Loans and tribulations

This year Roofus has had lots of ups and downs, not just physically but mechanically too.  A full check-up including timing belt, and LPG service should have set things up well and for a while all went well.  I also had enough of Wipro, so resigned in early May without anything to follow, maybe a bit rash, but it felt good at the time.

Thanks to our long serving monarch we were blessed with an extended weekend in early June so, following on from the 2011 Easter trip, we planned a weekend in St Neots with C+S.  On the morning as we prepared to depart we receieved a call saying the site was waterlogged and they would be unable to have us to stay.  Undaunted, we rearranged to a much closer site, near Ivinghoe and toddled off bunting and all.  We had a very pleasant couple of days interpersed with an entertaining Italian meal in Tring, torrential downpours and a stomp up the beacon.

I got a new job, starting late July, for PayPoint in Welwyn Garden City.  Notwithstanding all the great things about the job, the fact I no longer have to commute daily into London is a massive bonus for me.

Fran's friend Neil decided to undertake the challenge that is the Lands End to John O'Groats cycle, except for logistical reasons he decided to do it from North to South.  In support of this he managed to engage his parents as a support crew, and asked if they could use Roofus as the support vehicle.  As the first ever possible leasers of Roofus we were a bit uncomfortable but slowly came round to the idea.  In early July they departed for the North to begin the challenge - Neil has his own blog for this at http://neilsjogleadventure.blogspot.co.uk/.

Unbeknownst to us trusty old Roofus was not behaving herself and had a couple of not insignificant failures on the trip:
1 - LPG fuel line failure at a filling station which involved the AA and the Police and resulted in the filling station being closed for a number of hours.  The cause was a badly worn fuel hose which had failed and leaked LPG (Propane) all over the forecourt.  Being heavier than air it didn't disperse either!
2 - Catalytic Converter failure requiring a full replacement
In some ways we are really thankful these failures happened on british soil which meant getting them fixed did not also become a linguistic challenge, but ultimately to have major failures on a vehicle that you don't own cannot have been any fun for the JOGLE team.  Top marks to Geoff for the cost of getting both problems fixed though - less than £200 all in!  All finished successfully and Neil raised loads of money and has returned safely, but I bet there were a few heart stopping moments.

I still need to have a chat with my man Ian who services the van to see his views on the corrosion of the fuel pipe, especially as it has been regularly serviced, and the whole system is significantly less than 2 years old!  Writing this makes me remember I still need to have that conversation.