Days 32 to 35: Saturday 19th to Tuesday 22 April - Southsea and Knowle, by Ken

Day 32: Saturday 19 April

A shopping morning spent in Havant. Jane visited Hobbycraft to buy materials to mend a rag doll we had bought Safiya on our last trip followed by a supermarket shop. We noticed that Smarty seemed to be farting when ticking over – small backfires in the exhaust I thought.

The afternoon was spent at Adam’s. Jane made a very good job of repairing the doll while I ordered a safe for Mabel to replace that which had been in Myrtle and not removed by the dealer. I also downloaded some new software for our SatNav designed for motorhomes. It contains the maps for the whole of Europe and can be programmed such that routes selected take account of the dimensions of a vehicle. Hopefully, that will avoid some of the problems we had on our last trip when we were directed down roads that were hopelessly narrow, or came to bridges too low to pass under. I thought the narrow lanes around Knowle could be a good proving ground for the new technology mounted in Smarty.

Early evening we all Skyped Stephen and Jenny in Wellington.

Safiya Skyping

Later, Adam cooked a barbeque. We were joined by his friends Barry and Jenna, Barry being a swim buddy of Adam’s. The evening started cool and became cold, so much so that Jane and I were wearing three layers and puffer jackets! Adam warmed things up considerably by burning a fence panel, blown down in a storm, in a brazier. The wood burned fiercely providing some very welcome warmth.

Keeping Warm

Day 33: Sunday 20 April

Easter Sunday.

Horrors! At 07:10 while eating breakfast we heard the sound of rain on the roof of Adam’s conservatory. It’s the first rain after 11 days in the UK. Until now the days have been sunny and pleasantly warm. A much better start than two years ago when it snowed heavily on Day 3 and was cold and wet for weeks after that! The rain lasted all day on and off, turning quite heavy in the evening.

We were on the road in Smarty just after 8:00 with a course set for Knowle on SatNav. At the wheel Jane became increasingly nervous as in the space of 20 miles the fuel gauge dropped from ¼ full to zip and a flashing petrol pump light indicating we needed to fill up. According to the handbook, there was enough fuel for at least 60 miles once the warning light came on. Jane wasn’t reassured by this and made a detour off the A34 into Winchester to fill up. I felt vindicated as it only took 22 litres to fill the 33 litre tank, but as we pulled away the gauge only showed ¾ full. A problem with the gauge then?

We made good time to Knowle and after swapping drivers round about the half way point we arrived at the Knowle and Dorridge Cricket Club 20 minutes after Liverpool kicked off their match against Norwich. Ruth had been there watching the game since kick off and was very excited that Liverpool were 2-0 up after 10 minutes. It seemed our arrival was a jinx as Liverpool didn’t look that good and Norwich pressure resulted in the score being 2-2 mid-way through the second half. Happily for Ruth, the game ended 3-2 to Liverpool cementing their place at the top of the league.

After the match we dropped in to Phil and Kerry’s to give the girls their chocolate Easter bunnies and spent the rest of the day with John and Ruth. Dinner was a delicious lamb roast prepared by Ruth.

Day 34: Monday 21 April

Easter Monday

John, Ruth and Olivia headed off to Liverpool first thing to watch a charity match between two teams of ex Liverpool players in memory of the 96 Liverpool supporters who died at Hillsborough (Sheffield) in 1989 as a result of too many fans being allowed into a stand and the ensuing crush.

Jane and I were on Twiggy sitting duty. After breakfast we took her out for two laps of Knowle Park. Twiggy was her usual manic self and found a very entertaining game comprising running around in a tight circle, picking up and then dropping three large pieces of litter left on the grass. As before, she wanted to play with every dog she met and this time she found a particularly muddy pool in which to have a dunk.

Twiggy

Twiggy After Her Mud Bath

Twiggy Hoping For A Treat 

Blossom In Knowle Park

Then it was a visit to Tescos to get the ingredients for a fish pie Jane and I were cooking that evening for Phil, Kerry and the girls.

