So a few folk have mentioned we should write regular blogs but up until now we haven’t felt the content would be worth reading (I’m sure there will be those who still think that after reading this!).
Possibly not the best blog to start with but what a few days it’s been! What was meant to be a straight forward drive South to deliver a car on Wednesday then collect another one and home on Thursday turned into anything but!
The first issue happened on Wednesday heading south on the M42 with the trailer loaded. Around Solihull area one of the trailer wheel bearings collapsed and I was forced to pull over into an emergency lay-by. After a 2 hour wait for the AA a local recovery agent showed up at about 8pm to get me off the motorway, this was never going to be an easy task with an immobile loaded trailer wider than his recovery truck! Mark from Egertons Recovery Group was absolutely excellent though. He went above and beyond to make sure I got off the motorway safely and was then an immense help in terms of recommending who to contact and where to get the trailer repaired in the area. I can’t thank Mark enough for all his help, a real genuine good guy and refreshing to meet.
So after getting off the motorway safely the next issue was how to deliver the car. Again helped by very nice customers who arranged a taxi back to the stranded trailer for me after delivery. Now to find a hotel for the night! Safe to say both the taxi driver and the Premier Inn pulled my pants down given the last minute and late night nature of the requests!
Thursday morning was spent sourcing trailer parts and a hire trailer. Thanks to Indespension West Midlands and Coventry Trailer Hire I was able to continue south to Salisbury to collect the car on Thursday afternoon and then drive back to Solihull. Another night in the Premier Inn, significantly cheaper than the previous night as well!
Friday morning and the hire trailer was unloaded and returned and it was a waiting game on the parts arriving to repair our trailer. They eventually did arrive late on Friday afternoon and I am eternally grateful to those who worked late on Friday night to get the trailer back mobile again. So by the time I’m loaded up and ready to head north it is 11pm on Friday night, great I thought, quiet roads should make for a smooth hassle free journey home...unfortunately my pickup had other ideas! About half way home my pickup decided it wasn’t happy just burning diesel and decided it wanted to burn coolant as well! After emptying the contents of the expansion tank onto the hard shoulder of the M6 I was able to get enough back in the system to get me to the next services. And so the game continued, how far did I dare to go between coolant refills? I think at one point I passed two consecutive services, either I was getting braver or my risk taking nature was getting the better of me!
I eventually made it home at 5am on Saturday morning, where my welcome wasn’t as warm as I expected! However I fell asleep whilst Sarah was in the middle of giving me a roasting! Any neighbours listening would have thought I deliberately sabotaged the trip for a few days peace and quiet... she’s not due for another 4 weeks anyway!
We’re all about overcoming challenges but hopefully our next blog won’t have contained quite as many in such a short period of time!
