As you may know if you keep up with my Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/WizardSteve.blog/), both my caravan and I were injured in the wind last week. The upper section of the door slammed so hard that it sent the jars on the shelf above flying. Two of which hit me before crashing into each other, smashing one and emptying the contents, expensive Slippery Elm Root powder, everywhere. The force was such that a direct hit to the head would have rendered me unconscious. The door slammed so hard that the top section of the internal doorframe came away. As it had been fixed so well in the first place, it took a part of the wall with it!
During the clean up operation, I had to move the slate hearth. I lifted it and went to lay it to one side. As I let go, the corner caught the edge of the cats’ food tray, flipping it up and somersaulting it into the air, spreading fish and cat biscuits all over the caravan, some even stuck to the ceiling!
I decided that it was best to not do any work thereafter. I didn’t want to take the risk of anything else going awry.
To add to my woes, a couple of banking apps on my mobile updated and promptly shut me out. I tried to get back in, but couldn’t remember the security codes, or at least, the codes I entered weren’t recognised. I fast began to lose the will to live. Absolutely nothing was going to work for me that day! I decided to leave it for one of the kids to deal with another day. In fact, I deemed it best if I do and touch nothing for the rest of that day. Which is frustrating as I feel like I’ve wasted a day.
Later on, Steve turned up with a fat blunt, which really helped. Once chilled I was able to think more clearly. I always like to find a positive, especially when things go really bad. Shit happens for a reason; there is always a reason. In this case, the Universe was telling me that the job I had done wasn’t good enough. It needed to be done better and stronger.
The next day was great. The boys turned up and we did some jobs on Michael’s Land Rover. Michael also sorted out the apps, one of which was a nightmare involving a lengthy telephone call.
The following day I discovered that there had been damage to the back of the caravan. A crack had appeared where the wooden light board meets the wall.* I can only think that it was caused by the shock that would have gone through the caravan when the door slammed. Oh well. It’s just as well all this damage is happening now, when I can fix it and make it better and stronger. Maybe even aesthetically more pleasing.
As you know, I live alongside a recreational field and car park. There are football pitches marked out on the field. A lot of football practice goes on there, mainly Hastings United FC. There are various age groups. Sometimes, there are matches played. As a result, it gets busy around here at times.
Something that is new to me is the exercise meets there. It’s all new, as last year was in ‘lockdown’. They play mostly not brilliant music through an amp. Fortunately, it only lasts for about an hour and it’s not every day.
Another thing about living here is the poor driving skills and hopeless parking attempts.** I have never witnessed so much poor driving. And this is after years of driving lorries all over the continent. Many seem incapable of parking alongside the kerb regardless of how much space there is! Even the so-called professional lorry drivers sometimes beggar belief.
I am parked a short distance from a junction. That means that anyone driving past me from exiting that junction will or should be changing gear. Well, I have never heard so much gear-crunching. How on Earth did these people ever manage to pass a driving test?! * Photo taken after initial repair. **To be fair, example/photo shown not that bad. There are far worse examples, I just haven’t got photos of them. This one just happened to be there on the day I needed a photo evidencing poor parking skills.