Its Cold Outside - No Shit Sherlock!

Its cold outside, well you dont need to be Sherlock Holmes to work that one out!

This morning I was awake at 4.30am, and on looking out of the window, it was fairly obvious that we were having some significant amount of snow! I I thought Id better check on the awning, so struggled out of a lovely warm bed to find that the awing roof felt rather heavy when I pushed a broom up against it.

1 1/2 hrs later I had managed to scrape most of the snow from the awning roof, now I know that having a large awning is great for all the extra space, but at that time in the morning I would of much rather we had a small porch!

Not enough time to go back to bed, so a large bowl of porridge, and I then packed my emergency bag, which consisted of spare trousers and socks, loads of tops, spare boots, and off China and I set for Shaston. Must admit I didnt expect to get there, but, somehow, and after a near miss, bloody lunatic driving too fast, bounced off a couple of banks and just missed me! The trip down Wingreen hill to ludwell, well all I can say was Im glad I was wearing my storm strapped trousers! It was bordering on the suicidal, but the landrover did its job and got me safely to the bottom in one piece! We made it!

I did leave at 3pm today to get back, as I wasnt sure if it would snow again or freeze. Got back safely with no dramas.

As Ive been handling Indian silver all day, there could only be one thing for tea, Yep, you guessed it, we had fish and chips, no, only kidding, we had an Indian, not literally, as I think that was outlawed a few years back! We went to the Curry Garden http://currygarden.com/ in Ringwood. I had a Dansak, and "M" had a Balti, very good, all though "M"s King prawns didnt look like King Prawns, more like mutant prawns, very odd looking, but "M" said they tasted ok!

Back at the caravan, I scrapped more snow and ice off of the awning roof, and stashed everything away, as we are supposed to have a real drop in temperature tonight.

So far our weather station has recorded that the lowest temperature has been -7.1 !

Now not sure if I mentioned this, but in the early hours of Wednesday morning our heating packed up, (what a time to pack up)! I thought it was the thermostat, as the gas fire worked ok, which is what we used to bring warmth back to the van! Sods law as well, the 3 month warranty had run out on the 26th November!

"M" phoned up Ladybailey caravans, and they said not to worry about the warranty, bring the van in and they will sort it out, "M" then had to explain that it wasnt quite as simple as that, so a call to a mobile repair man Barry Whitlock http://mcea.co.uk/ and he arranged to go and collect parts from the caravan dealership, bring them to us and repair. He, turned up when he said he would even with the bad weather! However, it happens to be a circuit board at the back of the fire thats playing up. So a new one is on order, and he will be back out shortly. Mind you after alot of waggling about (techincal term) its working again, but we dont know how long for as its an intermittent fault.

I cant believe that we have only had the caravan just over 3 months! We both feel old hands at this now and it seems so much longer!

The temperature tonight is supposed to drop even lower, so we shall see how things go tonight! Just to be on the safe we are leaving bottom locker doors open to get some heat in to where the water pipes run, and also the cooker bottom door, as they run underneath on their way to the shower.

Not looking forward to the drive into Shaston tomorrow morning, With the ice I think it will be actually worst than today. Its not my driving Im worried about, its those foolish people that think its ok to still drive fast that concern me! Why do they do it? doesnt life preservation kick in? or is it natures way of natural selection.

Anyway, as I was up so early, Im hoping for an early night as Im knackered!

So till later.........