Tues.17.10.06. The morning’s efforts have centred upon phoning the final order for Paddocks, contacting Revington Sports who can supply 150lbs front springs for £43.00 and TRGB of London who have a stainless steel 4 branch manifold plus a big bore exhaust system for £325.00. The chassis has been stripped down, inverted in preparation for a last rub down before rust proofing and painting with Hammerite. Later in the afternoon I transported the gearbox to Neil of ‘Preston gearbox repairs’.
His brief is to investigate the actual condition of the box assessing the cost of repair or rebuild. Meanwhile Chris with Preacher Steven was having another blast with the Discovery on the land. All went well until the same boggy patch was re-discovered dragging the four wheel leviathan leisurely into the black swamp completely covering the axles. The two intrepid explorers trudged back to David’s farm to pick up Steven’s van leaving the sad ‘Disco’ to the elements of the night. Coincidently, it has not stopped raining since; speculation continues to grow as to how far the vehicle has travelled down the river Douglas. The consensus in the Oak was that it would probably be wedged under the passenger bridge adjacent to Tesco.
There was a full squad in the Oak that evening, with Doc’s band rehearsing, Billy Green, Ian Thornley and Les Hilton were swelling the ranks, Captain Salty, Jamie and his girlfriend Alex with large ones were present together with Knocker, Lowtie, Steven the Preacher and his wife Carol, Jimmy the Axe, David and the distraught Adele. Earlier Knocker was elaborating about his last trip to Dubai where his primary role was one of ‘ice breaker’ for Lewis, Gleeson and Hampo. His directive was to sweet talk, cajole, but mainly entrap a congregation of the local ‘honeys’ around himself until the others suavely swooped down to claim the spoils, leaving the luckless, puzzled Knocker sucking his thumb. “Just because they all play rugby overtly brandishing their ‘gay’ physiques shouldn’t mean they get all the ladies; just wait and see, before we go next November I’m going to get fit, lose my kench, become a rippling hulk, that’ll show ‘em!” claimed Knocker confidently, whilst gently sipping his white wine spritzer.
Lowtie having returned from a ten day trip to Sardinia wanted to catch up on the past weeks gossip, so he was instantly informed of Doctor Dave’s latest depraved sexual adventures with Rita the ‘ginger minger’ as well as his resignation from the university, which had transpired whilst defending a colleague. He had stormed into the principals office kicking over a waste bin ‘righting off’ a plasma screen, he then proceeded to miss his flight to South Africa, having lost his keys to his flat he was not able to gain access to pick up his luggage. The escapade in the swamp was retold, but this time Steven, although not driving, was naturally, as before, blamed for the misadventure. But, tragically, the worst news had yet to be passed on. Only yesterday, Adele had been for her regular daily walk with Trudy her Labrador. The dog, being quite old, was usually assisted into the back of the car. The vehicle would be slowly reversed to the side of a sloping bank enabling the fragile animal to step into the boot space. Whilst carrying out this manoeuvre Adele had not noticed Trudy behind the car then, disastrously, ran over the poor animal. Even a mercy dash to the local vet could not save her, she had to be put down. To lose a well loved pet due to natural causes is distressing enough but to have a hand directly in its demise or ‘murder’ must be impossible to accept. The sad news had quietened the pub so Jo and I left, after a brief chat with poor Adele, the dog slayer.
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