70th Anniversary of D Day in Normandy

I had two choices for my visit to Normandy to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the greatest invasion from the sea in the history of the world.
I could either knit my own jeep from left over wool, or risk travelling over 1500 miles in an untried 21 year old slightly ( make that 'very')  rusty Land Rover Discovery. Imagine my shock when I discovered someone else had actually taken the time to hand knit a WW2 American jeep! Choice made then...... just as well, my knitting is lousy.

     So on Tuesday 3rd June 2014 my friend Neil and I set off from the North East of England. My meticulous preparations had more or less amounted to checking the oil, as most of it seemed to be lying on the road outside my house, and putting some stickers on - my favourite being the Rampant Boar adopted by Monty's XXX Corp as they travelled through France in '44.

      Thus adorned we set off to drive to Dover and on the way hopefully see the Hawkinge Battle of Britain museum, and the B.o.B memorial at Capel le Ferne, which sounds like it's in France but strangely isn't.
As I was reviving Neil, who had fainted in the queue at Costa Coffee upon discovering how much two cappuccinos cost, my eye was drawn to our vehicle currently bathed in sunshine in the car park. I could see fluid dripping from the engine bay and running in a tiny but terrifying stream, forming a puddle. As we walked towards it, I was already preparing to go home and pick up my comfortable, reliable but slightly boring Volvo. Opening the bonnet I could see the fluid was coming from a radiator hose held by a jubilee clip. I asked Neil for help but immediately came to understand the stupidity of my request. He was wearing his best white T-shirt, and thus completely unable to offer assistance.  Reluctantly he did open my toolkit ( a screwdriver, roll of black sticky tape and a tin of WD40- if they can't fix it, it's gone forever) and using said screwdriver I tightened the clip and the leak stopped. What an anti-climax for you, the reader!  However, for me that repair was comparable to anyone else changing a gearbox using a hairpin and a rolled up copy of Landrover Monthly.

     Blasting down the motorway at nearly 60mph we discovered that lifting of the gas pedal on downhill sections induced a stomach churning sideways weaving motion but by loosening your death grip on the steering wheel, she eventually straightened out. So this is how those test pilots battling to break the sound barrier felt!

     Time passed and we managed to visit both BoB places which were great. For some reason at Hawkinge they questioned us closely about media devices and then confiscated our phones, talking darkly about previously uncooperative guests. When asked if I had one, I pointed at Neil and said he did. He in turn pointed at me. We make a great team!

      Am I saluting or is the sun in my eyes?  Bit of both, really. It was impossible not to feel emotional seeing the statue and the long list of names on the wall behind.

And so to our hotel in Dover, looking forward to worrying about whether Lurch would start in the morning, or would we miss the boat!

Lurch?   Tell you next time.

Who am I?

Alright, my Land Rover's not as old as some, and my dog's not as young as others......actually that more or less describes me! I heard today that 60 is the new 30, so that goes someway to explaining why at 58 I feel like 14. I just wish my body would join in!

 

 

 

 

My Discovery started life as quite an upmarket vehicle, complete with such luxuries as air conditioning (only an empty drive belt pulley remains) and remote locking ( 10 clicks of the button to lock,  20 to unlock) and it was a lovely shade of green known as Ardennes. Now it is hand painted matt black in a shade known as .......well......matt black. I used to have a Defender but I think I will save that story for a future blog about taking your dog to a car rally.

 

My, or rather my wife's dog,  is a black German Shepherd with a hint of collie or Belgian Shepherd or Batman, depending on the varied opinions of the many people who like to tell us what sort of dog we have. Actually no one has yet said Batman but when I look in the mirror when driving, particularly when the moon is bright, it's easy to imagine that I am in Gotham City driving an alternative Batmobile.  Well, they are both matt black.   

 

Her name is Skye and she is round about ....let's see...we got her from the RSPCA in Sept 13 and she was about 8 months old. It's July 14 now and if  my maths is correct she is about 19 months old, with a big 'ish' . She had parvo virus as a puppy and the RSPCA took her in and cured her. We were looking for a rescue dog and one day my wife saw her on their web site and I was lucky enough to be the first one to visit her. On the day we collected her there were other people hoping to see her and I was very glad we had acted promptly.  Sometimes I am prone to overthink things and subsequently miss the boat. Not this time though!

 

 

 

 This is my wife Amy. She was practising a well known martial art in the forest when even she was surprised at her own strength! By day she is a researcher at a well known University in a city known as 'The Toon'.  By night she is usually asleep - she is lucky enough to have the ability to fall asleep instantly even in the middle of some noisy event, like a war film or some unknown person snoring.

She has seen many films, but sadly has no idea how most of them end.

 

 

 

And this is me basking in the glory of having climbed Everest, no....... wait, that was another day, this is actually a small pile of rocks somewhere near Rothbury WW1 training trenches. An interesting walk and again a story I will tell another day.

I  retired after 30 years as a  police officer then managed to survive 4 years assisting a paramedic on an emergency ambulance. Trying to pick up a naked dead man (not as nice as it sounds)  on a very steep stairway did something nasty to my shoulder and if you can't carry people, you can't work on an ambulance. So now I find myself with time to start writing again, beginning with this blog.

 

I sometimes adopt the motto  "If at first you don't succeed, pack it in"  but my wife doesn't approve of that so nor do I now!

See you next time......