Insurance, what insurance??
Well, we are back home after the shortest summer non-adventure imaginable, I’ve been to the doc and had an ECG which apparently indicated no problem so now I have been referred to a consultant cardiologist. The NHS of course takes time its wonders to perform and that appointment is not till the end of November (junior doctors dispute allowing of course). If we stay in UK till after the cardiologist appointment we may be here all winter so we have booked a ferry to St Malo on the 21st September and intend to fly back from where-ever for a couple of days to attend that and any subsequent appointments. It will of course mean we will be unable to get travel insurance while under medical investigation but our EHIC will cover virtually all medical problems except death. Repatriation of a body can cost upwards of €20,000.00 (£16932.88) while the cost of a cremation funeral around €2000.00 (£1693.28) and the ashes can be brought home in the caravan. So if the big exit happens while we are away I will not expect you to attend the funeral but will most definitely expect you to attend the “coming home” party.
Visiting relatives
Before we go away each time we try to visit as many relatives as possible. This time it’s the turn of those in t’north, not quite as altruistic as it sounds as we have to go that way to collect our new mattress. We went to the manufacturer who made the original (and all Bailey caravan mattresses) but the new one has been made to a quality not, as the Bailey normal, to a price. It is pocket sprung with a 2” memory foam topper and one inch longer than the original, there are one or two other changes to the original but they are of even less interest to you than the afore going (update - having used the mattress for a while it is all we hoped it would be). We have been to visit Sue’s nephew and his family in Lincolnshire and afterwards her niece Lisa and her family in Yorkshire. While in Lincolnshire we stayed at a very pleasant commercial site (Camping & Caravan Club listed site) called LOW FARM TOURING & CAMPING PARK in Folkingham. We have been visiting Club sites less and less over the last year or two and commercial sites more and more. While you cannot fault the cleanliness of the club sites there seems to have been a move lately to make petty rules and employ “jobsworth” wardens while the commercial sites have to make reasonable rules and do everything they can to encourage visitors if the are to survive and prosper.
We had a very pleasant visit with Teresa and the children and a breakfast meeting with Gary as while we were in the area he was working 11am till 11pm - we like a good breakfast!
As always when we travel north we stopped four days at the BIRLEY ARMS to put unneeded stuff into the container and take desperately needed stuff (that we will probably put back next time) out.
From Lancashire we travelled east to Yorkshire to visit Gary’s sister Lisa and her family where we stayed on a CS we have used before - SMITHY HOUSE a great CS with outstanding views across the Yorkshire countryside. Lisa and family came to the caravan for dinner. Sadly our chosen menu was everything they don’t like, still we paid a return visit to them a couple of days later and are pleased to say they supplied everything we do like.
Yorkshire is a beautiful county but with the little time we had we were able to visit just one landmark, the BRONTE WATERFALL. Not the biggest or most spectacular waterfall in the world but very attractive nevertheless.
Back in Little Henham for a few days we have been continuing preparations to flee south for the winter. Teeth have been checked and ears syringed some of the repairs have been done to the caravan as well as it’s annual service during which Steve, the service engineer, noted that, at just three years old, the tyres were cracking on the side walls so they had to be replaced. £290.00 to replace something that without close examination looked brand new. For the cynics among you the service engineer does not sell, fit or recommend any particular tyre company so has nothing to gain by condemning the old tyres.
The BIG Wedding
We then moved to a London CL to attend the wedding of the year. This was the long awaited marriage between one of my nieces Geraldine and her long term boyfriend Andrew. The entire wedding took place at Forest School in Leytonstone where they met over seventeen years ago. Forest, a public school in the heart of the east end of London boasts a superb chapel where the actual wedding took place and a Hogwarts style refectory where the wedding breakfast and other festivities occurred. All in all a superb start to married life and we wish them both all the very best.
We travelled from the wedding to Derbyshire to get the caravan re-upholstered, staying the night before work began at a site in Leicestershire MIDSHIRES BARN. Arriving at REGAL FURNISHINGS around 1.00pm we were introduced to the company proprietor, Barry, who showed us round the factory and some examples of the work they could do, before being taken to the fabric store and left to choose our favourite fabric. We eventually chose a very nice blue grey fabric to which I thought a leather trim would look nice. Of course being a mere man the leather I chose was deemed by both Sue and Barry to be not quite right so between them they came up with a grey leather that went beautifully. So with the upholstery decided it was obvious that the original curtains were no match at all so off we went to the curtain department. Barry and the curtain maker made a number of suggestions and we eventually settled for a pale yellowy beige that complimented everything - we hoped. Although lots of people came into the van with tape measures when the factory closed at 4.30 that evening nothing of significance had changed.
Early to bed . . . . with the factory open at 7.30 in the morning by 7.45 we had been turfed out for the day and were on our way to breakfast at a local all you can eat hotel followed by the most exciting day a chap can have - not!! - dragging round the shops window shopping. We got back to the caravan early afternoon and after stepping inside went out again to check we were in the right van and we were! What a fabulous job they had done, even including two leather trimmed cushions.
From Regal Furnishings we returned to Midshires Barn for a second night from where we had to rush back down south to get two caravan widow blind cassettes replaced (the ones damaged in the fire) and to pick up our new (to us) car, which I haven't mentioned before because it was rather an impulse buy. We went in to arrange a “short” service before we went away and saw a car on the forecourt, OK it’s the same as the one we have, even the colour is the same, but a later model just eighteen months old and with far less miles on the clock than the old one, it is more environmentally friendly so the road tax is less. The new car also has a smaller but more powerful engine so consumes less diesel per mile than the old one - well those are just some of the arguments used to persuade management to allow me to buy it. All I had to do then was get the reg. numbers changed over. Oh yes and I had the rear suspension beefed up as I did with the last one.
I almost forgot, before my cardiac consultant appointment he has asked that I have an Echo Cardiogram thats now been done and with one last, sad, thing to do we have booked a ferry to St Malo in France and will drive down through the regions of Brittany, Pays De La Loire and Aquitaine Limousin Poitou-Charentes into Spain.
The last sad event is the funeral of a special lady that despite having no blood or marriage ties to our family has, we have all always felt, to be part of it. Carol will be sadly missed.