We all stood and watched with nervous excitement as 8 muscular men drove in,armed with attitude. tattoos and whiskers , garbed in tight black t-shirts to make them look cool and tough .

A fair amount of explicit language was conducted before the final act commenced.
Bob, a long time member and resident, joined the crew as an extra, and used his colorful verbose support to cheer them on . He was prepared for anything -beer in one hand ,a smoke hanging from his jaw ,and you wouldn’t believe what he could achieve with the spare hand. I was quite unprepared for his amazing dextrality and efficient maneuvering.

Then it began -tools were drawn and shifters and jemmys employed to jack up the caravan to meet the receiving 4 wheel drive; conversation was surprisingly a team work effort , with yelling and cursing cementing this extraordinary relationship between men and beast -the beast being the enormous task of moving an ancient fossil of a huge 3 wheeler (each side ) caravan out of the area and on to the road.

I was filled with trepidation as sounds of exasperation and muscle power were expelled while they pushed and pulled and bits of the caravan were falling off.

Bob was turning the shifter with manful speed and effort -his one hand going like the clappers ,careful not to drop his beer or his rollie as he perfected his skill on the tow bar. Then there were sounds of ‘ whoa ‘and ‘good one bro’ as the car pulled and pulled, wheels spinning and -then—-nothing -silence.

We all stood and stared -what would they do now -the car couldn’t pull it out . Would they finally bring in a truck to do the job ?
After 2 minutes of wiping sweaty brows , heavy sighs and words of encouragement exchanged , blocks were muscled in under the tow bar of the caravan and under the wheels of 4 wheel drive.

With one almighty surge of energy , the whole ensemble moved -out onto the grass . Everyone applauded .

It creaked and groaned and swayed it’s way up the lane ,the car spluttering objections as more profanities could be heard from inside the car as it rounded the corner onto the open road.

Later on I heard that the caravan had ended up with 3 flat tyres on it’s way to it’s final destination – an hour up country .I cannot imagine they would have had spares.

lindyp