After feeding Twiggy and lunch we met up with Phil, Kerry and co. at Earlswood Lakes Craft Centre where the girls were absorbed in the process of selecting beads to turn into jewellery. Jane also enjoyed the variety of shops in the complex.

Earlswood Lakes Craft Centre

Choosing Beads

Break For Ice Cream

Satisfied with their bead selections Amelia and Martha tackled an assault course and Phil couldn’t resist challenging Amelia to a race. There was significant doubt as to whether Phil was playing by the rules, but at the finish he was only just ahead of Amelia, who was doing everything right.

Phil and Amelia Start On The Assault Course

Phil Cheats While .......

Amelia Does It Properly

Amelia On The Rolling Log

Martha In The Stocks

We drove in convoy to a couple of garden centres to view options for stone slabs for a new patio for Phil and Kerry. After that we were thirsty and spent a very pleasant hour in the sun in the garden of the Railway Pub just outside Dorridge.

After giving Twiggy her evening meal and a bit of love and attention, the rest of the evening was spent at Phil and Kerry’s where Jane and I cooked the fish pie after which we split into three teams of two for a game of Pointless. Kerry and I won, much to our surprise.

Day 35: Tuesday 22 April

A good start to the day with an email from Chris Maynard saying Mabel had arrived in Banbury and would be ready for us on Friday. To achieve this, however, we needed to return a form that morning so that he could obtain a registration number for her.

Calling at Phil and Kerry’s to collect Smarty, the replacement safe I ordered for Mabel on Saturday afternoon had been delivered first thing that morning. That was really great service considering the intervening days were Easter Sunday and Monday.

Rather than email the completed form to Chris we drove down to Banbury to fill in the paperwork and deliver the safe. It was very exciting to see Mabel for the first time. We had a good look round and were delighted with what we saw.

Our excitement was dampened somewhat by Pete Maynard saying he had just spoken to DVLA and it could take up to 10 working days to get a registration number! While Elite has a list of registration numbers that can be used on new vehicles bought from them, we are purchasing Mabel free of VAT (UK’s equivalent of GST, but it’s 20% here) she has to have special plates and DVLA has to assign the number. It would seem that Elite are not as experienced in VAT free sales as they claimed when I first dealt with them, they’ve had weeks to get the registration sorted out. At this point options included parking Mabel outside Pete’s house hooked up to his electricity if the registration hadn’t been assigned by Friday, or driving her on trade plates from Monday onwards, but that would exclude going to Ireland. We decided to see what Friday brings in terms of the registration.

On the positive side we were able to decide on a position for the safe in Mabel and we ordered a racking storage system for the garage to replace the collection of tatty plastic boxes we used in Myrtle as well as making good use of the height of the garage.

Deflated by the news that Mabel might not be ours on Friday as we had hoped, we decided to cheer ourselves up by a visit to the Blubell in Heny-in-Arden for lunch. The Bluebell is the pub in which Jane and I met. It’s changed greatly from those days and the back bar frequented by regulars, such as me, and the front bar have been combined. And instead of a pub for drinking beer and eating the occasional meal cooked up by Colin Squires, the landlord, it is now a Gastropub. (Digressing, many years ago I caught a nasty dose of salmonella in the Bluebell, thanks to Colin not defrosting the fish he fried for me one evening). Fine dining is now the order of the day, we were greeted at the door, shown to a table and drinks orders were taken – it seemed I was the only person there drinking beer. My meal of hake and Jane’s slow roasted lamb were delicious, as was the price – a far cry from Colin’s days.

Jane In The Bluebell

Ken In What Used To Be The Bluebell's Back Bar

Over lunch we drew up a decision tree looking at the options for Mabel. We were quite excited at what we came up with. While Ireland might fall by the wayside, there was still plenty of England we haven’t explored and there were worse things than another trip to Cornwall.

After lunch I dropped Jane at the Touchwood shopping centre in Solihull for her first solo shopping expedition of the trip and I returned to Knowle to catch up on the blog.

Later, Ruth, Jane and I paid a visit to The Forest Hotel near to Dorridge station for a drink and to wait for John’s train from Birmingham.

Dinner was takeaways from the Ellora curry centre.