samba van.....

Last weekend went off rather well, the trip down a bit lively something that checking the air in the van tyres did nothing to calm.

The kids have decided our caravan is called Samba, because it did the samba all the way from by here to by there...

Festival itself was a bit of an unusual one in that the mad panics and rushes simply did not happen and I spent rather a lot of time listening to bands.

Of course about tea time my nose was running and by midnight I was in bed, unlike the kids.

But home we came and the dancing (with me by now feeling slightly off colour) got even more lively. Tallie didn't recognize the name Samba, said that all the way there and back I had glanced in the mirror occasionally and said ********** so he assumed it was called *******.

I can't really get my head round this caravan thing. I have towed some serious trailers in my time and none of them act up like this pesky little van.

Mind you normally I drive a big truck and pulling things in a van that weighs 3 tons tends to damp out a lot of the trailer gyrations, never mind the samba the trailer can do the hokey cokey and you don't feel a thing!

Next weekend it's another fest and I am seriously thinking of taking my big 4 wheel trailer, loading the caravan on that and unloading it when I get there.

But anyway.

Today, the mistress of all we owe money on decreed, was shopping day.

Being a new man, I rushed to assist and helped her round bookers making sure she bought beer and wine.

Being a true new man I thought I would spare her the boredom of going off to the motor cycle shop, selflessly I took Taliesin myself to sort out his CBT. That's the training you now have to do before you can ride anything on the road.

I think he sorted it, I am very keen on encouraging his independence skills, so I went and looked at things like Ducatis and Triumphs so as not to cramp his style.

Even more of a new man, having picked her up at Aldi I dropped her at Tesco and spared her the boring ordeal of going to have the air con on the 806 re gassed. Air conditioning systems have to be filled with coolant gas to work, a looming time in Brittany might be easier in a car with aircon.

So, the prime up started and all was sort of ok, until the refill. Nothing wanted to work no power anywhere.

By this time she had finished at tesco, Tallie might have phoned to remind me.

A few times...

You might recall that the 806 has been radically reconfigured to eliminate electronics.

So of course trying to make the aircon work became complex.

Everything had power but nothing worked.

Lot's of looking bemused and the main man realized there is a relay that stops the aircon working if you deploy the loud pedal.

Switches it off to give you an extra couple of gg's

It does this in close consultation with it's little friend the engine management computer, the one we had surgically removed with a set of wire cutters.

Affronted by such an outrage it was having a sulk.

Removing the relay sorted it.

I hate electronics aye....

R