A wheely scary moment for a new van owner

Come for a drive, a friend said yesterday, and your correspondent, recovering from a ghastly winter flu, was very happy to accept the invitation.

The destination was Portsmouth to collect some vital equipment for his latest love, a Ford van of the sleuth genus, which to the more old fashioned might be better known as a camper van.

However, the style is much more upmarket these days, as Uncle Google happily reveals.

Friend Joseph bought the needed wheels through eBay, and in the eBay manner paid up-front.

A pleasant scenic drive

All that was necessary to enjoy the relative bargain was a pleasant scenic drive down to the Hampshire yachting port, an old haunt of mine, to collect the goods.

My sextant and charts weren't needed because Joseph has his own amazing navigator, a traffic application called Waze, extraordinarily free online.

Without once looking at a map, we reached exactly the right gate, and Joseph went in to collect his bargain perfectly on the prearranged time.

How odd. The seller wasn’t home, no-one was, and nor were the wheels with an apologetic note attached. Surely, it couldn’t be …

Not wheels?

Curiously, a delivery van drove up and parked next to us. The driver was here to collect some goods at this prearranged time. ‘Not wheels?’ Joseph asked. The driver nodded.

Then, curious and curiouser, a second commercial lorry arrived, and parked alongside. He was here to collect, um, looking through his clipboard, some wheels.

Continues on the blogs for my ocean adventuring book, Sailing to Purgatory, at
http://sailingtopurgatory.com/index.php/feeds/488-a-wheely-scary-moment-for-a-new-van-owner