And tomorrow we are off

Jackie and her mum tackle the Telegraph cryptic crossword

North or south? After much chat with Nicky in Scotland, we are going south. The operation went well, though took much longer than expected, she went home yesterday, Tony’s mum and dad are there for another week by which time she’ll be out of the brace and weight bearing enough to crutch or zimmer. They know they only have to ask and we’ll be back across the channel and up to them as soon as Ted can make it.

We cleaned and flushed through Ted’s water system, though we don’t drink water out of the 120 litre tank we do clean our teeth, shower, wash up and occasionally cook with it, so worth doing once a year. We filled the new gas bottle, last year we had two 6kg ones, this year we have a 6 and an 11, just to take a bit of the pressure off. We’ve packed probably far too many clothes, stocked up on curry spices and tins of beans and chickpeas (amongst other things) and sorted out the skiing gear, just in case.

We went round to see Sarah and John, to see how she is. She is remarkably chipper, chemo starts next week, but she is taking everything in her stride. We’ll be thinking of you. We also went to collect the green card from the insurance and the emissions sticker for Germany, came away with much other useful post but forgot them, just as well she’s only round the corner!

We’ve ‘fixed’ the car. We noticed when coming back from my brother after the hideously wet journey down from Scotland that the car would occasionally go into limp mode. We tried to ignore it and hope it would go away. Hopefully if water had got in somewhere it would dry out, but no. Out with Mr.Google then.

The top pin in the socket is black and corroded

“Does it only happen when you indicate right?” I asked “don’t be stupid “ was basically his response... until he tried it. Who knew that a dodgy connection in the right rear light cluster could cause the engine to go into limp mode? He took it to pieces, cleaned it up, made it worse before making it better, and then fixed it! Just as well really as he thinks the problem would have been there with the lights on too although we don’t drive much after dark, the nights are drawing in! Not to mention that actually we’ve lent the car to Abi. Hers may be terminal. Her mechanic mate has had a good look at it, but it’s still poorly. Sooty needs collecting from her fortnight of radiation therapy to try to sort out her thyroid, and how do you look for a new car without a car?

The second hole from the right is a bit burnt, leading to a bad connection in the rear RH light on the car. It caused the engine to lose power when the right indicator was operated. Who's have thought? Its cleaned, reset and working properly now

We’ve eaten well this week, Monday we were at the Weighbridge before Bill joined us for a pint. Tuesday we went over to Fiona and James to hear all about their holiday and the wedding plans. We had a lovely evening, Becky too came to dinner, so we heard about her new studio apartment, Jenny told us a bit about Disney, but the main topic of conversation was the wedding, 2022 with many plans already made! Fab to see such excitement from someone who not so long ago said she was never getting married again!

Wednesday we had a curry in the village with Mum, and a walk round the visiting “Mop Fair” rides and amusements squeezed into every available, and some you wouldn’t have thought available, space throughout the village. Alex popped in to say hi, looking so well, it was lovely to see her. She met Ted, so came back the following evening with Rob, so he could have a look round too.

Thursday we actually ate in as we are tonight while yesterday was also curry night, at Diwans with Helen and Ian. Brian is smelling of garlic beside me, despite not having his favourite garlic fried rice! Hmm, looking forward to living back in Ted!

All in all a good, but very busy, both socially and productively, week. So tyres fitted yesterday and ferry booked, Calais here we come, though this time we will turn left instead of right and a whole new adventure.

Big Ted up on ramps having his new all season tyres fitted. Sorry, the photos on this blog entry are really boring, I just didn't get round to taking any. Didn't take any at Fiona and James', none of the Mop fair in the village, none of Alex and Rob or with Ian and Helen at Diwans. Must get more organised!

So instead, here's the vaguest of plans once we get across the channel. We've spent about 3 weeks planning our South Africa trip down to the last detail and about 2 hours planning our 2 month trip to Germany that starts tomorrow. A couple of stops in Belgium, follow the Rhine down from Dusseldorf and then the Romantic Road towards Austria. Thought about going into Austria but its all too hard. For our vehicle, over 3.5T we have to get an electronic 'Go-Box', submit to the authorities and enter all the emission info for Big Ted on it and we then get charged per km on the motorways. That's very complicated, so we're not going to bother. At Fusson we'll either turn right, as shown and head back up through the Black Forest and Luxembourg, or turn left and head back up through eastern Germany. Depends on how slow we travel on the first part and what the weathers like.