Home Again.

We landed at Heathrow Airport just after 7am on Tuesday 25^th September 2007, Mike was waiting for us and drove us back to Banbury to stay at his house until the Motorhome was ready for collection, from Dudley's in Abingdon (above). Dave went straight round to the lock-up and got the Mazda started, we had already arranged insurance over the internet so he took it down to have it’s MOT so that we had our own transport ASAP. It passed with flying colours so I went onto the internet again and taxed it, amazing, back on the road in under a day. Dave caught up with his friends at Prodrive and we joined them for Steve’s birthday celebration drinks in Banbury town centre on Thursday evening.

The next morning we went to Prodrive to attend David Campion’s retirement presentation in the museum, he was leaving after working for Prodrive for many years and after receiving presents from David Richards he made a very emotional speech. We also learned that some Prodrive personnel had been invited to Colin McRae’s Service of Celebration in Lanark, Scotland. Paul Howarth arranged for Dave to be added to that list and also obtained the necessary security passes for us. We joined DC that evening for drinks and met loads of Dave’s old colleagues from Prodrive. Afterwards we went out to dinner with Mike & Liz for an Indian meal, first one for over a year and it was excellent.

On Saturday morning we went into town so that Dave could have his first pint of ‘Old Hooky’ at the Reindeer Pub, the oldest public house in the county. We did some shopping and then returned to the house to pack for our trip ‘Up North’. We left early the next morning and drove to our B&B in Lanark where we got changed for the Service. The town was already filling up with people who had come to pay their last respects and it took us some time to drive across town to the Cartland Bridge Hotel where cars were waiting to take everybody to St. Nicholas Church right in the middle of Lanark town. They had put up huge television screens in the High Street so that the estimated 25,000 people outside could join in with the service from inside the church. The Service was very moving but also a great celebration of Colin and Johnny McRae’s lives with home movies and Tributes from Ari Vatanen, David Richards and teachers from Johnny’s school. After the Service we returned to the Hotel where we all talked and recalled our memories late into the night.

We left the next morning in beautiful sunshine and drove down through Lanarkshire back into England. We had bought some excellent Scottish Angus steaks and sausages because we were heading for Ken & Carol’s house in Thornton Cleveleys, for a reunion of the Lancashire contingent of the Geezers. We had a very enjoyable evening eating, talking and drinking while we exchanged stories and ‘Played for the Wire’. A game invented that evening by Ken where songs are played by one team and have to be identified by the other team, once a team has 3 correct answers in a row they win ’The Wire’, the connection wire to the stereo system!

The next morning we all needed a walk on the promenade to blow away the cobwebs and the hangovers, except Dave of course who just came for the walk. On Wednesday we drove over to Knot End on Sea and took Dave’s Dad out to lunch at the Shard Bridge, we had a good meal and a good chat and then back to his house for a photo picture show. He showed us his new Observatory in his back garden where he watches the stars at night, weather permitting, he says he has sheepskin lined underpants!

On Thursday we had another walk along Fleetwood front and through its market, a traditional street market that had moved indoors. The weather was lovely and although windy it was sunny and relatively warm, some people were playing bowls, crown green of course, in the park.

The local council have retained some of the traditional trams and they are joined by new trams on the public transport system that still runs along the front from Fleetwood to Blackpool. Friday evening after supper at the Shard Bridge, Ken & Carol took us to another Blackpool tradition, the Blackpool Illuminations.

Difficult to get a decent picture of the lights but I hope this gives you the general idea. Another thing difficult to show was the amount of traffic crawling along the promenade, we queued nose to tail for about a mile in half an hour before heading off back to the house for a rinse!

