help us get it unstuck - SIGH. Still it turns out we have a Roman Urinal 
but more on that later!
I'm back in Cranham after another week away. I came back late on Friday, and the first thing we did Saturday morning was go and pick the van up from Holbrook Garage, where it had been in for some minor repairs: the reversing lights had stopped working, the right headlight was being intermittent (sidelight and full beam mode worked OK, but when set to dip, it was merely sidelight-bright, but sometimes it worked OK), and the coolant temperature gauge only ever read above 'very cold' when we were sat in a creeping traffic jam in bright sunlight for a few hours.
All niggling little things that I had wanted fixed for a long time, and had had brief attempts to fix myself, but now we have some money coming in, fixing niggling little problems like that is on the cards once more (before they become expensive problems).
The van was ready and waiting for me, and the first thing we noticed as Sarah and I set off down the M5 for a day out was that the temperature gauge did indeed rise until it gratifyingly pointed to "Normal":
It's nice to know you're normal.
Anyway, we proceeded to visit Bristol for lunch and a walk about, then headed over to explore Weston Super Mare and see the seaside (even though it's not really the sea per se, it's the Severn Estuary), before making our way back home.
Then on Sunday we took Jean out. We tried to go to Bristol Zoo, but all the car parks were full, which lead us to suspect it would not be a pleasant time to visit, so instead we walked around Bristol again with her.
We came across a green square, where some air cadets where dismantling a glider and putting it in its trailer, while some army cadets were taking down a portable climbing wall. I presume there had been some kind of event on, which we had missed, but Jean was entranced by the glider. She demanded to go and see it, shouting "Plane! Plane!". Afterwards, we saw some people doing acrobatic leaps in the square, and Jean tried to copy them, which was rather cutely comical, too.
We had a relaxing weekend, since we'd both had a hard week beforehand (I worked all day and spent most of my evenings in a data centre fixing things!), and we have a hard week ahead of us.
Which I am now starting... with a bad cold. Sigh...
Wednesday - the Rainbow man came and drilled wholes in our floor and concluded that we are still quiet wet.
Thursday - stomache v.v.v. bad wondering if boiling the spring water is actually killing the e-coli that resides within.
Friday - Barbara tripped over the leads of one of the fans that are drying her house out and hits her head and shoulder queit badly.
The weekend was fine as Alaric was about and so dispersed mine and my dads bad luck fields. Except for Sunday when we discovered that there may have been a double booking of the hall cuasing an issue with Cubs and Scouts.
Monday - broke Moo Cow glass that my friend Helen got me for my birthday yonks ago. Chipped one of the mugs that belongs to the nice set we got as a wedding pressant whilst unloading it at the Big Yellow.
Tuesday - Discovered that the Doctors have lost my blood tests so I have to have it all done again including starving. Discover that Jean has head lice and whilst out getting nit stuff the van breaks down and I discover that my RAC card is not where I thought it was. I trip over the rolled up carpet in the mill and jar my pelvis so that it is once again going clickity click. Confirmed issue with the Hall for cubs and Scouts - start trying to contact everybody.
Wednesday - Jean wakes me up with cries of 'Mummy, oh dear poo! Mummy oh dear water wet, Mummy oh dear cot floor icky yuck.' She had had a server containment breach of the nappy kindwhich resulted in bath, and all bedding washed including, 'MY TEDDY! Bear, bear no!' Teddy and bear and hopsital bear and kitten and Mrs Seal all had to go into the washing machine somehting that Jean was most indignant about with tears an' all.
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