Starting Out

Ok, so I thought I would keep a blog rather than a diary. I'm really not sure why, I mean I really don't expect that anyone will read it, and I 'm not big headed enough to think it's going to be of any real interest to anyone except me; except may be my children.

So let's start with a little backgrount info:

I'm 44 years old, in my third (and last) marriage with four children: a daughter of 14, sons of 8 and 5 and a daughter of just 18 months. I also have a daughter of 19 but she's generally got better things to do than hang around with Dad.

So... we had never even thought about having a 4 wheel drive. I mean they are really used by wealthy mothers taking the kids to school and ego ridden bully boys with necks that could pass for tree trunks right?

I, on the other hand, had a sensible people carrier (a galaxy) that served as main transport for our little brood, and allowed us to collect computer parts from our suppliers in Milton Keynes without too much fuss. That was what we were dooing on the fateful day... collecting a computer order from Milton Keynes. Hammering up the A5 at about 50mph, (a little under powered our motor!) the cam chain decided it had had enough of my feeble attempts at servicing and gave up the ghost. Immediate loss of power, swiftly followed by a lack of power assisted brakes and finally knackering the steering... not my idea of a good afternoon!

The day following our little problem, we decided that we just could not go without a car. Only it is never that easy! We have to have a 7 seater... (4 kids 2 adults). Consequently we called on a friend and got a cheuffeur to run us around all the second hand car lots in the area.

The best part of 3 hours later we found it! A 7 seater Shogun, the sales guy just dying to get it off the car lot (he was moving premises the following day). We whipped up the cash and bought it the following day.

Runs like a dream, looks quite cool and has 7 seats. Interior's a little on the "used" side but the reason we got it for a grand... a bloody great big scratch down one side. The last owner must have seriously pissed off some little fly boy in a metro with an over active ignition key!

It was only when my eight year old (Kai) got in the car that he started asking questions about the second gear shift. By the time I had finished explaing what 4 wheel drive is and why it's helpful when trying to negociate uneven or wet terrain, we both realised that we would have to try it out. I mean it would be silly not to right?

The only question is... Where?

Immediately we started looking around for places where the ground might be wet... and joy of joy it started raining. I don't mean a little bit... I mean this was real flash flood, hammering, all soaking stuff that any self respecting driver would fight to stay out of! True to form we jumped in the car and started hunting floods. The bigger the better... narrow lanes were the best, the rain had washed mud and twigs on to the road and then left puddles of almost lake like proportions. Just outside Dunstable, where we live, some of the lanes were impassable by normal vehicles. One lane was so flooded for a range of about a mile that we had to abandon it. What's the attraction you ask?

Watch the expression on a 5 year old boy and an 8 year old boy's face when you hit a puddle and the water obscures the windscreen for just a few seconds until the wipers clear the view again. It really is something to behold! But beware... when the rain stops its time to find the same thrill for them elsewhere. Now the only question is where.