On Sunday 23 January 2011 my dad died. I was holding his hand as it happened, but it still came as a big shock.
He had been fighting against all sorts of health problems for some time - he was never one to accept the unpalatable and just give in, but this fight was finally too hard. He was my friend, my hero, my dad, and I can't imagine life without his silly songs and vigorous debates and sense of humour and quiet patience and constant courtesy and indomitable will and LOVE.
Miss you dad, more than you can ever know.

Get it sorted!!

As with all new vehicles, there have been a few glitches on the new camper since I picked it up at the beginning of June. I organised for it to go into service in December, but the Great Ice Age struck and all the plans went on hold.....until yesterday when they came to collect it.
So, when I get it back the front blind should stay in place (the screws had fallen out); the toilet door should shut and reopen without trapping anyone inside; the panel under the bed should stay in place instead of falling out; the overflow pipe to the clean water tank shouldn't be dripping all the time; and most importantly of all - the batteries should be working so that I can at least get in and out of the camper!!
This latter is caused by a Peugeot fault, apparently. The on-board computer is draining the batteries when the vehicle isn't used for any length of time (apparently at about 5 days of no re-charge this becomes noticeable) I think this is scandalous, and apparently Autocruise are 'in discussions' with Peugeot about this. Watch this space.... In the meantime the only easy solution is to connect a solar trickle charger to the battery all the time it is standing, so this is what I am going to do....let's see if it works, shall we??

The Car Game

Corker has always been a wannabe car chaser. Even in a head collar, he can lunge and turn complete cartwheels in his attempt to get at the cars - not nice, not safe, but pretty spectacular to watch!
So, I decided to have yet another go at teaching him the Car Game. Corker is a reflective chap, so I reckoned that by now - nearly 9 years old - he might have sussed out the rules of the game.....and he has.
So what happens is: Corker sees/hears car; Corker sits squarely in front of me gazing into my eyes as car goes past (I would rather he was to the side but I'll settle for this as an improvement on cartwheels); Corker gets treat! Having a long Christmas break, with far fewer cars than usual on the roads, has helped a lot.
Corker has learned the game so well that he has now tried to add in another rule - Corker sees parked car; Corker sits in front of me so I can't walk past; Corker hopes he might get a treat! As the road is residential with lots of cars parked outside the houses, Corker has plenty of opportunity to try to teach me this extension of the Car Game....
Nice try Corks - but it won't work!
Happy new Year to everyone!