I underestimated what the
rush hour in Guildford would be liked, but Jane and I managed to get Smarty to
Mike at Smart Car Specialists on the dot of 09:00. When she was there for a
service about 5 weeks ago, the service report noted the front brake pads were
getting low and to keep an eye on them. Since then she had been driven more
than 3,500 kilometres around England and Scotland and would cover many
thousands more over the next five months. While she would be towed over a lot
of those kilometres, the Smart Tow system applies Smarty’s brakes when Mabel
slows. I had decided it would be prudent to have the brake pads replaced now,
rather than find they needed to be done in say Turkey. Also, Smarty was making
farty noises (minor backfires, I think) when her engine picked up from idle.
Sod's law – she wasn’t doing it today, but Mike agreed to see if they could find
the cause.
We headed into Guildford
in a Smart courtesy car. I wanted to buy oil to top up Mabel on our travels,
Jane wanted to find a scarf to wear to Thomas and Kirsty’s wedding on Sunday –
this is someone who has enough scarves to wear a different one every day of
the year and two on special occasions. But Jane didn’t feel she had anything
suitable with her.
I had spotted a shopping
complex with a Halfords for Mabel’s oil and a Next for Jane’s scarf. We were
both unsuccessful, I hadn’t realised how many variants of engine oil there are
available in England and would need to check Mabel's handbook. Jane couldn’t find
what she was looking for in Next.
We headed into the centre
of Guildford and parked. Jane went in search of a Marks and Spencers while I
stayed with the courtesy car. Jane returned empty handed half an hour later by
which time Mike had sent a text saying Smarty was ready. The brake pads still
had some wear left in them, but Mike agreed it was a good call to have them
changed. They couldn’t find any reason for her farting and didn’t think it was
anything serious. He suggested I should flick him an email if it got worse on
our travels.
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| View From Our Pitch At East Horsley |
Returning to the camping
ground we hitched up Smarty and set a course for Southsea where we were spending
two nights with Adam and Safiyah. I stopped at the end of Adam's street while Jane
scouted ahead looking for a park for Mabel and Smarty. We were in luck, there
was something large enough right outside Adam’s house. Then our luck changed as
a white van that had been parked pulled out and ducked into the space. The
driver, a near neighbour of Adam’s was very understanding when we explained our
needs, he agreed to move so we could have the spot, drove his van around the
block and parked it where it had come from a few minutes earlier.
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| Approaching Hindhead Tunnel Under The Downs |
Jane went off in Smarty
to pick up Safiya from her mother’s house using the satnav to find her way there and back. We had been using Stephen Fry to speak directions to us and Safiya was
astute enough to know he was very posh and she started giving Jane directions
in a posh accent. Stephen’s parting words at the end of a journey are “I think
I’m falling in love with you”. Safiya thought this particularly weird.
Jane and Safiya went
indoors. I stayed outside converting the number plate board I made for Smarty
two years ago by gluing a plate with Mabel’s registration number over Myrtle’s
plate. (In the UK a trailer, or vehicle being towed, has to display at the rear
the registration number of the towing vehicle. There is also a requirement to
display two red triangles denoting the vehicle is being towed. While not many
people seem to take much notice of these reqiuirements, we were keen that Smarty
met them. EU law states that providing a vehicle meets the legai requirements
of the country it is registered in, then it can be used in any EU country
regardless of their requirements. For example, we understand it is illegal to
tow a car in Germany, and it will be interesting to see if we pass muster there.
Adam was late home as
someone had gone under a train on his route but he nevertheless made us a very
good burger for our evening meal.
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