This past 10 days were a roller coaster ride. It started when I noticed really clean oil dripping from the engine of the bus. I knew it could only be from the gearbox, straight to the garage I went. Toby is a great mechanic but always booked for for at least 2 weeks, so he sent me to an auto gearbox specialist. They said bring it back the next day and they would change the seals.
On the Friday afternoon they told me it was more serious than that, the gearbox had to come out. I started looking for vans on the off chance it would be a very expensive repair. I saw the perfect van, slightly bigger, low mileage, reasonably good bodywork and not too expensive.....AND RED! For months I had been looking for a bigger red van as well, just out of interest.
Tuesday arrived and impatience got the best of me, I negotiated a deal with the seller and he took it off the robbing website you are all familiar with. Wednesday was time to raise the funds to pay for it. I phoned the bank to arrange a cash transfer from my credit card, and got off the phone with a loan at 5% interest. Now that's a lower APR than the rate that food, bills and fuel are increasing here in England*. Half an hour later the garage phoned to tell me that the repair would be at least £2200+vat and there were other things I should consider repairing while the box was off. I said put it in the boot and I will sell the van as spares or repair.
Yesterday I picked up Redsurfbus mk2. Bigger heavier and more industrial, lots of power in the engine (158bhp) and lots of space in the back. Already ply-lined she is perfect for conversion and ready and waiting.
I do not believe in fate, destiny or anything like that. I cannot help thinking that some things are too well timed to be random, even though I know better.
Since I bought the first Redsurfbus I was forced to resign from being director of maths at work, suffered a nervous breakdown due to it, had a heart attack and other serious illnesses, amongst other things that have been quite mis-fortunate. I feel like my fortunes have changed and I have weathered the storm. Although if all that had not have happened I would not be as addicted to windsurfing as I now am, and would not have started this website.
More news in the next couple of days. My new Hot Sails GPS have arrived. I have used them today, lighter, faster, stronger, and a lot camp-er, well I do have a campervan................. ;)
Good speeds and winds
The Bus
*I know the word for the rate of increase in prices is inflation. Here in this wonderful country (and no doubt most others)we include TV's and MP3 players in this which obviously keeps it low as TV's and MP3 players fall in price whilst everything else goes up. I have never bought an MP3 player and have bought 1 TV in the past 10 years......Stupid method of measurement. Carrots and coffee however seem to go up by 5% every time I go shopping let alone once per year.
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