Some men we love and one we don’t
1.Phil Hall of Peake Caravans in Cambridge is top of our lovely men list- for being so calm and helpful when our little white caravan limped across his paddock and into his shed.
He fixed what had to be fixed, he took time to educate us about tow ball sizing, gas and water systems, and attached a fire extinguisher to the wall. He even revealed to us the spare tyre hiding underneath.
2.Eric our neighbour who leaped the fence with a single bound and turned the caravan with one tanned arm.
3.An unknown fellow traveller at Cruze’n’Stop in Thames who wrested the steering wheel from Danielle and backed us into our narrow site, avoiding the bollards and fence posts, all with a smile.
4.Another unknown visitor from Austria who solved the problem of the power to the caravan not working- he just shoved the plug in harder and on went the lights!
5.The manager of the Remuera Motor Lodge who overheard my anxiety about backing into the tight site. ‘I’ll do it for you, no worries’. To our admiring gaze, he swooped into the car, put his elbow out the window, and backed in with just one hand.
6. We did not love the driver of a Meals on Wheels van, who offered to help us put the car on the tow bar. His enthusiasm was so great he pulled the jockey wheel out of its casing, then drove off late, with his next meal of meat and gravy. It took two more kindly strongarmed men to hold the draw bar up high enough for me to try and slot the shaft back in again.
So we give thanks for the kindness of strange men, and the camaraderie of the road.
PS.
And then we thank the skilled and generous men in our family, Peter my dad, here celebrating 86 years. He and my mum, Jeanne, caravanned happily for over 40 years; brother Robert emptying the toilet cassette; and brother Steve here fixing the skylight.
Gaudiamus igitur……
