Just about there .....

We came back from Hobart on Friday with big plans to get ourselves organized for our trip to the Philippines but, the weekend came and went and we seemed no further advanced when Monday dawned. Still, the list was manageable: move the caravan to the place where it would be looked after while we away, take a couple of items to storage, pack our bags, and so on.

Marilyn decided that it would be nice to take morning tea to the staff at Giant Steps so we set this up and wandered over to the school mid-morning … to find them in a bit of a flap. One of the office staff had decided that the snow which had fallen at the weekend was too enticing and she would take the day off and catch it up later in the week. Somehow, the people who would be most affected by this decision were not informed so they found themselves shot-handed on a day when there were lots of deadlines to be met.

Carelessly, I offered to help out until 3 o’clock, mentally working out that I could move the ‘van in the late afternoon and do the rest of the joblist on Tuesday morning before we left for our last-minute appointments in Launceston and the airport.

Everything seemed OK. I was home by 3.15, the van was attached to the car by 4.00 so we decided to have a cup of coffee. At 4.20, the car wouldn’t start. It’s the second time this has happened in the same circumstances. If I hook up the van, plug in the electrical connection, and then go away, the caravan 12v system starts to re-charge from the car battery. When I then go to start the car, there’s not enough charge left to do it.

So, at 4.30, I ring the RACT. At 5.10, the serviceman arrives. In fact, it’s not the mechanic but the owner of the local RACT agency who is a panel-beater and a fellow-member of our Rotary club. Certainly, he knows more about cars than I do so I watch him drag out a serious-looking black box which he connects to my battery. Try it now, nothing happens.

“Just a minute,” he says. “I’ll go and get the big one.” Ten minutes later, his son arrives with a bigger black box, hooks it up and away we go.

By now, it’s starting to drizzle and the sun has just about set, but we get the caravan into place just on 6 o’clock. I had wanted to throw a tarpaulin over he roof to give some protection from the rain but that will have to wait until the morning.

It’s too late now to go to the shed so that will have to wait too. Our plans for a leisurely start to Tuesday are in tatters.

Let’s skim over the next 17 hours until we drive away from Deloraine with our carefully-packed bags in the back of the car. There are a few details left undone: a few clothes and a standard lamp not packed into the storage, a few towels left to dry over a rack in the bedroom, and a couple of things we can leave in the car until we get back. Nothing too serious so we breathe a sigh of relief.

We make it to the airport in plenty of time for the ‘plane and head off to Melbourne on the first leg of our journey.