Mike
2017-04-16 10:13:39 UTC
Now you have all had chance to hear about David's huge bill for tractor
repairs, I thought you might like to hear about a similar sting my parents
suffered.
'Twould have been about 1961 when we went on a camping holiday in the Gower
Peninsular; we were to stay in a field with minimal facilities (all we
could afford) in Llangennith. Having to carry a tent, food, catering
equipment, two adults and four children, my Dad decided to hire a trailor
to allow us a little room in the car. Unbeknownst to us at the time, the
trailor had a very strong and sensitive inertia controlled brake. All the
journey from Yeovil to South Wales, the brake would give the car a little
tug whenever we hit a bump or otherwise jerked the towing hook. Well, we
managed to get to a steep hill just a few miles from our destination when
there was a loud crack and a sound like the wheels trying to mangle heavy
branches. The crown and pinion gearing had had enough and teeth were ground
into eachother rather than sweetly meshing; so there we were, in a Ford
Prefect, halfway up a steep hill, motionless! The garage fees including a
tow, taking us on to the campsite with our goodies on a trailor and fitting
a new transmission amounted to £52, this coincidentally was the exact
amount my parents had put aside for our holiday...
I later related this sorry tale on Ken Bruce's show on radio 2; we still
have the petang-petang biscuit barrel that I won as a prize.
repairs, I thought you might like to hear about a similar sting my parents
suffered.
'Twould have been about 1961 when we went on a camping holiday in the Gower
Peninsular; we were to stay in a field with minimal facilities (all we
could afford) in Llangennith. Having to carry a tent, food, catering
equipment, two adults and four children, my Dad decided to hire a trailor
to allow us a little room in the car. Unbeknownst to us at the time, the
trailor had a very strong and sensitive inertia controlled brake. All the
journey from Yeovil to South Wales, the brake would give the car a little
tug whenever we hit a bump or otherwise jerked the towing hook. Well, we
managed to get to a steep hill just a few miles from our destination when
there was a loud crack and a sound like the wheels trying to mangle heavy
branches. The crown and pinion gearing had had enough and teeth were ground
into eachother rather than sweetly meshing; so there we were, in a Ford
Prefect, halfway up a steep hill, motionless! The garage fees including a
tow, taking us on to the campsite with our goodies on a trailor and fitting
a new transmission amounted to £52, this coincidentally was the exact
amount my parents had put aside for our holiday...
I later related this sorry tale on Ken Bruce's show on radio 2; we still
have the petang-petang biscuit barrel that I won as a prize.
--
Toodle Pip
Toodle Pip