Saturday we said our sad good-byes, Ken & Carol were leaving to spend the week end with his relations in Rochdale, and we were heading to Clayton le Moors to see Dave’s twin brother, Graham and his wife Hazel. Another great evening of eating, drinking and talking about friends and their exploits. The next morning we left heading south again back to Banbury and a Chinese takeaway at Jim’s to watch the Scotland v. South Africa rugby match. The next week was spent catching up on paperwork and other necessities, Dave and I had to visit the doctors surgery to have blood tests, the motorbike had to be registered in the UK which involved a special vehicle assessment at a government testing station in Birmingham, we visited Dudley’s to see how the conversion of the motorhome was coming along, and I had my medical for my HGV licence! On Wednesday Gus & Susie, and Ian & Annie came to Banbury for a get-together, Gus arranged it all and it was great to see them all, we went to the Three Conies for supper and had such a good time I forgot to take any photos! We met them again the next morning at their B&B for a cup of tea and a last chat before they headed home again.

On Saturday we went to Nicky’s to see them and the grandkids and their new house, we had a Chinese takeaway and caught up with what the kids were doing, Jamie junior has got a Yamaha PY50 and goes off-roading at the weekends. They are looking for a KTM for him so that he can ride in competitions, seems it’s in the blood! On Tuesday Jim drove Dave in Rosie, his red Toyota pickup, down to Dudley’s to collect the motorbike and bring it back to Banbury so that Dave could make the modifications needed for it to pass its MSVA test.

The following Wednesday we went down to see our sailing friends, Dave & Jane and their daughter Alice. They live in Southsea on the south coast of England and they still have their yacht at Southsea Marina where we met them when we first had our yacht. Alice is amazing, four years old going on 24, she insisted I show her my pictures of bears once she was in bed on both the evenings that we were there. On Friday we checked on our apartment on the river, they have finished the Spinnaker Tower across the water since we were last there and are still developing more apartments behind it, the local area looks more prosperous every time we visit. Unfortunately Dave got out of a chair awkwardly and trapped a nerve in his back, I had to drive back from Southsea and when we got to Banbury his back was so painful he couldn’t get out of the car. He eventually got moving but he seized up every time he sat or lay down which meant that the next few days got very complicated. I had to drive alone down to see my daughter Kirsty and her husband Neil, we had a great lunch and chat. The time flew by and all too soon it was time to drive back to Banbury. Then on Tuesday 23^rd October Mike drove Dave down to Dudley’s in his trusty taxi, because Dave couldn’t ride in the Mazda, along with some of our belongings, for our first night back in the bus, spookily exactly one year to the day that we spent our first night in it when we picked it up from the factory in Forest City, Iowa.

The following day Dave drove it back to Banbury and our base for a few days, Firtree Farm Caravan site, the seat in the motorhome is more comfortable than the Mazda! On Thursday the alarm was fitted at the lockup while I loaded our possessions and Dave put things in the lockers, very carefully!!! On Friday the tracker was fitted while I loaded more of our possessions and Dave put some more things in the lockers, very carefully!!!!!! On Saturday we had Mike & Liz and Jim over for supper in the motorhome, we had the place almost ship shape. Mike brought the last of our boxes to us in his trusty taxi on Monday and we filled the last of the nooks and crannies with our bits and pieces. Amazingly it all went in, I tried to make the packing logical but we have had trouble finding a couple of things since, a few frayed tempers and scratching of heads but they were found eventually.

We sent off the certificates from the alarm and tracker companies to the insurance company, now we have to wait for the insurance company to send us the policy documents. We are also waiting for the V5 (title document) for the motorhome and motorbike, the only trouble is there is a postal strike and everything is taking ages to come through the post, if at all! But we could be worse off, we are staying in a beautiful place in the Cotswold Hills, and the weather is being very kind to us considering the time of the year. We were also hoping Dave’s back would improve to a point where he could drive the motorhome for a prolonged period of time otherwise we would not be leaving.

We had to extend our stay at the camp site a couple of times, Dave’s back was getting better day by day, but the documents had not arrived. By 1^st November Dave can’t stand it any longer and insists we book a ferry and leave with or without the documents. To get a cheap ferry crossing we have to wait until after the week end so at last we are booked onto the ferry on Monday 5^th November at 19.35 which means that we should be in Spain by Thursday only 1 week late.