More landrover pains
12 04 09 - 16:35 We'd just got the landrover back on the road after several months hard labour, in time to pick up Claire from the airport.That went off without a hitch, and we've been tootling around town in him ever since. Increasingly odd noises from the gearbox are a source of worry, but that's life with a landrover.
It's been good to have Claire here, we've all been friends for many years, she understands the joys (& pains) of crappy old landrovers! It's good to be working with someone you know well enough to ask for "that doofer-thingy by the toolbox" and receive the right tool!
In an ever optimistic manner, we arranged to go on safari with a group of friends from the school on Easter Saturday. lunch boxes booked, seating plan arranged, all is good. We also invited Jock & Sue to come with us, mostly for their company, but also for the towing capacity of their little land cruiser!
Most of the day went off without any problem, we saw plenty of wildlife, and bounced our way round much more of the park than last time, visiting the Ngurdoto crater, where you can drive round the crater rim (it's about 2 miles wide & hundreds of feet deep). We stopped for lunch at the Momella lakes again & then headed off for the fig tree arch.
This arch is a natural formation of two trees surrounded by a strangling fig vine that has caused an archway big enough to get a landrover underneath.
The approach to the fig tree is interesting. We start by fording a rocky riverbed. the water is only 6 inched deep, so that's no issue, but it's rocky & has muddy entry & exit points. since I still have no front propshaft (sorry Mick, that was the inner joint- we need an outer!) and the tyres are balding, a fully loaded long wheelbase station wagon wouldn't be my first choice. However these fears were totally unfounded and he bounced through without the slightest pause!
The rest of the trip to the fig tree is uphill, on fairly rough terrain. Lots of low range gears and right foot required. (and lots of swearing from me, I really hate series 3 gearboxes, they don't shift the way my series 2's back home do, and that can be hairy offroad. "&$%^ing go into second gear you lump of 80's British Leyland &$%^!!!" was my mantra of the day after the nth missed shift. I really would rather have been in Oddjob with the crockery rolling around in the back!
We got to the fig tree eventually, after investigating odd noises & smells underneath. Lots of photos were taken, and I'm pleased we pushed up to the tree, the photos are excellent.
Anyway, the gearbox noises were getting a bit scary now, so we decided it was time to head home. Engine braking makes the noises worse but there was no way I was going to freewheel & wheelbrake my way down 6km of hill!
We got all the way down the hill, across the park & to within 4 km of the school when we lost all power. Thinking the throttle linkage had come loose, I pulled over.
Hmm, the engine has stopped...
Turn key - nothing...
Open bonnet, burn fingers on bonnet prop...
hmmm...
bonnet prop has worn through battery cover and welded itself to the terminal...
oh, hang on the terminal isn't there any more!
the sparks have been so powerful they have melted the positive terminal completely away!
bugger...
we're going nowhere...
diesel landrovers will run without a battery, once it's going. even old dynamo-equipped series 2's like my Sarah Jane will. Series 3's with alternators will not...
bugger...
no phone signal
no phone credit
bugger...
get on roof with phone to get signal
take George's phone onto roof to transfer credit
Kenyan registered Defender 110 pulls up & the ex-pat British couple sees the bonnet open. In true landy-owner style, they slow & ask if we're ok.
"not reeeally..." gets their attention and we soon have an offer of a tow back to Jock, who has romped ahead (with his nice reliable, powerful, Toyota turbo-diesel)
Fortunately I had managed to convey a problem over the phone before I ran out of credit and they came back to take over towing duties.
Towing big 4x4's is not for the faint hearted, Jock has never owned a 4x4 before and we're using fairly low-budget tow-cables. Mine does not survive very long after a sharp jerk parts the cable.
Not to worry, Jock has another (bought specifically for this scenario!!!) and we eventually make it back to school.
I'm afraid I don't remember the names of the couple in the landrover who stopped (Bernard & Rose I think?) but they even followed us all the way back to the school, as it was going dark (and raining) and without a battery, we had no tail lights. They were most dismayed to see the shame of a landrover being towed by "something Japanese" and were glad to know that bucket & I have been out to rescue other toyotas in our time together...! Thank you guys, I hope the rest of your trip was uneventful!
So, we're back to being transport-less again until we can find a new battery & check for further damage, which is a pain.
On the other hand, we just came back from a nice Easter dinner with the family of George's seamstress friend in Usa River, then had a long video call with my family back in the UK, where their laptop was set at the dinner table & cheesecake was passed close enough to the screen for me to almost taste! Good to see everyone.
As an aside, I looked at our UK bank account idly last week and discovered I should have checked more regularly :(
With careful budgeting, we will be able to stay at the school until the end of term 2 in August. This is, to be fair, the minimum date we offered to the school when we returned in January, but I had hoped to eek things out until December.
20 months is quite respectable, and we both feel we have made a big difference to the school. I am certainly very proud of the progress we've made in the IT department, even if there are still a large number of issues to address this year!
Back to work on Tuesday where my job list gets bigger by the moment. In addition to the ongoing and growing workload, we have recently lost a number of staff from the western team under rather sudden circumstances. I understand their reasons, respect their decision and hope to keep in touch with them all, but this has left a large dent in the workforce and I'm going to have to shoulder a lot of the load until we can recruit to replace them. With less than 4 months left for me, it's going to be a huge amount of work to ensure that all we have built over the last 16 months continues as strongly as it has done, and that all the fantastic ideas & plans don't go to waste.
Anyway, I think the kettle is on, so I'm off for some tea. bye bye for now.
Photos of recent events are on here:My photo site with more coming.
Trackback link:Please enable javascript to generate a trackback url