Back in 2006, Jo and I took 3 months off work for a leisurely jaunt around Central America and the Caribbean. Part of this leisurely jaunt included the island of Ometepe in Nicaragua. Famed for it's matching pair of extinct volcanoes, this is a picturesque island, reminiscent of Madonna's bra in the middle of a huge lake. At least it is picturesque if you aren't slogging your guts out climbing towards one of the peaks in the rarely faltering thick fog that enshrouds them. I can recall quite vividly (although not vividly enough it seems...) thinking "Never again. Never shall I climb another sodding mountain". Mount Meru in Tanzania was a real sod to climb too. Stupid, stupid bloody habit.
Well, on the bright side, we won't have to look out for rogue elephants on any of these three. At least I hope not anyway.
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| 'Guard your van for a fiver, Mister?' |
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| A 'too bad' arch |
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| A Mouses hole ? |
So, how is the van you ask ? Still tatty. Faded red, patchy with filler and fibreglass resin, still off the road at present. The more Jamie sands it down, the more rusty patches and holes appear. The sliding door is none too pretty and the arches, which I originally thought weren't too bad, are too bad. Filled now though and soon to be ready for the respray. So I'm led to believe. We went to Rome 2 weeks ago, taking Jim and Lucy with us (amongst several others.) Sharing a car up from Weymouth to Stansted with them was an experience. I'm not sure I managed to get a word in edgeways during the entire journey up to Essex as Lucy gave me the blow by blow account of how their van had been fixed, broken down, fixed again and the colour scheme and texture of the cushions they would have for their interior. My ears were bleeding by the time we got to the M25. The pair of them appear to be true camper van nerds now and know their vehicle more intimately than either Mr Volks or Mr Wagen ever could.
Entries for the Windy are still coming in at a reasonable pace. Spaces 34 and 36 in recent weeks have found occupants. Still have a number of stubborn 'nearly there' teams still trying to get entries or participants in some sort of working order. With over 14 months to go though, I'm delighted to have well over half the spaces filled, vehicles being purchased and money being raised for charity.
So, I hear you say, "more importantly, how are Weymouth Football Club faring these days ?" . Well, you'll be pleased to know that there has been a change of ownership down at the Bob Lucas Stadium. The odious George Rolls has sodded off to pastures new, leaving a God awful mess for the good folk and true fans of the club to sort out. Ralph, of Team 25 fame is now a director no less and has kindly (??) roped me in to organise some fundraising events. Wouldn't happen at Man Utd I don't suppose. Hopefully the current off-field feel good factor will one day rub off on the team who are plummeting alarmingly down the Tinpot League Southern Division towards oblivion, or worse still Wimborne.
As I was leaving the BLS just yesterday, one of the other directors collared me to show me his latest pride and joy, a maroon coloured Mercedes diesel saloon that he had purchased for £500 with the Windy possibly in mind. Shaun has apparently previously completed the Plymouth to Dakar Rally, but I'm sorry, his choice of potential motor is severely lacking in kudos. GET AN ICE-CREAM VAN FOR CHRIST SAKE !!! Anything but a dull as ditch water, ultra reliable Mercedes.
