Schools out!

Today is a good day, I have just completed my final day in the dreaded white van until next year! My first real Christmas holiday since.....well since so long ago I don't remember since when, but at least 20 years....and I intend to enjoy it!

Of course, the final day could not possibly pass without becoming from the outset, 'eventful', oh no, no chance of that, just one day without incident was too much to hope for.

I arrived in thick, freezing fog at 6.15am to the news that all the company vans had been vandalized overnight. It appears that my employer is the victim of some kind of small time vendetta, this vandalism issue is not new, there have been other incidents just in my short time there. Do I look surprised? Nope, I thought not....lets face it, one can't operate like this place does without rubbing someone up the wrong way at some point and eventually one is likely to reap the er, 'benefits' of such questionable business practice. That said, it's hardly a mature way to deal with whatever issue has been the cause of someone's distain but whatever....my already 'delightful' van was minus it's windscreen wipers when I arrived. The police had already been and gone and I was met with the news I was to take the jalopy out anyways....apparently as it wasn't raining my boss considered I had little need for wipers!

I think the look on my face said it all as I pointed out that I already have one missing indicator, one missing headlight...the other stuck on sidelights, no brake lights, two very questionable tyres, a heater blower that doesn't, a bumper hanging limply about four inches from the tarmac, a sticking accelerator and four doors that don't close properly! Come on now, no wipers added to that is not likely to help my case should I be pulled over now is it?!

His reply....to offer me a window scraper and a bottle of water!!!! Yeah, that's gonna do the trick in sub zero temperatures ain't it.....Not!

In the end my protestations fell on deaf ears....this is selective deafness on his part bought on by the thought of losing a days takings, the God money is this guys sole motivation in life and in the end my choice was to take the van out or take a hike. I took the van out....hey, I need the money too.

I set off very gingerly in the freezing fog on country lanes that have never in their life seen a gritter and by the time I had completed maybe just ten miles I had lost count of the times I had stopped to scrape crap and ice off the windscreen and had already very gently and elegantly 'broadsided' the van around a corner.

My patience was lost, I called my boss, told him I would go get it fixed if he wouldn't and took it into the local 'please mend my van in a hurry' garage. They did, though with two odd sized wipers, miss-matched and too small but beggars can't be choosy and I wasn't, the drivers side worked and that was a 100% better than it had started off!

The rest of course remains in a state of disrepair but I'm kinda getting used to all that, to having to do hand signals and look behind me before I brake etc.....hell, what would I do if I didn't have all that to think about?!

So, the day passed in a haze of thick fog, frost and ice but eventually I completed my round and now I can forget it all for almost two whole weeks!

Yayyyyyyy. :o)